Summer vacation season is among the most exciting times of the year for most people. It is a period when you take a break from work, spend time with your loved ones, and travel to your favorite destinations. As you plan for your vacation, you should also understand all the safety measures that you should apply to ensure that your home remains safe as you travel.
Turning off the water main to your home while on vacation, for instance, is a significant safety measure that you should never forget when traveling. While your home is left unattended, if a plumbing emergency occurs, no one is there to catch it before it gets out of hand. So what exactly can happen when you forget to turn off the water? Here are some of the primary reasons why it’s recommended you turn off your water at home every time you go on a vacation.
Damage on Your Home
Water and fire are the most significant risk factors for your home safety. Besides freezing your pipes, other effects of water damage include leaking supply systems and dripping water heating systems. These plumbing issues are costly to repair and may also affect other areas in your home. The most effective trick to putting these water damages at bay lies in turning off the water in your home anytime you go on vacation or travel away for extended periods. Why prepare to treat what you can prevent?
Costs and Expenses
Full home insurance is most homeowners’ definition of peace of mind against water, fire, and break-ins anytime they are away for long. Even with full insurance against all the risks involved, it’s strongly advised to turn off the water while on vacation. Despite the full home insurance, you will always incur huge costs and expenses in an accident. While some of the items may not be replaced, you may also be required to hire professional cleaning services and electricians, among other essential service providers. In the end, you end up experiencing significant, but avoidable, costs and expenses.
Turning off the water supply in your home is one of the most effective preventive measures to these massive financial costs. Insurance may be helpful, but you will never recover the total costs. As the insurance companies take advantage of cost minimization, you are left with massive expenses that you should have avoided initially. The money from the insurance companies also takes several weeks and even months to reach you, which is quite inconvenient.
In some cases where you leave the water running while on vacation, your insurance policy may be declared void. Most home insurance policies work under the terms that your home is under close and constant monitoring. In cases where they realize that there was no one watching over the home, you do not get any compensation as your policy is ruled void.
Stress and Inconvenience
As you wait for the insurance company to investigate the circumstances surrounding the accident at your home, you should find somewhere to stay. This period is stressful and highly inconveniencing as you do not know whether your policy will be approved or not. You should be prepared for denial, which means you have to incur all the costs and expenses involved in repairing your home and replacing all the essentials.
If approved, you should wait for a few days or weeks for the check, which leads to more stress and inconvenience staying away from your lovely home. When returning home, things will no longer be as they used to be. Your lovely old pieces will be gone and replaced with new ones. It should take a while to forget the sweet old memories and get used to your current state.
Why go through all the above hassle when you can maintain your peace and convenience by turning off your water any time you travel? If you do not know how to turn off the water or you are likely to forget, then make a note of it and enjoy your worry-free traveling!