the opinions expressed by Keith Elliot and his guests do not necessarily reflect the official policy position or opinions of Remax Remax Olympic Realty the National Association of Realtors Virginia Association of Realtors or the Greater Piedmont area Association of Realtors the opinion shared on this show are not intended to be a forecast of real estate market patterns future events or a guarantee of future results and may be subject to change based on other conditions and economic factors hi I'm Keith and today I'm going to give you some basic tips on how to winterize a vacant home now your first question is probably why do I need to winterize a vacant home well this might be a good thing to consider if you're planning to be out of the area for a while you don't want to keep the utilities on during the winter months winterizing a vacant home will prevent the pipes from busting when the temperatures drop and that will prevent ice from forming in your water lines here's a quick personal story in the summer of 2005 I bought a cute little home over in the Northern Neck of Virginia it was a cape cod-style home it needed a lot of work the previous owners lived several hours away and the ESA's home is a weekend getaway sadly they didn't winterize the home one winter prior to me buying it so the water lines in the kitchen ceiling busted and the water caused the entire ceiling to cave in not only that but the water continued to run for a few days afterwards until an eight neighbor popped by to check on the place now fortunately for me I discovered the listing and I got a great deal on it I also know what needed to be done to repair those lines and I had planned on rehabbing the whole home anyway my point here is if you take the necessary precautions to winterize a vacant home you won't have to worry about the cost to repairs down the road and you might be able to save a little extra money by not keeping the utilities on to heat it so now let me give you a brief overview of the process involved I'm not a plumber I'm just providing information first you'll have to identify where the water main line comes into the home now sometimes this is tagged or its marked other times it's not once you've identified where your main water line is go ahead and close the valve by tightening it in a clockwise motion you want to be careful you don't over tighten it because it can get stripped out now you have to go to your electrical panel and turn off the breaker that provides service to your hot water heater you'll want to look up a standard garden hose to the base of your water heater loosen the valve for that and drain the contents if you have a sump pump in your home you could actually let the hot water tank drain into that and the pump will kick on and the water will get when that when the water gets high enough to trip the float switch the pump will push the water out of your home after you've done that it's a good idea to open the drain for the hot and cold water supply lines that go to your clothes washer next you want to go around your home and open up all the spigots I usually start with the upstairs and open up all bathroom fixtures so that water can drain out of the pipes you'll also want to flush each toilet until there's only a little bit of water left in the tank and in the bowl with the lid of the toilet bowl take off use a small cup and start bailing out any water that's left in there by dumping it either into your sink drain or into the bathtub drain now after you've cleared the tank from any standing water move on to the bowl and scoop out the water inside that it's not a pleasant job it has to be done if you have a hand siphon pump even better use that continue going through this process on each level over your home until you've cleared all lines from any water you'll also want to go outside and open up any outdoor spigots you have and let them drain okay now now that all the water lines have been cleared and there's no more water inside your home the next step is to pour some red RV and marine antifreeze in each of the sink traps you'll want to put in the bathtub and your shower traps in the toilet bowl and the toilet tank the whole idea of pouring this fluid into these locations is it'll prevent these areas from busting if any water start slicing up when water freezes into ice it expands and as this ice expands it'll bust the water lines in your home after you poured the RV and marine antifreeze into all your traps you should go around a place masking tape over the faucets and tape the toilet leads down to prevent any unwanted use if other people be in your home while you're away you should tape signs each faucet and toilet so that others will know the property has been winterized it's also a good idea to place a sign at your electrical panel noting the power shut off for the water heater a few more quick items to mention if you have access to an air compressor you could actually blow the lines out using that by forcing air through each line but keep in mind you may need a special adapter to do this also I've purposely omitted the instruction for removing water out of the dishwasher and the icemaker line that connects to your refrigerator because in many cases the minute the water pressure is lost these lines will start to clear also well in closing I just want to thank you for taking time out of your busy day to watch this video I know I covered a lot like I said earlier this is just an overview if you don't feel comfortable doing this I highly suggest you contact a licensed plumbing professional near you and have them come out and perform this service they'll be happy to provide you with more detail and explanations than I can in a short video and they might be able to mention something else that I might have forgotten if you've had any experiences related to this topic I'd love to hear from you feel free to send me a private message or leave a comment down below thanks for watching and have a great day