A calm, practical playbook for protecting your home while you're away
Credit: Homeowner.ca
The suitcases are packed. The kids are buzzing. The dog is at the sitter's, the passports are in the front pocket, and the car is running in the driveway. You lock the front door, feel for your phone, and pull away. The vacation has started.
But is your home actually ready? Here is the part most pre-trip checklists miss: a house does not stop operating because you left it. Water still flows through the lines behind your walls. Your sump pump still waits for the next storm. Humidity still builds on a hot, still afternoon. Power still flickers. Appliances still sit under pressure. For the next two weeks, your home runs itself — and no one is there to notice when something small starts to go wrong.
That is the entire premise of this guide. Most expensive vacation-season problems are not dramatic. They are slow. A supply hose weeps behind the washing machine. A drain backs up during a downpour. A basement quietly climbs past the humidity line and mould takes hold. None of these would matter much if you were home to catch them in the first hour. The damage comes from the days that pass before anyone looks.
The good news is that the fix is not complicated, and it is not about fear. Thirty focused minutes, spent on the right systems in the right order, removes most of the risk. This guide walks through each system your home keeps running while you are gone — water, electricity, heating and cooling, security, storms, insurance, and technology — and explains not just what to do, but why it matters. It finishes with a room-by-room walkthrough and a printable checklist you can run before every departure. Consider it the resource worth revisiting each summer before you travel.
Every household risk has a hidden variable: time. When you are home, that variable is small. You hear the drip, smell the damp, notice the puddle, and act before the cost compounds. Leave for two weeks and that same small problem gets fourteen uninterrupted days to become a large one. The failure did not get worse because you were away. It got worse because no one interrupted it.
This is why water deserves the top of your list. In today's climate of severe weather, the majority of catastrophic insured losses in Canada are now water-related — urban flooding, sewer backup, and burst plumbing — rather than fire, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. A cracked $8 washing-machine hose and a slow foundation seep are not glamorous threats. They are simply the ones most likely to drain your bank account while you are on a beach.
Recent Canadian summers make the point plainly. When Canada Day storms knocked out power and flooded basements across Ontario and Quebec, the homeowners who fared best were the ones whose sump pumps, drains, and shutoffs were ready before the sky opened — a pattern we broke down in our coverage of the days-long outages and basement flooding after those storms. The takeaway is not that storms are coming for you. It is that preparation is cheap and unnoticed problems are expensive.
Frame the rest of this guide through that lens. You are not trying to make your home invincible. You are trying to remove the specific, common, preventable failures that turn a good trip into a bad homecoming.
Most of the plumbing in your home is pressurized around the clock, whether you are standing in the kitchen or lying on a dock three provinces away. That constant pressure is exactly what makes water the highest-value target for your thirty minutes. Cut off the pressure and you cut off the failure.
Three appliances account for a large share of unattended water damage: the washing machine, the dishwasher, and the refrigerator ice maker. Washing-machine supply hoses are the classic culprit. They sit under full pressure, they age, and when one lets go it can release water continuously for as long as no one shuts it off. Turning the two hose valves behind the machine to "off" takes fifteen seconds and removes the single most common cause of catastrophic laundry-room floods. The dishwasher and the ice maker deserve the same treatment: shut the supply valve under the sink and behind the fridge.
The most powerful move, if your trip is longer than a weekend, is the main water shutoff. Closing the main valve depressurizes the entire house, which means a failure anywhere — a toilet supply line, a humidifier feed, a corroded solder joint — cannot flood the home in your absence. If you close the main, open a tap on the lowest floor for a moment to relieve residual pressure. The one exception is anything that needs a water supply while you are gone, which is rare for most trips.
Then there is the water you want to keep out. If you have a sump pump, do not disable it — it is your basement's last line of defence during a summer storm, and it needs to stay powered and ready. Test it before you leave by lifting the float; it should switch on and clear the pit. For deeper protection, our spring flood prep checklist walks through drainage and backup steps worth doing before storm season.
