winterizing

[Mary R.]

It appears that I did get the house I was hoping to. It won't close for 4-6 weeks, which places it at the end of the year, and freezing temps.
My questions are: How do I find out if it has been winterized, since no one will be in it during that time? Who's responsibility is that, and how do I make sure it gets done? It was sold through an auction company, and the local listing is a local real estate company who pretty well lost total interest in it.

Who do I need to talk with about this?
TIA

[Steve Babiak]

OK, I'm not a winterizing contractor - in my area (in northern part of the USA), the banks have somebody like that do the winterizing.

Some things they do:

Turn off water at the meter - the main shut-off valve for the house. Then, they open all the faucets and flush the toilets, to get water out of the lines and holding tanks. Also, there is usually a little screw-cap on the shut-off valve where the pipe can be drained so that all pipes are empty of water. Now, if the shut-off valve in the house doesn't work, then the shut-off inthe street has to be used. And then the water meter is also disconnected, so that there is no way for water to get into the pipes.

Then, all the traps get anti-freeze - traps exist in lots of places (toliets, under sinks, under tubs, under shower pan, in the washing machine discharge pipes, in floor drains - I may have missed some). If there is a dishwasher or clothes washer, those should be disconnected - they freeze very easily, and they don't make it easy to just get the water out. Drain pumps on both of those are plastic (usually) and will crack when the water in them freezes.

Before draining the hot water heater and heating system, the fuel source to them is shut-off.

The water heater will be drained.

Boilers and radiators will be drained.

Not sure about sump pumps - you would want them to pump out water, but if things freeze ...

Not a pool guy, so I have no idea about those.

After winterizing, there will be signs posted (taped on) all over the place identifying that the place has been winterized and who the contractor was that performed that task and their contact info. Signs will appear on all sorts of water using devices, and on the water heater and heating system. The toilets have their bowl opening marked with either a wide strip of tape or there is a special cover that can be used - either way, the idea is to not try to use that which has been winterized.

Just some of the things I have seen in my "visits" to winterized properties.