Before Leaving Home this Winter - 7 Top Tips

Remember to prepare your home and your sitter before leaving home this winter. Try and avoid the common homeowner mistake of thinking all will be well just because you found a great housesitter. Prepare the ground, check your home, make notes and leave emergency contacts to ensure that if anything happens your sitter is prepared. Windows especially get overlooked. Check them and show the sitter. Read on to learn more.

Leaving Home This Winter? Window Checks to Make Before Your House Sitter Arrives

The flights are booked, the sitter is confirmed and the cat’s feeding routine is written up in neat notes on the fridge. Then, three weeks into your trip, a message arrives: the back bedroom window won’t latch, there’s a puddle on the sill most mornings, and the house never quite feels warm.

Windows rarely make it onto the handover list, yet in a British winter they work harder than almost anything else in the house. They hold the heat in, keep the weather out and play a big part in how secure your home is while you’re away. A short walk-round before you leave can spare your sitter a cold, frustrating stay and spare you a repair bill when you get back.

Before Leaving Home This Winter Make a Checklist for Your Sitter

Before your your housesitter arrives make a checklist to help you and your housesitter get ready for your absence from home in the winter. Be methodical, do a walk through the house and make notes.

Why windows belong on your pre-sit checklist

A house sitter’s job is to keep your home lived-in and looked after. That only works if the house is easy to look after. A window that sticks open, a seal that lets rain through or a missing key leaves your sitter with a problem they didn’t create and may not feel able to fix.

There’s a practical side too. Home insurance policies often expect windows to have working locks and to be locked whenever the property is unattended, even for a few hours. Read your own policy wording before you go, and make sure your sitter knows what’s expected. A window that can’t be secured is a gap in your cover as well as your security.

cat sitting on a window sill — Before leaving home this winter check all the entry points to your home and make notes
Photo credit – Tetyana Kovyrina

The walk-round: what to check, room by room

Set aside half an hour on a dry day and work through every room, including the ones you rarely use. Spare rooms and loft conversions are where small problems go unnoticed.

Open, close and lock every window. Handles should turn without force and locks should engage fully. Stiff hinges usually just need cleaning and a little lubricant.
Feel for draughts. On a breezy day, run the back of your hand around the edges of each opening section. On sash windows, pay attention to where the two sashes meet in the middle.
Check seals and putty. Perished rubber seals and cracked or missing glazing putty let water creep behind the glass, where it does slow, hidden damage.
Test the timber. Press a screwdriver gently into the bottom rail and the sill. Firm wood is fine; wood that feels soft or spongy is starting to rot.
Look between the panes. Misting inside a double-glazed unit means the seal has failed. It won’t clear on its own, and the unit loses much of its insulating value.
Try the trickle vents. If your windows have them, make sure they open and close. Your sitter will need them to keep condensation under control.

Before leaving home this winter make notes and photos property to prepare your notes. Some fixes take ten minutes; others are worth sorting properly.

When a repair won’t see you through another winter

before leaving home this winter get repairs done on the home — Make sure you have repairs done before leaving home this winter, keep the house safe
Photo credit – RDNE Stock project

Sometimes the walk-round tells you something you’d rather not hear. If rot has spread beyond a small patch, if several frames no longer close properly, or if misted units are turning up all over the house, patching things before you leave only postpones the problem. Cold, wet months are when those weaknesses show most, and your sitter will be the one living with them.

Replacement takes planning. Bespoke frames are made to measure, so there’s a lead time between ordering and fitting. If you’re going away for a long stretch, it can make sense to measure and price the work now and schedule installation for when you’re home. Supply-only makers such as timberwindows-direct.co.uk produce timber frames to your exact sizes, which leaves you free to book a local fitter you already trust.

The style of window affects comfort as well as looks. Casements close tight against a compressed seal, which makes them easier to keep draught-free; sliding sashes rely on well-fitted beads and brush seals to stay snug. Looking through the window styles from Timber Windows Direct is a useful way to see how modern double-glazed timber frames compare with what’s in your home now, particularly if you want to keep a traditional appearance.

Whatever you choose, replacement windows in England must meet Building Regulations Part L, which sets a maximum U-value of 1.4 W/m²K, or a Window Energy Rating of band B, for most homes. If you live in a conservation area or a listed building, speak to your local planning team first, as like-for-like timber is often expected.

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Locks, keys and security while you’re away

One of the easiest problems to avoid is a missing key. If your windows lock with a key, gather every one, label them by room and keep them together somewhere your sitter can find them. Add the location to your house manual.

Older windows can be the weak point. Traditional sliding sashes often rely on a single catch where the two sashes meet, and older casements may have one handle and nothing else holding them shut. Sash stops and window restrictors are inexpensive, let your sitter air a room without leaving it wide open, and make life harder for anyone trying to get in from outside.

Decide in advance which windows are for airing and which should stay shut. Ground-floor windows at the back of the house, or anything hidden from the street, are better kept locked for the whole sit.

Leave your sitter a simple window note

A good house manual already covers the boiler, the bins and the pets. Add a short section on windows:

Which windows can be opened for airing, and for how long
Where the keys are kept, and which key fits which room
How to manage condensation: open the trickle vents, wipe the sills in the morning, and keep the heating on a low, steady setting rather than switching it off
What to do if a pane cracks or a window won’t close, including a glazier or handyperson you’re happy for them to call
Any windows that are known to be awkward, and the knack for closing them

Ask your sitter to send a quick message if anything changes during the stay. A loose handle reported in the first week is far easier to deal with than a window that’s been taped shut for a month.

A half-hour job that pays back all winter

It pays to prepare before leaving home this winter. You don’t need to become a window expert before you travel. Walk around the house, check that every window opens, closes and locks, note anything soft, misted or draughty, and leave your sitter clear instructions. Fix what you can, plan for what you can’t, and you’ll come home to a house that stayed warm, dry and secure while you were away.