Photographed by Ken Paul. Photo copyright 2013 Parrish Construction.

We just returned from a great vacation. It was everything we hoped for—extended family time, new adventures, exotic locales, and time to relax. Even so, upon returning to Boulder, we could relate to Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz—“there’s no place like home”. We were fortunate that everything at home was just as we left it. Millions of people every year are not as lucky, returning to flooded homes, a pile of ashes, or stolen valuables.

People with second homes, or who travel for months at a time on business, understand the increased risks of a vacant home and take measures to protect it during an extended absence. Even if absences are short, you may benefit from taking some of the same precautions.

One of our clients was recently hospitalized for a few weeks. While a family member was checking on the home they discovered that the water connection to the refrigerator icemaker had failed, and had been spraying water on the wood floors in the kitchen for perhaps a day or so.

Most of the water damage was to the finished lower level below the kitchen, to the tune of about thirty thousand dollars. If the leak had not been discovered for a week or so, the damage could have run to the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and destroyed irreplaceable heirlooms, and photographs. Had mold taken hold, the house might have been a total loss.

Water damage is one of the biggest and most common risks for a vacant home, yet the easiest to prevent. One simple solution is to shut off the water main when you leave the house. This will protect from burst pipes and hoses including frozen pipes. Since the main shutoff is usually not conveniently located, there are automatic valves that can do this for you. Some have computers to monitor normal usage, and will shut off the water when the flow seems unusual.

Other systems utilize remote sensors to notify the valve when water shows up where it’s not welcome. Flo Logic and Water Cop are two options. At the very least, you should get in the habit of turning off the water supply to the washing machine before you leave. If you have plants or pets in the home that will need watering by a house sitter, you can leave containers of water for that purpose.

While it’s not possible to eliminate all risks, in addition to preventing water damage, here are 15 Ways to Protect a Vacant Home. You get to decide whether to act on any of them. We promise not to say “We told you so”!

1. Put some interior lights on timers while you’re gone. Set them on a random setting for more realism.

2. Unplug your garage door opener to prevent tech savvy burglars from hacking your opener and slow them down from loading the contents of your house into their van. Or, get one of these.

3. Make some improvements. Install long-throw deadbolts with sturdy strike boxes, exterior lighting on motion detectors, entry-resistant glass films, and remove overgrown bushes to make your home an unattractive target. Most burglars are opportunists. They thrive on concealment, unlocked entries, cheap entry locks, and glass doors. If your house is hard to break into, they’ll move on down the block. One of your neighbors may have found that out the hard way. Don’t let it be you.

4. Install a burglar/environmental alarm system to notify you (or your friend/neighbor) if the humidity, temperature, or gas concentrations get out of limits. It can even send a text message to your smart phone. If you’re a total techie, you can add cameras so you can check on your house remotely, and adjust thermostats or lighting. We’ve seen thermostats and humidistats fail with disastrous results. Damage could be prevented by early warning that the house is getting cold and the pipes might freeze, that the humidity is high enough to foster mold growth, or that natural gas has been detected above safe limits. Monitoring systems are very reasonable in cost, and can save your home from serious damage, making them every bit as important as intrusion or motion sensors. However, if you choose not to install an alarm, at least be sure to turn off humidifiers and shut down evaporative coolers when unattended to prevent damage.

5. Call your insurance agent to verify your homeowners insurance is paid and the values are up to date. Some will deny coverage if the house is unoccupied for extended periods. Also, some insurance companies will offer premium discounts for the water shutoffs and burglar/environmental monitoring you just installed. You did that, right?

6. Close fireplace dampers and doors when not in use. We came home from work one evening to find several starlings had flown down the chimney and trashed the house. Ditto for pet doors. A raccoon can be a very messy houseguest.

7. Don’t announce to your 500+ “friends” on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media that you’re going to be out of town. It’s safer to brag about it when you get back. You might be six degrees of separation (or less) from a burglar. Ditto for voicemail messages and e-mail auto-response messages. Just tell a few faithful friends. The rest of the world can wait until you get back.

