Guides for cottage owners
What happens to an empty house in the Eastern Townships, in plain words: what to do right now, why it happens, and how to prevent it.
Latest guides
- After a big snowfall: a checklist for an empty cottage
- What temperature should you leave an empty cottage at in winter?
- How long does an empty house hold its heat in January?
- Frozen pipe at the cottage: what to do in the first hour
- Heat pump in extreme cold: why it falls behind when the mercury drops
- Hydro-Québec outage while you’re away: what happens at your cottage?
By topic
Water & plumbing
Frozen pipes, slow leaks, the main shut-off, the sump pump: what runs quietly when nobody’s home, and what to do about it.
Heating
Thermostats, baseboards, heat pumps, propane, oil or wood: keeping an empty cottage warm all winter.
Roof, snow & ice
Snow load, ice dams, freezing rain and gutters: what a Townships winter does to a roof.
Power & outages
Hydro-Québec outages, generators, breakers: what happens at your place when the power drops while you’re away.
Pests & wildlife
Mice, squirrels, bats, porcupines: who moves into a closed-up cottage, and how to spot it early.
Exterior & grounds
Trees, gravel roads, ditches, spring melt: the land around the cottage, season after season.
Away & break-ins
A house that looks empty, keys, mail, tracks in the snow: lowering the risk while you’re not there.
Seasons
Fall closing, spring opening, a month-by-month calendar for a second home in the Eastern Townships.
Owner decisions
First winter, buying from afar, doing it yourself or handing it off: the choices of a secondary home owner.