Closing and Opening a Flagstaff Second Home
Two halves of one job — close it right in fall, and opening it in spring is easy.
A lot of Flagstaff’s second homes and vacation properties sit empty through the coldest months. Munds Park alone runs around 83% vacancy — mostly second homes and vacation rentals. Closing up properly before the cold hits, and opening up carefully in spring, is what keeps an empty house from becoming an expensive surprise.
- Close-up: before first frost
- Open-up: April
- Munds Park: ~83% vacancy
- (928) 438-0436
Closing up for winter
Water is the priority
Turn off the main water valve, then open every faucet and flush every toilet to drain the lines — standing water in a pipe is what freezes and splits it. Insulate any exposed pipe in a crawl space or exterior wall while you’re at it.
Don’t shut the heat off completely
Setting the thermostat to around 60°F rather than turning it off entirely protects both the pipes and the home’s interior systems through the coldest stretches, at a fraction of the cost of a burst-pipe repair.
See Frozen Pipes →Opening up in spring
Check before you turn the water back on
Walk the property first — look for any sign of a leak, pest entry, or roof damage from winter before restoring water pressure to the whole system at once. Once the water is back on, run the washer, dishwasher and refrigerator — a unit that sat idle all winter may need appliance repair before guests or tenants arrive.
See Property Checks →Roof and gutters after a winter of snow load
A property that sat empty all winter won’t have had anyone to notice an ice dam or a gutter problem as it happened — worth a proper check once the snow’s cleared.
See Gutter Repair →Want someone checking in while you’re away?
A scheduled winter check during cold snaps catches a frozen pipe or storm damage long before you’d otherwise find out about it.
See Property Checks →FAQ
When should I close up my second home for winter?
Before temperatures start dropping below freezing — in Flagstaff, that generally means getting it done by the average first fall frost in mid-to-late September.
Should I turn the heat off completely while I’m away?
No — setting the thermostat to around 60°F rather than off protects the pipes and interior systems much more reliably than shutting it down entirely.
What’s the biggest risk to an empty house over a Flagstaff winter?
Frozen and burst pipes are the most common and most damaging — closely followed by roof or gutter issues from snow load that go unnoticed because no one’s there to see them happen.
When’s the right time to open the property back up?
Once the spring melt has mostly finished, typically around April, so you’re not opening into an active freeze-thaw cycle or still-melting snow load on the roof.
Can someone check on the property while I’m away all winter?
Yes — a scheduled property check during cold snaps or after storms is exactly the kind of recurring visit that catches problems before they become expensive ones.
Closing up or opening up your Flagstaff property?
Call (928) 438-0436 — we’ll handle the checklist or set up recurring checks while you’re away.
Call (928) 438-0436