Finally, do a quick pass on anything already showing moisture. A small, ignored leak around a toilet, sink, or foundation is a primary route to hidden mould and structural damage, according to Health Canada — and two weeks is plenty of time for a drip to become a claim.
Find your main water shutoff before you need it. It is usually where the water line enters the home — often a basement wall, a mechanical room, or near the water metre. Turn it a few times a year so it does not seize. A valve you cannot locate or move in an emergency is not protection.
The table below is built to use while you walk the house. Run it once before you leave.
The instinct to "shut it all down" is understandable and usually wrong. Electricity is not a single switch; it is a set of systems, some of which are actively protecting your home. The skill is knowing which circuits earn their keep while you are gone and which are just idle risk.
Some things stay on, full stop. Your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are non-negotiable — Health Canada's fire safety guidance is clear that working alarms sharply reduce the risk of fire-related injury or death, and they must remain powered and tested on every level of the home. Your refrigerator and freezer stay on unless you plan to empty and clean them. Your sump pump stays on. If you rely on a well pump for a system that must keep running, that stays too.
Other things are pure downside while you travel. Unplug small electronics and countertop appliances — toasters, coffee makers, computers, entertainment gear. This protects them from summer-storm power surges and eliminates a small standby-fire risk, with the bonus of trimming phantom energy draw. The modern version of this concern is lithium-ion. Health Canada notes that lithium-ion battery fires are rising in Canada as more devices and vehicles use them, and that damaged or improperly charged cells can overheat, catch fire, or vent toxic smoke. Do not leave e-bikes, e-scooters, laptops, or power-tool packs charging unattended for two weeks. Charge what you need, then unplug it and move chargers away from exits and anything combustible.
Never leave large lithium-ion devices — e-bikes, e-scooters, power-tool batteries — charging while you are away. An unattended charging fault has days to spread and no one to catch it. Unplug them, and store the batteries away from doorways and flammable materials.
Use the decision table below to sort your home's electrical load. When in doubt, the rule is simple: safety systems stay on, high-value cold storage stays on, everything else that can be unplugged should be.
For a deeper room-by-room look at the quieter electrical and heat sources people overlook, our guide to hidden fire hazards in Canadian homes is a useful companion before a long absence.
Here is where good intentions do real damage. Switching off the air conditioning and every fan before a summer trip feels efficient. In much of Canada, it invites mould. Warm, still, sealed air is exactly the environment moisture problems love, and two unattended weeks is more than enough time for them to establish.
The mechanism is worth understanding. Health Canada's mould guidance treats moisture control as an ongoing systems task, not an occasional cleaning chore, and specifically recommends using air conditioning or dehumidifiers to keep indoor humidity within a healthy range. Turn everything off and humidity climbs; climb far enough and you get condensation, then mould on surfaces and inside finishes — which the same guidance links to increased asthma symptoms, respiratory infections, and other health effects. The damage is not only cosmetic, and it is not only about the drywall.
So the goal is not "off." The goal is "set correctly." Rather than shutting the air conditioner down, raise the setpoint a few degrees above your comfort temperature — many homeowners use somewhere around 25 to 27°C — so the system runs less often but still pulls humidity out of the air on hot days. If you own a dehumidifier that drains to a floor drain or condensate pump, leave it running. If it only drains to a bucket, empty the bucket and skip it, since a full reservoir simply shuts off. Bathroom and range exhaust fans and any heat-recovery ventilator (HRV) can be left on low to keep air moving.
Do not forget the attic and the envelope. Natural Resources Canada notes that signs of moisture trouble include mould, frost, or wet insulation and wood in the attic, and that maintaining ventilation and controlling indoor moisture is what prevents hidden structural problems. A home held at a stable temperature with modest airflow protects wood flooring from swelling, keeps finishes stable, and stays comfortable for any pets or plants a sitter is tending.
If a pet sitter or houseplants are staying behind, comfort and humidity settings are a safety issue, not just a convenience. Coordinate the thermostat with whoever is visiting so the home stays livable and the plants survive — and so no one arrives to a house that has been sealed and baking.
