A vacation home safety checklist: 10 steps to take before you leave

An empty house tends to announce itself. Mail piles up in the box. Packages sit on the porch for days. The same windows stay dark every night, and the lawn grows shaggy. A beach photo tagged in real time tells anyone scrolling that the owners are far from home. None of these signals is hard to read, and most of them are easy to erase before you leave.

That is the practical core of figuring out how to keep your home safe while traveling. Much of the work happens before departure, and much of it costs little or nothing. A plug-in timer, a request to pause mail delivery, a conversation with a neighbor and a few minutes spent checking locks can change how a house looks from the street. Other steps take more planning, such as reviewing an insurance policy or setting up a monitored alarm.

Home security while on vacation also covers more than break-ins. A burst pipe or a faulty appliance can do serious damage to a house that nobody is watching. A smoke detector with a dead battery offers no warning. A leak that would be caught within minutes on an ordinary day can run unnoticed for a week or more. Protecting a house while you are away means thinking about water, fire and weather alongside locks and cameras.

The 10 steps that follow are a practical selection rather than a complete or ranked list. They fall into four broad groups. The first is making the house look occupied, through lighting, mail handling, yard upkeep and a trusted person who stops by. The second is physical security, from secondary entry points such as garage doors and sliding doors to where spare keys and passports are kept. The third is digital security, which covers video doorbells, camera accounts and what you share on social media. The fourth is protection against loss, including fire and water prevention, insurance terms for an unoccupied home and monitored alarm systems.

Each step stands on its own. Readers can start with whatever fits their home, their budget and the length of their trip. A weekend away calls for less preparation than a month abroad. A renter will have different options than a homeowner. Taken together, the steps also work as a vacation home safety checklist to run through before every trip.

Illustration: Quartz

Plug-in timers and smart plugs switch lamps on and off on a schedule, so a house keeps showing signs of life after dark while you're away. A schedule that varies from night to night looks more natural than one lamp snapping on at the same minute every evening.

The simplest option is a plug-in timer. It sits between the wall outlet and the lamp's plug. Mechanical versions use a rotating dial with small pins or tabs that mark the on and off periods. Digital versions use a small screen and buttons, and many can store several on-off events per day. Neither type needs Wi-Fi or an app. That suits anyone who would rather not connect household devices to the internet.

Smart plugs do the same basic job but connect to a home Wi-Fi network. They are controlled through a phone app. A schedule can be changed from a hotel room, and a lamp can be switched on manually if travel plans shift. Many smart plug apps also offer a randomized or "away" mode that moves on and off times around within a set window. Some can follow local sunset times. Lights then come on at dusk even as the days lengthen or shorten over a long trip.

Before buying, check whether a smart plug works with your router. Many models connect only on the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band. Running any new schedule for a few evenings before departure shows whether it behaves as expected.

Where the lamps sit affects how the house looks from outside. Choose lamps in rooms that can be seen from the street or sidewalk, such as a living room with front-facing windows. A lamp in a back hallway does little to change the view from the curb. Two or three lamps in different rooms, set to switch at staggered times, imitate someone moving through the house. A bedroom lamp that turns on later in the evening and off near bedtime follows a familiar pattern.

Matching the schedule to the household's normal routine also helps. If the family usually turns lights off around 11 p.m., a timer that keeps every lamp burning until dawn looks out of place. Leaving lights on around the clock has the same problem. A lamp glowing at noon can signal that no one is home to switch it off.

A few practical checks round out the setup. LED bulbs use far less electricity than incandescent bulbs and give off less heat. That makes them better suited to lamps running for hours unattended. Confirm that a timer or smart plug's rated load covers the lamp plugged into it. Do not plug space heaters or other high-wattage appliances into a timer. Keep each lamp's shade and cord clear of curtains and furniture.

Illustration: Quartz

Pausing mail delivery and redirecting packages before a trip keeps an overflowing mailbox and a stack of boxes from announcing that nobody is home. Both steps can be handled online and should be set up before departure day.

For letters and flyers, the U.S. Postal Service offers a Hold Mail service. Residents can request it online through the Postal Service website or in person at a local post office. The request needs to be made in advance. That puts it on the to-do list alongside booking flights and arranging pet care.

A full mailbox is more than a visual cue. Mail often carries bank statements, credit card offers, tax forms and other documents with names, addresses and account details. Leaving those in an unattended box for days exposes them to anyone who walks by.

Packages need separate attention. The Postal Service holds the parcels it delivers along with the letters. Many online orders, however, arrive through private carriers. UPS and FedEx $FDX each offer delivery management tools that let recipients see incoming shipments and change how or when some of them arrive. Signing up before a trip can make it easier to hold or reschedule a box headed for an empty porch.

