Who wouldn’t like a nice vacation? Time away from work to explore new places and to relax in a beautiful location with family and friends? After all, we all need to recharge our batteries now and then. Don’t we?

But that nice vacation and its positive effects can become a disaster, full of regrets, if you come home to a flooded house!

It can be a real disaster! Imagine that you were enjoying yourself so much that you didn’t want to come home. You wanted to extend your vacation, but you knew  that you had to go to work on Monday. So you went home late Sunday night, and when you walked in the door, instead of feeling soft, plush carpeting, you sink into a squishy wet mess that’s beginning to smell bad, and the first thing you hear is the sound of a pipe spewing water all over the place in another room.

Oh, if only you had been home when that pipe broke! If you had been home, you could have quickly shut off the main water supply and cleaned this mess up. But Murphy’s Law dictates that if the worst can happen, it will. Pipes seem to break when no one is home.

What can you do?

Here are 5 tips you can follow to prevent water damage before it occurs:

1. Secure all windows and doors. Remember that a storm can drive water into your home if there is any type of opening, even a small one at a window.

2. Don’t turn off the heat! Keep the thermostat set at a level that ensures nothing inside will freeze. In winter months, you never know how cold it may get when you are on vacation.

3. Some hot water heaters have a vacation setting. Play it safe and take advantage of it.

4. This one is really important! Shut off all water supply sources to anything that might leak, like the washing machine. Even better? If appropriate, shut off the main water supply to the home, but leave instructions if anyone is going to visit or stay at your home while you are away.

5. Make sure your sump pump (for readers not in Florida) is in good working order. A failed sump pump means ground water is going to intrude and create havoc in your home.

So enjoy your next vacation, and keep that “recharged feeling” when you come back to your dry and comfortable home .