8. Don’t hide a spare key. Burglars know the favorite hiding places, including the fake rock in your planter box. Leave a spare key with a trusted neighbor, or hang a realtor-type lockbox locked on your gas meter or water spigot.

9. Newspapers and mail piling up are a clear signal that the home is unoccupied. It’s good to stop delivery of mail and newspapers or if you have a friendly neighbor, they can pick them up for you and check the inside of the house while they’re at it, and you can reciprocate when they’re out of town. They can also remove the flyers that seem to be attracted to your front door knob. We’ve installed locking mailboxes that store many weeks’ worth of mail in a locked compartment, and our clients find them very convenient.

10. Landscaping Maintenance- Arrange to have your lawn cut or your snow shoveled to keep the house looking occupied and avoid city fines for un-cleared sidewalks.

11. Unplug electronics to prevent damage from lightning strikes or voltage spikes. This could include computers, televisions, coffee makers, and anything else with a computer in it. Surge protectors can help, but unplugging is better.

12. Lock up or hide any valuables. Burglars are usually in a hurry, and won’t look much further than the obvious hiding places. If you don’t have a safe installed or a safety deposit box at the bank, maybe it’s time to get one.

13. Don’t let sewer pipes dry out. Every sink, shower, tub, and floor drain has a ‘P’ trap to provide a water seal to keep sewer gas out of your home. Over a period of weeks or months, they will dry out and allow sewer gas to flow into your home. Pour a half gallon of water down each drain before you leave, and have someone do this each month or so while you’re gone. Sewer gas smells horrible and can even be explosive in high concentrations.

14. Clean out your refrigerator & pantry. Especially remember to remove any perishables. An exploding bowl of month-old tuna salad can undo all the good that came from a relaxing vacation. Trust us. Same goes for taking out all trash & recycling.

15. Get a pet sitter/house sitter. Many of them will water plants, take in mail/newspapers, and perform other minor chores. Limit access to your house by installing key locks on certain interior doors. You can also provide temporary codes for burglar alarms and garage doors that expire or can be revoked upon your return. Some pet sitter services even e-mail daily photos of Fido or Fluffy for your peace of mind.

If you have any comments or ideas, please just write us. But not in April. We will be out of town all month, and our mail will just be piling up… (just kidding!)

But seriously, we welcome comments in the comment box below. Do you agree with these pointers? What would you add to this list?

**Order your test kit online or visit the CRC office at 2639 Spruce St. Monday-Friday between 9 a.m.-5 p.m. to purchase the test kit.

This Q&A was shared from a post by the Center for Resource Conservation.

In an agricultural setting this makes sense. You could come in from the field covered in mud and shed your clothes on the back porch where the washing machine live without tracking dirt all through the house. It is also more convenient to hang wet laundry outside to dry when the washer is by the back door.

For urban folks and suburban commuters, it’s not so convenient. You walk right past your washer and dryer, through the house to your bedroom closet to change into something more comfortable. Then, someone has to collect all the dirty laundry in a large basket and cart it back through the house (sometimes down flights of stairs) to the laundry room. After they’re dry, you have to haul them back upstairs to put away.

If you have the space and plumbing available, such as near a master bath, consider relocating your laundry room to save steps and increase efficiency. It could be as simple as putting them in an existing or new closet with folding doors, or a dedicated room with folding counters and storage. A professional remodeler can help you explore that possibility.

> Visit our Laundry/Mud Rooms board on Pinterest for some “pinspiration”

Last word: Here’s a suggestion we found on HomeDesignFind.com. Something to consider!

“Dedicate your laundry room carefully. If you find clothes strewn about the house, it might have something to do with the location of your laundry room. ‘Instead, locate your laundry room near a bathroom or bedroom. That makes it easy to peel off your dirty clothes, and toss them into a laundry bin located not too far from your washer and dryer.’ ”

Q:  My kitchen isn’t large and I never seem to have enough counter space. What can I do to gain more work space and make it more functional?