Retail orders are another variable. Shoppers can delay checkout on nonurgent purchases or choose a later delivery date where a retailer allows it. Many retailers also offer in-store pickup. Some shipments can go to a pickup locker or a staffed pickup point instead of the front door.

Recurring deliveries are easy to forget. A newspaper subscription, a meal kit or a monthly supply box will keep arriving on schedule unless it is paused. Many of these services let customers skip a delivery or suspend an account through their website or app.

No system catches everything. A gift from a relative or an order placed weeks earlier can still turn up. A neighbor who agrees to grab anything left at the door closes that gap and keeps the entryway clear until the household returns.

Illustration: Quartz

A neighbor who checks on your home while you travel can catch problems early. They also help the property look occupied. Choose someone reliable who lives close by, agree on their tasks and give them a clear way to reach you.

Proximity matters more than how close the friendship is. A friend across town may stop by only once, while someone next door or across the street sees your house every day. That daily view lets them notice small changes, such as a gate left open or a porch light that has stopped working.

Trash and recycling bins are among the simplest tasks to hand over. A bin left at the curb for days after collection, or missing on pickup day, shows that no one is home. Ask your neighbor to wheel the bins out and bring them back on your usual schedule.

A short walk around the outside of the house is another useful request. Your neighbor can confirm that doors are still shut, windows are intact and nothing has been disturbed. If they have a way inside, a quick look can catch a leak or a tripped breaker before it turns into a larger repair. Some households also ask a neighbor to park in the driveway now and then. A car that comes and goes adds another sign of activity.

Be specific about what counts as unusual. Examples include a broken window, a door left ajar, an unfamiliar vehicle that stays for long periods or someone trying to get into the house. Agree in advance that your neighbor should call local police about anything that looks like a break-in in progress. They should not investigate alone.

Tell your neighbor about anyone you expect at the house. A house cleaner, pet sitter, landscaper or contractor could otherwise be mistaken for an intruder. Sharing their names and the days they will come prevents false alarms.

Exchange contact details before you leave. Give your mobile number and a copy of your itinerary, including travel dates and where you are staying. If you are going abroad, note the time difference so your neighbor knows when you are likely to answer. Add an emergency contact who lives nearby and can act if you are unreachable. Include the number of a plumber or electrician you trust.

A brief message when you get back lets your neighbor know the job is done. Offering to do the same for them when they travel keeps the arrangement fair.

Illustration: Quartz

Before leaving, lock every exterior door and window, then check the entry points people tend to overlook: the garage, basement windows, sliding glass doors and pet doors. A wooden dowel or metal rod laid in a sliding door's bottom track is a simple way to keep it from opening.

Start with the front and back doors. A deadbolt adds protection beyond the spring latch built into most doorknobs, but only if it is thrown. Turn each one fully, then push and pull on the door to confirm it holds. A door that rattles or shifts in its frame may have a loose strike plate. Tightening its screws is a quick job with a screwdriver.

Windows need a room-by-room pass. Ground-floor windows are the easiest to reach. Windows screened from the street by hedges or fences are the easiest to forget. Close and latch each one, including any left open a crack for ventilation. Basement windows sit low, are often small and are rarely opened. Their latches can stiffen or break without anyone noticing. Test each one and replace any latch that will not catch.

Sliding glass doors have two weak points. The latch on many models is light, and some panels can be lifted out of their track. Cut the dowel or rod so it fits snugly between the closed door and the frame. It then stops the door from sliding even if the latch is forced. Hardware stores also sell bar-style locks that brace the door and anti-lift devices that fit into the top of the frame.

The garage needs its own check. Close the main door fully and watch to make sure it stays down. Some garage doors have a manual slide bolt on the inside. If you engage it, unplug the automatic opener so the motor cannot run against the locked door. Lock the door between the garage and the house as well. That door is often left unlocked day to day. Take garage door remotes out of any car left parked in the driveway.

Pet doors leave an opening in a door or wall that is easy to overlook. If the flap came with a locking cover or insert, put it in place. If it did not, block the opening from the inside with a fitted panel.

Finish with a walk around the outside of the house. Lock gates and sheds. Store ladders indoors, where they cannot be used to reach upper-floor windows.

Illustration: Quartz

A video doorbell and a few security cameras that send alerts to your phone let you see what is happening at home from anywhere. Before you leave, place them to cover every entrance. Then lock down the accounts that control them.

A video doorbell watches the spot most visitors approach first: the front door. Many models start recording when someone rings or when motion is detected. Many also offer two-way audio. That means you can answer the door from another country and tell a delivery driver where to leave a box.

