People book opening cleans readily and closing cleans almost never. It is understandable — you are leaving, the season is over, and the house looks fine. But an empty house is not static. It keeps doing things for eight months, and what it does depends almost entirely on how you left it.
Moisture is the enemy
Everything expensive that happens to a closed shore house traces back to moisture with nowhere to go. Damp fabric, sealed bathrooms, a refrigerator with the door shut, a dishwasher with standing water in the trap.
- Refrigerator: emptied, wiped, off, door propped
- Dishwasher and washing machine: run empty, then leave doors ajar
- Bathrooms: dried, doors open, extractor run one last time
- All soft furnishings dry before you leave — no exceptions
- Interior doors open so air can move through the house
Food and pests
Anything edible left in a cupboard is an invitation. That includes what people forget: pet food, spices, sealed jars that were not sealed as well as assumed, and the bag of sugar in the back.
The clean itself
A closing clean should be thorough, because dirt left in place for eight months bonds. Grease on a hob in September is a wipe. In May it is a scrub. The same is true of bathroom limescale and refrigerator spills.
Worth doing at the same time
Note anything that needs attention while the house is empty and accessible — a slow drain, a window that does not seal, a stain you have not identified. Those are far cheaper to deal with in the off-season than in June.
Set the heat, do not turn it off
Cutting heat entirely to save money is how pipes freeze, and a burst pipe in an empty house is the single most expensive thing that happens to shore properties. Low heat, set consistently, costs far less than one claim and one winter of water damage.
Soft furnishings and paper
Anything that can hold moisture is a risk over eight months. Cushions and throws are better stored raised off the floor with air around them. Books and paper left in a damp closed room will smell of it permanently — that odour does not come out.
Deal with the drains
Traps dry out over a long closure and let sewer gas back into the house, which is the smell people describe on opening and blame on mould. Pouring a little water into each drain before you leave, or using a trap seal, prevents it entirely.
Leave a note for yourself
Where the water shutoff is, what heat you set, what you turned off, and anything that needs attention in spring. You will not remember in April. Tape it inside a kitchen cabinet where the person opening the house will see it.
And put the opening clean in the calendar
A house opened properly the week before you arrive is a completely different experience from arriving to a house that has been shut since September. We close and open seasonal homes across Spring Lake, Wall Township and the barrier island.
We close and open seasonal homes across Spring Lake, Wall Township and the barrier island. See all service areas.