A:  Even a large kitchen can have a shortage of storage space since we all tend to fill available space with ‘stuff’ which can quickly overrun a kitchen. However, the smaller your kitchen the more important it is to be organized. Here are a few tips to increase your storage and make your kitchen more functional:

1. The most important thing you can do is de-clutter. A cluttered space feels smaller and doesn’t function as well as a neat, organized space. Start by removing anything that doesn’t ‘belong’. You may find it very helpful to hire a professional organizer to get you started. They can teach you some great tips to help you organize the rest of your home.
2. Reserve counter space for food preparation, never storage. If you have limited counter space and you use it to store cereal boxes and decorative canisters, you’ll have no space for meal preparation, and your kitchen will look messy. If containers hold things you use on a regular basis, make a space for them (and your cereal boxes) inside an accessible cabinet.
3. Remove the things you don’t need.  If the canisters are empty and purely decorative, get rid of them or store them out of the way. You don’t need decoration on your counters, you need work space. Be ruthless and remove from your kitchen anything that you don’t use on a regular basis, like that turkey roasting pan you used once, five years ago, and store it somewhere else, like the garage or crawl space.
4. Utilize the most convenient spaces for the things you absolutely need.  This space is for the things you use on a daily basis. Every day dishes, glassware, and flatware should be placed where they are easiest to reach. Seldom-used items, such as serving pieces, platters, & trays could be placed high in an upper cabinet or even in a cabinet or closet in another room.  Hang utensils, pots, and pans you use all the time on the wall or from a pot rack. This tends to make a small space look more cluttered and smaller, but it may be the best option for increasing your work space and making it more functional.
5. Remove duplicates. Do you really need six potato peelers or pancake turners? Keep one or two of the best and get rid of the rest to avoid cramming drawers to the point where they don’t open easily.
6. Double useful space by adding pull-out drawers in base cabinets, or in full-depth upper cabinets like the one above a refrigerator, or by adding fold-out shelves in a pantry. These solutions allow you to easily reach items in the back of cabinets—usually unused or inefficiently used space. The toe-kick space under base cabinets can sometimes be utilized to accommodate inconspicuous drawers, providing storage for such things as serving trays, or a pop-up step stool can be inserted there. An existing top drawer near a sink can sometimes be retrofitted with a pull-out cutting board, increasing work space where it’s needed most.
7. Install new under cabinet lighting or a strategically-placed pendant light to increase functionality by providing focused task lighting where you need it. This can make your kitchen not only more functional, but safer and more cheerful.
8. Install an island if your kitchen is large enough. Even a small, portable island on wheels can provide valuable work space when you really need it, and can be multi-purposed by serving as a side board or buffet in a dining room or a bar in a family room. If you’re not sure if you have space for one, make a prototype of the top out of cardboard, place it on something the right height, and see if it works in your kitchen. Read our blog, “Get an Island of Your Own”.
9. Find another place for small appliances. If you don’t have room on your counters for all the small appliances you have, look for other places for them to live. How about a dining room drink-station for a coffee maker, electric tea pot, etc.  If the only time you drink coffee or tea is in the morning when you first wake up, consider putting the coffee maker & tea pot in the master suite or near it. Replace a free-standing water dispenser with a water filter on the faucet or under the sink to free up counter or floor space. Appliances that you only use once a month or so could be stored in lower cabinets on pull-out trays and only brought out when you need to use them.

First change the things that bother you the most. Making just a few improvements can decrease stress and increase efficiency by shortening the time it takes to accomplish everyday tasks.

> We just love blogging about kitchens! Check out some of our past Kitchen Blogs.

A:  In concrete circles, a “slump” refers to the consistency or degree of wetness of freshly mixed concrete, and therefore its workability and eventual strength properties. Building codes and standards may require a specific slump mix or acceptable range of slump to ensure the concrete’s structural integrity when poured.