Security while you travel is less about fortress-grade hardware and more about erasing the signals that a home is empty. Burglars read patterns: piled-up flyers, a dark house at 9 p.m. every night, a lawn no one has touched, a driveway that never changes. Your job is to break the pattern.
Start with the obvious physical layer. Lock every exterior door and, just as importantly, every window — including basement and second-storey windows that are easy to leave latched but open. Put a couple of interior lights on timers or smart plugs so the home lights up and goes dark on a believable schedule, rather than blazing 24/7 (which signals absence as loudly as total darkness). If you have smart bulbs, randomize them slightly. Arrange for the lawn to be mowed if you will be gone more than a week, and make sure nothing valuable is sitting visible through a front window.
Then handle the mail and deliveries, because an overflowing mailbox or a stack of parcels on the porch is the single clearest "no one is home" sign. Hold your mail through Canada Post or ask a trusted neighbour to collect it daily, pause recurring deliveries, and redirect any packages. That same trusted neighbour is your best security system: someone who has your contact information, can park in your driveway occasionally, and will notice if something is wrong.
The most common modern mistake is digital, not physical: posting your trip in real time. Beach photos and "off to Europe for two weeks!" updates are a public announcement that your home is empty. Share the memories after you are back. If you use smart cameras or a video doorbell, confirm they are online and that alerts reach your phone before you leave.
Summer is peak season for the weather that damages Canadian homes, and it arrives fast. Summer 2024 alone produced over $7 billion in insured losses from floods, fires, and hailstorms across roughly 228,000 claims — a reminder that "it probably won't storm while we're gone" is a bad bet during the exact weeks most people travel.
The outdoor work is quick and high-leverage. Anything light enough to become a projectile in high wind should come inside or be secured: patio umbrellas (closed and down, ideally stored), lightweight chairs, cushions, planters, and the trampoline that becomes a sail in a gust. Move or anchor what you can. If you have a pool, set the equipment and covers according to your system so a storm or a power interruption does not leave a problem running unattended. Trim any obvious dead branches near the roof and power lines, and clear combustible yard debris — federal wildfire preparedness guidance directs homeowners to remove dried leaves, dead branches, and debris from around the structure to reduce fire-spread risk, and that housekeeping matters whether the threat is embers or a windstorm.
Plan for the power to go out, because in a summer storm it often does. A multi-day outage while you are away can spoil a freezer, silence a sump pump at the worst moment, and knock your cameras offline. Consider a battery backup for the sump pump, confirm your fridge and freezer are cold and full (a full freezer holds temperature far longer), and know that anything depending on Wi-Fi will go dark with the router. For the bigger picture on preparing the property for extreme summer weather, our Canadian wildfire season checklist covers the perimeter work in more depth.
This section is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading your own policy — but a few minutes with your coverage before you leave can be the difference between a covered claim and a denied one. Home insurance has specific expectations about unoccupied homes that many people never read until it is too late.
The one to understand is the vacancy or unoccupancy clause. Most Canadian home policies limit or change coverage once a home sits empty beyond a set period — commonly around 30 consecutive days, though the exact terms and definitions vary by insurer. TD Insurance explains that a standard policy may not respond the same way for a home considered vacant, which is precisely the situation a long trip can create. A two-week beach vacation is rarely a problem; a six-week absence, or a home already between occupants, can be. When in doubt, call your broker before you go — not after something happens.
Two more practical items round this out. Know your deductible, so you can make sane decisions if you do come home to a claim, and know your policy's requirements for absences (some insurers ask that someone check the home at set intervals, or that the water be shut off in winter). And keep emergency information accessible: Public Safety Canada's emergency preparedness guidance emphasizes knowing local emergency numbers and staying informed about hazards, so make sure whoever is checking your home has your insurer's claims line, your contact details, and the location of the main water shutoff.
If someone will be checking your home while you are away, write down what you expect them to do: how often to visit, what to look for, and who to call if they find water, a failed appliance, or storm damage. An empty instruction like "keep an eye on the place" is not the same as "check the basement for water every three days and call this number if you find any."
