Cottage closing and winterization checklist

The decision that comes first

Every closing starts with one choice, and your insurance policy should make it, not habit. Either the cottage stays heated through the winter and someone checks it as often as the policy says, or it is drained so that no water is left anywhere it can freeze, and the heat can go off.

Look at the freezing clause in your policy before you decide. Intact’s homeowners wording, for example, excludes freezing damage in the heating season where the heat has been turned off on purpose. Desjardins says it does not cover water damage caused by a lack of heating. The broker Jeffery & Spence lists the kinds of conditions a policy may set: keeping the heat on at a minimum temperature, draining the plumbing completely, or shutting off the water mains. If your wording asks for heat and regular checks, turning the furnace off and walking away is the one choice that fits neither branch.

Closing a cottage you will drain

Kacaba Cottage Care sums up the drained option as shutting off the main water supply and completely draining all plumbing lines, water heaters and fixture traps. In order:

1. Shut off the supply at the main valve, and switch off and unplug the pump.
2. Turn off the water heater at its breaker, or have a registered contractor shut down a gas or propane unit, before you drain anything. An electric heater left on as it empties burns out its elements.
3. Open every tap, hot and cold, upstairs and down, and every drain valve on the system, including the low-point drains.
4. Drain the pump and the pressure tank through their drain plugs or valves.
5. Drain the water heater through its drain valve, with a tap open somewhere to let air in.
6. Clear what will not drain by gravity. Lines that sag or run uphill hold water; on many systems they are blown out with compressed air.
7. Empty the toilets. Flush with the supply off, then sponge or pump out what stays in the bowl and tank.
8. Protect every trap. Pour non-toxic plumbing antifreeze into each sink, tub, shower and floor drain, and into each toilet bowl, so the water seal that stops sewer gas cannot freeze and crack the trap.
9. Deal with the machines. Dishwashers, washing machines, ice makers and water filters all hold water; follow each one’s manual for winter storage.
10. Leave the taps and drains open, so any water you missed has room to expand.

If your system came with a lake intake that is pulled for winter, pull it now and store it where ice cannot reach it.

Closing a cottage that stays heated

A heated cottage keeps its water and depends on the heat never failing, so the closing is about making that true and making it visible.

• Set the thermostat where your policy wording asks. Aviva’s winter advice is to turn the heat down no lower than 13 degrees Celsius; your insurer may say something else.
• Have the heating checked first. Ontario’s carbon monoxide guidance asks for fuel-burning appliances, chimneys and vents to be cleaned and inspected every year before cold weather sets in.
• Shut off the water main anyway, if the policy allows. Even with the heat on, a closed main limits how much water one failed fitting can release.
• Arrange the checks the policy requires, at the interval it sets, by someone who will go inside and record what they find.
• Leave the alarms working. A heated cottage has a furnace or stove running all winter, and Ontario law requires working smoke alarms on every storey of a cottage, and carbon monoxide alarms where there is a fuel-burning appliance.

Everything else, either way

Food and mice. Take out everything a mouse can eat, including pet food, birdseed and soap. Empty, clean and prop open the fridge and freezer so they do not grow mould with the power off.

Power. Unplug what does not need to run, and switch off breakers for circuits that will not be used. If the cottage is heated, label the heating circuits so nobody switches them off by mistake.

Outside. Bring in cushions, hoses and anything wind can move. Close shutters, store the canoe and kayaks, check that the eavestroughs drain, and look up for dead branches over the roof. Docks, lifts and rafts that come out for winter need their own plan, usually with help.

Lock-up. Lock every door and window, close the curtains on the road side, and leave a key with whoever will check the cottage.

When to close

Close before the first hard frost, not after it. One night below freezing is enough to split a line full of water in an unheated crawl space or a pump house, and a cottage that is closed a week late can lose more to a single cold snap than it cost to close on time. Watch the overnight forecast for your lake rather than the calendar. If someone else closes the cottage for you, book them early in the fall, because everyone with a cottage wants the same few weekends, and a closing that slips past the first frost is a closing done in a hurry.

If you rent the cottage

A host with a licence has two more jobs at closing. First, check how your municipality’s licence runs, by calendar year or by season, and whether anything has to be renewed before next spring; Gravenhurst’s licence, for example, runs from 1 January to 31 December. Second, tell your Responsible Person that the rental season is over, and settle who the municipality, the neighbours and any winter guests should call until you reopen.

The photographs to take before you leave

Jeffery & Spence advises owners to keep photos of shut-off valves, thermostat settings and closing checklists. Take them on the way out, with the date showing:

• the main water valve in the closed position, and the pump switched off;
• the water heater’s breaker off and its drain valve, or the thermostat on the wall with its setting readable if the cottage stays heated;
• an open tap or two, and antifreeze in a trap;
• every door and window, closed and locked.

Put them in one folder with this checklist, ticked. If a pipe bursts in February, that folder is what you will want to hand your broker.

The closing, side by side