Tip of the Week: New Tip: Vacation tips ...

This is the time of the year we leave our house vacant, maybe a few days or weeks at a time. Vacations are great, but there are several things that you need to think about before you leave your house.

The first is security around your home. The best home security system is to have nosy neighbors. Let them know you will be gone, and have them contact the police is they see anything or anyone suspicious. The police are there to help; do not be hesitant calling them.

If you do call, be prepared to help them out. If you see a strange car, try to get the make and model, color, and plate number, if possible. Have a description ready of suspicious people…the color of clothes, hair, and any other characteristics or features to help the police.

Always be a good neighbor and if you see something unusual, call your neighbor or the police.

Other things to do for home security…

Have you mail and paper stopped, or have a neighbor take it in daily.

Don't leave a message on you answering machine telling that you are on vacation.,,the best thing to do is turn it off.

Have a neighbor park his or her car in your driveway so it looks like someone is coming and going.

Keep garage curtains closed so potential bad guys can't look in and see that there is no car.

Set several timers so you have a couple of lights come on at dusk for several hours in different room and go off several hours later at different times. Do the same in the morning.

Double-check and make sure all doors are locked, including the garage door that goes into the house from the garage.

Make sure all windows are locked and secure including basement windows.

Have a neighbor take your trash out on trash day or put some of their trash in the place where you ordinarily put your garbage out for pickup.

Before you leave home…

Check to make sure that all your appliances are turned off, and leave nothing running, unless you have to have it operating, like your refrigerator.

It is a good idea to turn off your water or at least turn it off to the washer and other appliance that have hoses or supply lines that could burst.

If you turn of the water make sure you turn the gas off to the water heater.

Don't leave a lot of food in the refrigerator or freezer. If you have power outage you could lose all the food. And if you do have a problem, you’ll have an extra mess to clean up.

One way to check to see if you lost power to the refrigerator or freezer is take a “baggie” and put a couple ice cubes in it, and put one in every freezer. If the ice cubes are still in cube shape, your food should be fine, since there was no thaw. If the ice cube has melted, it won't look like a cube anymore. If it melted, then you know all the food in the freezer and refrigerator has been warm and should not be eaten.

The best thing you can do is to have a house sitter or someone check your house at least once a day; have them walk through the house and check every room. Before you leave for vacation, show them where you turn of the water, electricity, and gas to the house. Make sure they know where to turn off anything mechanical too. And make sure they water your plants!

Have a great vacation!

Send any questions you have to The Hardware Guy. More tips.