The Dallas Home Watch Checklist for Frequent Travelers and Second-Home Owners

An unoccupied Dallas home needs two things: a thorough shutdown before you leave, and regular professional eyes on it while you're gone. The shutdown protects against the failures that do the most damage to an empty house — water first, then climate, then security. The visits catch what no preparation can prevent: a supply line that lets go, a hailstorm, a freeze, an AC failure in July heat. This checklist covers both — what to do before the car leaves the driveway, and what a proper home watch visit should include while you're away.

Before you leave: the shutdown sequence

The goal of a pre-travel shutdown isn't to mothball the house — it's to remove the small number of failure modes that cause outsized damage when nobody is home to catch them. Run it in the same order every time: water, climate, security, appearance. For a weekend away, the water and security items alone are worth doing. For anything longer than a week, run the full list.

Water — the one that ruins houses

Nearly every catastrophic loss in an unoccupied home is water. A burst supply line can run for days before anyone notices; the damage compounds by the hour.

• ✓Shut off the main water supply for absences longer than a few days — or at minimum, the supply valves at toilets, washing machine, and ice maker. Know where your main shutoff is before you need it.
• ✓Set the water heater to vacation mode (or its lowest setting).
• ✓Check supply lines under every sink for bulging or corrosion before a long trip — braided stainless lines fail far less often than rubber.
• ✓If you have smart leak sensors or an automatic shutoff valve, test them and confirm the alerts reach a phone someone is actually watching.
• ✓Leave irrigation running on its normal schedule in summer — a dead lawn signals an empty house, and in Dallas clay, bone-dry soil stresses the foundation too.

Climate, power, and systems

• ✓Don't turn the HVAC off. In a Dallas summer, set cooling to roughly 78–82°F; in winter, heat no lower than 55°F to protect pipes and finishes. Extreme interior temperatures damage wood floors, millwork, art, and wine.
• ✓If you have a smart thermostat, confirm remote access works and alerts are on — an AC failure in July shows up as a rising temperature graph long before it shows up as warped flooring.
• ✓Empty the refrigerator of anything that won't survive the trip; dispose of trash; run the disposal.
• ✓Unplug non-essential electronics. Leave GFCI-protected circuits and anything supporting security or smart-home gear powered.
• ✓Test smoke and CO detectors before departure.

Security and the appearance of occupancy

• ✓Arm the security system and confirm the monitoring company has current contact information — including whoever is watching the home locally.
• ✓Stop mail and packages, or have them collected. A stack of boxes at the door is the clearest vacancy signal there is.
• ✓Put interior lights on varied timers; keep exterior lighting on dusk-to-dawn sensors.
• ✓Arrange for lawn care to continue uninterrupted.
• ✓Leave a key and alarm access with one trusted party — a neighbor, family member, or your home watch provider — and tell the alarm company who that is.
• ✓Move vehicles into the garage; a car that never moves in the driveway reads as vacancy within a week.

While you're away: what a home watch visit covers

Preparation reduces risk; it doesn't eliminate it. The failures that do real damage — a slab leak, a roof breach after hail, an HVAC failure in August — happen on their own schedule. That's what regular visits are for. A professional home watch visit is a methodical walk of the whole property on a consistent route, not a drive-by. It should include:

• ✓Every room checked for signs of water — ceilings, under sinks, around water heaters and HVAC drain pans.
• ✓Temperature and humidity confirmed against the setpoints.
• ✓Exterior walked after any wind, hail, or freeze event — roof line, gutters, fencing, irrigation heads.
• ✓Doors and windows confirmed secure; alarm confirmed armed on departure.
• ✓Flyers, packages, and anything else signaling vacancy cleared.
• ✓Toilets flushed and taps run briefly to keep traps from drying out on long absences.
• ✓A dated visit report with photos, so you see what was checked rather than taking it on faith.

If you're weighing whether you need this level of care, our field note on home watch vs. home management walks through the distinction — observation versus full stewardship — and where each fits.

The Dallas-specific risks

Generic home watch checklists miss what actually goes wrong in North Texas. Three local realities deserve their own line items (the National Weather Service's Fort Worth office is the authoritative source for what our region's weather does):

• ✓Spring hail. North Texas sits in one of the country's most active hail corridors, and hail damage is often invisible from the ground. Any home watch arrangement should include an exterior inspection after every hail event — soft metals, window screens, and roof lines tell the story. Our note on what Dallas homeowners miss after a hailstorm covers the inspection sequence.
• ✓Winter freezes. Hard freezes arrive irregularly here, which is exactly why they're dangerous — homes and owners are out of practice. An unoccupied home needs heat held at 55°F+, interior doors and cabinets open on supply-line walls during a freeze warning, and a visit promptly after any hard freeze. The full sequence is in our Dallas winter preparation checklist.
• ✓Summer foundation movement. Expansive clay soil shrinks in a rainless Dallas summer and pulls away from the slab. An empty home with the irrigation off is the worst case — keep watering on schedule, including foundation soaking, even with nobody home.

Frequently asked questions