The odor of rotting food when we opened the front door was the first sign that something had gone terribly wrong while my husband and I were away on a summer trip.
The next morning, we went down to the kitchen and saw a mouse and — shivers! — a small snake, possibly hunting the mouse, slithering across the floor.
We spent our first 24 hours home removing spoiled food from the failed freezer that was damaged possibly by a power outage, scrubbing its interior and visiting the hardware store to buy mouse traps. (My husband quickly evicted the snake using a broom and a bucket.)
Nothing ends a vacation buzz like a critter invasion and a refrigerator repair bill, so I vowed to never again face such a situation. Here’s what I learned about preparing your home — and your wallet — for an absence, after consulting a variety of wildlife and home-maintenance experts.
Why do wild animals want to come into my house?
Wildlife of any sort — rodents, raccoons — are generally seeking two things, said Kevin O’Connor, the host of the PBS home renovation series “This Old House.” “They want food, and they want water,” he said. “They are not showing up because they enjoy your company.”
A quiet, unoccupied property may make them bolder. “If a home is vacant for several weeks, it’s a little bit more inviting,” said Jim Fredericks, an entomologist and spokesman for the National Pest Management Association, an industry group.
To deter them, do everything you can before you leave to remove enticements. “They’re responding mostly to smells,” Mr. O’Connor said. Clear any food from counters, including fruit in open bowls. Store food — not just human provisions like flour, sugar, cereal and coffee, but also pet kibble and birdseed — in sturdy containers with tightfitting lids. Even scented laundry detergent can be a lure for mice, Mr. O’Connor said.
Take out the garbage and recycling, of course, and arrange for the bins to be emptied promptly. (Enlist a helpful neighbor to put your bins at the curb, if trash pickup is a few days away.)
Inspect the house and yard for any water sources, like pet bowls, and dispose of them. Take care of leaking faucets. Even a small drip can provide drinks for thirsty animals.
If you have an outdoor grill, clean it and cover it to discourage raccoons.
Run the dishwasher and clean out the garbage disposal before you leave, said Dina Sartore-Bodo, senior advice editor at Realtor.com. “A deep clean is your best bet.”
What other steps should I take before heading out of town?
Blocking access to your home in the first place — what experts call “exclusion” of animals and insects — is as important as eliminating sources of food and water. Well before you head to the airport or pack your car for an extended getaway, walk around your house, looking for cracks and gaps in your home’s exterior that need to be filled in — a step that should ideally be part of routine home maintenance.
“A lot of the things you can do are things you should be doing on a regular basis anyway,” said Paul Hope, deputy home editor at Consumer Reports. “Really seal up your house as well as you can.”
Even small openings can admit pests. Mice can slip through holes as small as a quarter inch in diameter, or about the width of a pencil, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
You can fill holes or gaps where pipes, wires and water spigots enter the home with caulk or stuff them with steel wool, available for a few dollars at hardware or chain stores. (One caveat: Avoid using steel wool next to copper pipes because it may damage them, said Drew Cowley, immediate past president of the National Wildlife Control Operators Association, an industry group.)
Any space around a door where you can see daylight (guilty!) should be filled with weatherstripping. There are myriad how-to videos available online about installing weatherstripping.
Other possible entry points to check: the cabinets under the sink and overhead garage doors. Door sweeps — flat pieces of plastic or metal attached to the bottom of a door — can help keep out pests. Specialized mesh caps can cover chimneys to keep animals out of your fireplace.
Lattice often installed beneath raised decks and porches can have openings too large to keep out smaller animals, Mr. Hope said. Using a finer wire mesh barrier may provide more protection.
Rooftops are an especially popular point of entry for squirrels, so prune any tree limbs close to your house. “If they can make the jump, they will try it,” Mr. Hope said. A roofing contractor can assess shingles and repair any holes where squirrels may enter. “That’s not usually a D.I.Y. job,” Mr. Hope said.
Are there tools that can help protect against water damage?
Water from leaky pipes or appliances can cause major damage, and “if you’re not there, the danger is exponential,” Mr. O’Connor said. (Our malfunctioning refrigerator leaked some water, but didn’t cause serious damage.) Technology tools can help reduce your risk.
“Smart” leak detection tools can trigger alarms and send alerts to your phone. Some systems can even automatically shut off your home’s main water valve. The tools often use small, disc-shaped wireless sensors that you place at high-risk areas, like near your refrigerator, dishwasher or washing machine, or in basements and crawl spaces.
Operating details vary by system. Mr. Hope said because basic kits generally rely in some way on Wi-Fi, if the power and Wi-Fi go out, you won’t get alerts. Mr. O’Connor said some rely on a cellular connection, or use it as a backup, so you could still get notifications during an outage, or at least be alerted to a power failure.
If you want the best possible protection, Mr. Hope said, Consumer Reports recommends considering a comprehensive home alarm or security system. Many systems have battery backups and most have optional leak detectors, Mr. Hope said, so you could still get alerts if the power failed.
Many new refrigerator models can warn you, through an alarm or an app, if the temperature becomes too warm, so you can have it checked before serious melting occurs. Our refrigerator needed a part replaced (about $300 including labor), and vigorous scrubbing with a jug of OdoBan disinfectant (about $10 at the supermarket) plus a big box of baking soda to freshen the interior. It took time for the odor to dissipate, so we ordered takeout for a day or two before stocking up with new groceries.
Our all-in cost — not including time spent cleaning — was far less than buying a new refrigerator for $1,000 or more. But our refrigerator is almost 20 years old, so even though the repair tech said it might run for five more years, I’m planning on replacing it soon.
What about recruiting on-site help?
Having a trusted friend stay at your home while you’re away, or stop by and check the house, can help spot trouble early. An alternative is a professional home “watcher,” sort of a cross between a house sitter and a property manager. The watcher visits your home on an agreed-upon schedule to look for obvious issues, and check that appliances and heating and cooling systems are working. If there’s a problem, “we can head it off at the pass,” said Jack Luber, executive director of the National Home Watch Association, a group that trains and certifies home watchers. Pricing depends on the frequency of the checks.
Can insurance help?
Standard homeowner policies generally don’t cover problems with rodents or other pests because they’re considered a routine maintenance issue, said Loretta Worters, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute, an industry group.
Water damage from broken pipes or other sudden, accidental damage is generally covered, she said, but problems like mold, caused by ignoring a long-term leak, may not be. Some insurers offer discounts or other incentives for leak detection and automatic shut-off systems, she said, depending on the device used.
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