How to winterize and insure a seasonal property

A seasonal property spends months with nobody in it. A mountain cabin near McCall, Island Park, Park City or Pinetop may be closed from late autumn until spring, and a winter home in Scottsdale, Mesa or St. George may sit empty through the heat of summer. The property risks during those months are predictable: frozen and burst pipes in the north, heat and monsoon damage in the south, undetected leaks everywhere, and break-ins at houses that obviously have no one home.

The insurance risk is that the policy does not respond the way the owner expects. Policies treat freeze damage, water damage, theft and vandalism at an empty house differently from an occupied one, and they often attach conditions the owner must meet. This guide covers how to prepare the house and the policy together before it is closed for the season.

What to gather

Pull these together a few weeks before closing the house.

• The declarations page and full policy for the property, with the policy form, deductibles, and any conditions about heat, water shut-off, unoccupancy or vacancy.
• The dates the house will be closed and reopened, and whether anyone will use it in between.
• The name and contact details of whoever will check on the property, and how often they can go.
• Records of the roof, heating system, water heater and plumbing, including the type of pipe and whether any runs through unheated crawl spaces or exterior walls.
• Whether the property is ever rented out, even for a few weekends.
• Your primary homeowners and umbrella declarations pages.

Step one: confirm the policy is written for seasonal use

A second home should be insured on a policy that knows it is a second home. Carriers write seasonal properties on a secondary homeowners form, a dwelling fire policy, or a specialty form, and each treats the months of absence differently. A standard homeowners policy written as if the cabin were a primary residence misstates the risk, and a carrier that discovers the house was empty for months can contest a claim. Tell the carrier the property is seasonal, how long it is closed, and how it is monitored.

Then find the conditions. Freeze damage to plumbing and appliances is commonly excluded while the dwelling is unoccupied unless the owner maintained heat in the building or shut off the water supply and drained the system and appliances. Vandalism and glass breakage may be excluded if the house counts as vacant rather than unoccupied, which depends on how much furniture remains. Theft coverage at a house that is not the primary residence may be limited. Read each condition, because they tell you exactly what winterizing the house has to achieve.

Step two: winterize a cold-climate property

Carriers look for evidence of these measures when a freeze claim is made, so photograph and date each step.

• Shut off the main water supply, open every tap, and drain the lines, the water heater and toilet tanks. Add plumbing antifreeze to drain traps and toilets where the house will be unheated.
• If you keep the heat on instead, set the thermostat high enough to protect interior walls, open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls, and keep the fuel supply adequate for the whole season.
• Install a low-temperature alarm and a water leak sensor that send alerts by phone, and an automatic water shut-off valve if the plumbing will stay charged.
• Clean gutters, check the roof for loose shingles and flashing, and arrange snow removal so snow load and ice dams do not damage the roof.
• Seal openings where rodents can enter; damage from rodents and vermin is typically excluded.
• Remove or lock up valuables, and store outdoor equipment where it will not be buried or stolen.

Step three: close a desert home for the summer

In the low desert the concern is heat, dust and summer storms rather than freezing. Keep the air conditioning running at a temperature that protects cabinetry, flooring, electronics and anything with adhesives, and have the system serviced before you leave. Shut off the water or install a leak sensor and automatic shut-off valve, since a failed supply line can run for weeks unnoticed. Secure patio furniture and check the roof before monsoon season, when microbursts and heavy rain can lift tiles and drive water in. If there is a pool, arrange service so the water stays balanced and equipment is not damaged; pool maintenance failures are a maintenance issue, not a covered loss.

Step four: arrange inspections and keep liability in place

Arrange for someone to check the property on a regular schedule and keep a log of each visit. Some carriers require inspections at stated intervals for an unoccupied seasonal home, and a regular log helps show that a loss happened suddenly rather than over weeks of neglect. A property manager, a neighbour or a monitoring service can do it; the log matters more than who keeps it.

A seasonal property still needs liability coverage for a snowmobiler injured on the driveway or a guest hurt during a summer visit. If the property is rented out, even occasionally, a standard secondary homeowners policy may exclude or limit coverage for rental activity, and a short-term rental endorsement or landlord policy may be needed. Confirm your umbrella lists the seasonal property and that its underlying limits are met.

Common mistakes

Seasonal property claims often go wrong for these reasons.

• Turning the heat down to save money without draining the plumbing.
• Letting a propane or heating oil supply run out mid-winter.
• Insuring a cabin as a primary residence.
• Assuming a sporadic check by a neighbour counts as regular inspection.
• Renting the property on a short-term rental platform without telling the carrier.
• Leaving a desert home without cooling or leak protection all summer.

A worked example

Suppose a couple own a cabin near McCall, insured on a seasonal dwelling policy with a $1,000 deductible, and close it in November. The first year they turn the thermostat down but leave the water on and do not arrange checks. A power outage in January stops the furnace, a pipe bursts, and water runs for two weeks, causing $45,000 of damage. The carrier contests the claim because heat was not maintained and the water was not shut off. Now suppose instead they had drained the plumbing, installed a $200 low-temperature and leak alarm, and hired a caretaker to check the cabin every two weeks for $600 over the winter. The outage causes no freeze damage, and if a line had failed, the alarm and caretaker would have found it within hours. The figures are hypothetical; meeting the policy's freeze condition was what the claim depended on.

How to use this

Before you close a seasonal home, send us its policy and your primary homeowners and umbrella declarations pages. We will read the freeze, vacancy and rental conditions, tell you what the carrier expects while the house is empty, and compare seasonal dwelling options across the carriers we represent in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Idaho. If the current policy already fits how you use the property, we will confirm that.