For homeowners who split time between a primary residence and a seasonal property, the coverage nuances compound — our opening the cottage checklist walks through the insurance and plumbing considerations specific to second homes.
Every risk in this guide gets smaller if something is watching the house when you cannot. This is where a modest amount of technology earns its cost, and the highest-value category is, unsurprisingly, water — the same threat that tops the insured-loss lists.
A smart leak detector is a small, inexpensive sensor you place where water is most likely to appear first: under the kitchen sink, behind the washing machine, near the water heater, and on the basement floor by the sump pit. If it gets wet, it pushes an alert to your phone. The more capable version is an automatic water shutoff valve, which mounts on your main line, watches for abnormal flow, and closes the water automatically when it detects a likely leak. Many Canadian insurers now recognize these devices, and some offer premium discounts for installing a monitored shutoff — worth asking your broker about. If you are weighing sensors against a whole-home shutoff, our guide on the signs you're ready for an automatic water shutoff lays out the decision.
Beyond water, a few devices punch above their weight while you travel. A smart thermostat lets you hold and adjust your away temperature remotely, so you can respond to a heat wave from your phone. Remote cameras and a video doorbell give you eyes on entrances and deliveries. A garage-door monitor tells you the door is actually closed. And for the low-tech but critical layer, remember Health Canada's advice to remove and safely store the batteries from devices that will sit unused for a long time, and to store batteries in a cool, dry place away from heat — a small step that prevents idle-device leakage and keeps a low-battery chirp from being the thing your house-checker calls about.
Technology is a supplement, not a substitute. A leak sensor that pings your phone still needs a human — you, a neighbour, or an automatic valve — to actually stop the water. Pair any smart device with a real-world plan for who responds when it alerts.
With the systems handled, the last step is a single unhurried loop through the house. This is the part that converts a pile of good intentions into a home that is genuinely ready. Walk it the same way every trip and it becomes muscle memory.
Start in the kitchen: fridge and freezer cold and, for longer trips, cleared of anything that will spoil; dishwasher supply valve closed; countertop appliances unplugged; garbage and organics taken out so you do not return to a science experiment. Move to the laundry and mechanical room: washer hose valves closed, water heater set to vacation or a lower setting if it offers one, sump pump tested, dehumidifier draining, and a last scan for any drip. In the basement, confirm windows are latched and nothing is already wet. In the garage, stop any device charging, confirm the door will close and stay closed, and make sure e-bikes and battery packs are stored safely. On the main floor, set the thermostat, put lights on timers, close blinds on valuables, and confirm your cameras are online. Then the doors and windows, every one, and finally the main water shutoff if your trip warrants it.
The countdown below compresses all of it into the final half hour so nothing gets skipped in the rush to leave.
Use the printable checklist below as your physical companion — screenshot it or print it and tick each zone as you clear it. Because the same logic runs in reverse for cold-weather departures, keep our winterizing before you leave checklist handy for snowbird season and winter trips.
Spending half an hour preparing your home will not eliminate every risk. But it will eliminate many of the most common — and most preventable — problems homeowners face while they are away. Once the checklist is complete, you can leave knowing you have done the practical work to protect your home while you are busy making memories somewhere else.
With the systems handled, the last step is a single unhurried loop through the house. This is the part that converts a pile of good intentions into a home that is genuinely ready. Walk it the same way every trip and it becomes muscle memory.
Start in the kitchen: fridge and freezer cold and, for longer trips, cleared of anything that will spoil; dishwasher supply valve closed; countertop appliances unplugged; garbage and organics taken out so you do not return to a science experiment. Move to the laundry and mechanical room: washer hose valves closed, water heater set to vacation or a lower setting if it offers one, sump pump tested, dehumidifier draining, and a last scan for any drip. In the basement, confirm windows are latched and nothing is already wet. In the garage, stop any device charging, confirm the door will close and stay closed, and make sure e-bikes and battery packs are stored safely. On the main floor, set the thermostat, put lights on timers, close blinds on valuables, and confirm your cameras are online. Then the doors and windows, every one, and finally the main water shutoff if your trip warrants it.