Outdoor cameras extend that view to the other ways into the house. Useful spots include the back door, the side of the garage, the driveway and any ground-floor window hidden from the street. Mount cameras high enough that they are hard to reach or knock out of position. Make sure night vision covers the areas you care about after dark.

Indoor cameras fill a different gap. An indoor camera pointed at a main hallway or a back entrance can show whether someone has actually entered the house. It can also reveal problems that have nothing to do with intruders, such as a pet sitter who never arrived. If a house sitter or cleaner will be inside while you are away, tell them where the cameras are.

Alerts help only when they point to something worth checking. Many camera apps let you draw motion zones and adjust sensitivity. That keeps a busy sidewalk or a swaying tree from triggering a stream of notifications. Adjust these settings a week or so before the trip. Then confirm that alerts reach your phone over mobile data, not just over your home Wi-Fi.

Power and connectivity matter on a long trip. Charge battery-powered cameras fully before you go. Confirm that your home internet connection is stable. A camera that drops offline cannot send alerts or upload footage to the cloud. Check whether footage is saved to a cloud subscription or a local memory card, and find out how long it is kept.

The account behind the cameras needs as much protection as the front door. Install any pending firmware updates, which often patch security flaws. Replace default or reused passwords with a unique one. Turn on two-factor authentication so a stolen password alone cannot unlock your video feeds.

Illustration: Quartz

Before a trip, unplug small appliances, shut off the main water valve if you'll be away for a long stretch, and test every smoke and carbon monoxide detector. Those steps keep a minor fault from turning into a major repair while no one is home to catch it.

Start in the kitchen and move room by room. Toasters, coffee makers, toaster ovens, space heaters and chargers don't need power while the house sits empty. Pulling the plug removes them as a fire risk. It also shields their electronics from power surges during storms. It ends the standby power many devices draw around the clock. The refrigerator and freezer should stay plugged in.

Water damage is the other threat. With no one inside, a slow drip or a split hose can keep running until the owner returns. It can soak floors, drywall and the ceilings below. Washing machine supply hoses, toilet fill lines, water heaters and the pipes under sinks are common places for a drip to start.

For longer trips, closing the main shutoff valve stops water from entering the plumbing at all. The valve usually sits where the water line comes into the house. Look in a basement, crawl space or utility room, or near the water meter. Locate it and turn it a few days before departure to make sure it isn't stuck. If you have a tank water heater, check the manufacturer's instructions before leaving. Many gas models have a vacation setting that keeps the pilot lit while holding the water at a low temperature.

Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms need attention, too. Press the test button on each unit and replace any weak batteries. Check the manufacture date printed on the back. Swap out any alarm older than the replacement age its maker lists.

Cold weather adds one more task. Leave the heat on at a reduced setting rather than turning it off. Pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated rooms can freeze and burst when a house goes cold. Opening the cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls lets warmer room air reach the plumbing. In hot, humid climates, raising the air conditioning setting instead of shutting the system off helps keep indoor humidity in check.

Illustration: Quartz

Valuables and hard-to-replace documents left in a dresser drawer are easy to find and easy to carry off. Before a trip, move them into a fire-resistant safe at home or a bank safe deposit box, and take any spare key out of its hiding place outside.

A home safe works best for items you may need on short notice. Passports that are not traveling with you, birth certificates, Social Security cards, property records and spare car keys all fit in a small unit. Jewelry and cash can go in alongside them.

Fire resistance and theft resistance are different features. A fire-resistant safe is built to shield paper from heat for a rated period. A lightweight model can still be picked up and removed, though. Bolting the safe to the floor or to the inside of a closet makes it much harder to take. Some fire-resistant safes also resist water. That matters if a pipe bursts or firefighters put out a blaze with hoses. Check the manufacturer's stated ratings before relying on a safe for either kind of protection.

A bank safe deposit box suits items you rarely touch, such as heirloom jewelry, original deeds and savings bonds. The vault sits away from the house entirely, so a break-in or fire at home cannot reach it. Access is limited to the bank's hours. Anything you might need during the trip should stay somewhere else. The contents of a safe deposit box are not covered by FDIC deposit insurance. Ask your insurer whether a homeowners or renters policy extends to them.

Spare keys are another weak point. Doormats, planters, fake rocks and the ledge above a door frame are obvious hiding spots. A key hidden outside gives anyone who finds it a way in that leaves no sign of forced entry. Remove it before you leave.

Hand the spare to the person checking on your home instead. If your front door has a smart lock, a temporary access code can replace a physical key. You can delete the code when you return.

Copies matter too. Keep a photocopy or digital scan of your passport and other identity documents somewhere separate from the originals. If the originals are lost or stolen while you are away, a copy makes them easier to report and replace.