The countdown below compresses all of it into the final half hour so nothing gets skipped in the rush to leave.
Use the printable checklist below as your physical companion — screenshot it or print it and tick each zone as you clear it. Because the same logic runs in reverse for cold-weather departures, keep our winterizing before you leave checklist handy for snowbird season and winter trips.
Spending half an hour preparing your home will not eliminate every risk. But it will eliminate many of the most common — and most preventable — problems homeowners face while they are away. Once the checklist is complete, you can leave knowing you have done the practical work to protect your home while you are busy making memories somewhere else.
About the Author
Ryan is the founder of Homeowner.ca and a proud Canadian homeowner based in Guelph, Ontario. Over his 25-year career in digital publishing, he has focused on transforming complex information into clear, practical guidance that helps people make confident, well-informed decisions.
For any trip longer than a weekend, yes — closing the main valve depressurizes the whole home so a failure anywhere cannot flood it. The main exception is if something in the house needs a water supply while you are gone, which is uncommon for most trips.
Yes. Many heaters have a "vacation" mode; if not, lowering the temperature saves energy with no downside for a short trip. Leave a gas heater's pilot as the manufacturer recommends rather than fully shutting it down unless you are comfortable relighting it.
No, unless you plan to empty and clean them. A full freezer especially holds temperature well and protects your food. Unplugging risks spoilage and odour, and a warm, sealed appliance can grow mould.
Raise it a few degrees above your comfort setting — many homeowners use roughly 25 to 27°C — so the system runs less but still controls humidity. Avoid switching cooling off entirely in humid regions, as that invites moisture and mould.
Because some systems are actively protecting your home. Smoke alarms, the fridge, the sump pump, and humidity control all earn their power. The savings from switching them off are trivial next to the cost of a flood, a spoiled freezer, or a mould remediation.
Absolutely. Your sump pump is your basement's defence during a summer storm, and storms are common in the weeks people travel. Leave it powered, and test it by lifting the float before you go. A battery backup is worth considering for outage protection.
Many Canadian policies change or limit coverage once a home is unoccupied beyond a set period, commonly around 30 consecutive days, but terms vary by insurer. A typical two-week vacation is usually fine; longer absences warrant a call to your broker first.
For a normal short trip, generally no. For extended absences, or if your home is already between occupants, check your policy's unoccupancy terms and confirm any requirements — such as someone checking the home — before you leave.
No — a house lit around the clock signals absence as clearly as one that is always dark. Put a few interior lights on timers or smart plugs so they cycle on a believable schedule instead.
Avoid it for large lithium-ion items like e-bikes, e-scooters, and power-tool batteries, which pose an unattended fire risk. Charge what you need, unplug it, and store batteries away from exits and flammable materials.
For devices that will sit idle a long time, removing and safely storing the batteries in a cool, dry place prevents leakage and corrosion. Keep critical devices like smoke and carbon monoxide alarms fully powered.
Keep humidity controlled: run the air conditioner at a modest setpoint or leave a self-draining dehumidifier on, keep some airflow with exhaust fans or an HRV on low, and fix any existing leak before you go. Sealing a warm home with no moisture control is the main cause of vacation mould.
For most homeowners, yes — water is the top driver of large insured losses, and these devices catch or stop leaks you would otherwise miss for days. Some insurers offer premium discounts for a monitored automatic shutoff, so ask your broker.
Hold your mail through Canada Post or have a trusted neighbour collect it daily, pause recurring deliveries, and redirect packages. An overflowing mailbox or a porch stacked with parcels is the clearest sign that no one is home.
Yes — test each alarm so a dead unit or a low-battery chirp is not waiting for you, and confirm alarms carry a recognized Canadian certification mark such as CSA or ULC. Provincial guidance, including Ontario's fire safety page, calls for working, certified alarms on every storey and outside sleeping areas.
