The 10 Most Common Cottage-Closing Mistakes We See

Cottage-closing mistakes are almost always small, honest slips

Nobody closes a cottage badly on purpose. Almost every winter problem we get called about in the spring traces back to one small thing that got skipped in a hurry — a tap left open, a tank left full, a note that nobody wrote down. We see the same handful every year across the Bruce and the Lake Huron and Georgian Bay shore, so here they are, with the easy fix for each. No scolding — just the stuff worth double-checking before you lock up.

1. Leaving the water heater full

What happens: The plumbing gets drained, the taps get opened, the lines get blown out — and the water heater, holding tens of litres, gets forgotten because it is tucked in a closet or down in the basement, away from the fixtures you can see.

Why it goes wrong: A tank full of water in an unheated cottage can freeze, expand, and crack the tank or its fittings. When it thaws, that is a leak right at the heart of the water system.

Do this instead: Cut the power to an electric tank, or set a propane unit to pilot or off, connect a hose to the drain valve, and empty it fully. Then write “water heater drained” on your closing list so it cannot hide from you again next fall.

2. Skipping the antifreeze in the traps

What happens: The lines get drained, but the P-traps under the sinks, tub, shower, and floor drains — and the water sitting in every toilet bowl — get left alone. Holding water is exactly what a trap is built to do.

Why it goes wrong: Trap water can freeze and crack the fitting. And if a trap dries out over the winter instead, it stops sealing and lets sewer gas drift up into the cottage.

Do this instead: Pour non-toxic plumbing antifreeze into every drain, P-trap, and toilet bowl, plus the laundry standpipe and the dishwasher. It resists freezing and keeps the trap sealed at the same time. This is a standard step in our plumbing winterization work — every trap and toilet treated, and each one logged.

3. Trusting a shut-off map that is wrong

What happens: An owner closes “the” valve, opens the taps they know about, and calls it done — but the cottage has a branch line, an outdoor hose bib, an ice-maker feed, or a second bathroom running off a line they have forgotten.

Why it goes wrong: One missed low spot or one forgotten line still holds water, and it only takes one to freeze and split. The map in your head is usually close, but “close” is what floods a cottage.

Do this instead: Walk the whole system, not the memory of it — every fixture, every outdoor tap, the fridge and ice-maker line, and any water filter or softener housings. Blow the lines out with air or drain to the lowest point so nothing is left holding water. On an older or added-onto cottage, this is the step most worth handing to someone who does the drain-down every week.

4. Leaving food in the cupboards

What happens: Pantry dry goods, crackers, a bag of pet food, or a few tins get left behind “for next time.”

Why it goes wrong: A quiet, empty cottage is exactly what mice go hunting for once the cold sets in, and cardboard and thin plastic are no barrier to them. Food left behind is the draw that turns a stray mouse into a winter’s worth of them.

Do this instead: Clear out all the food, the pantry included, and store anything you leave behind in sealed glass or metal. Sealing the food up is prevention — and so is closing the gaps they would use to get in, which is what our animal prevention pass covers. If something has already moved in, that is a removal job, and a humane, legal one belongs to our sister company, The Critter Guy.

5. Closing the fridge and freezer doors

What happens: The fridge gets emptied, cleaned, and wiped down — and then the doors get shut, the way you would leave them at home.

Why it goes wrong: A powered-off fridge with the doors sealed traps the last of the damp inside, and that stale, still air grows mould and a sour smell that is hard to get rid of by spring.

Do this instead: Prop both the fridge and freezer doors open, or wedge a rolled towel into the gap, so air keeps moving through. Propping the doors is standard closing practice, not a workaround. Do the same for a front-loading washer door.

6. Cutting all the hydro when something still needed it

What happens: For simplicity, an owner shuts off the main breaker and walks away with the whole cottage dark.

Why it goes wrong: That is fine when the plumbing is fully drained and nothing depends on power — but a sump pump in a wet basement, a low-heat setting, a security camera, or a Wi-Fi temperature sensor all go dark with it. A sump that is off cannot move water, and a monitor that is off cannot warn you.

Do this instead: Make the call on purpose, not by habit. If you keep low heat, many owners set the furnace around 10°C (50°F) with a Wi-Fi sensor that texts them if the heat quits — remembering it only works while the power and internet stay on. If you cut the power, drain the plumbing completely first and sort out the sump situation before you flip the breaker.

7. Leaving the eavestroughs clogged

What happens: The fall leaves get left in the eavestroughs, the downspouts, and the roof valleys.

Why it goes wrong: Clogged eavestroughs do not cause ice dams on their own, but they give meltwater nowhere to go, and backed-up water and ice sitting at the roof edge feed the dams that form there through a freeze-and-thaw winter. On the snow belt off Georgian Bay, that edge sees a lot of freeze-thaw.

Do this instead: Clear the leaves out of the eavestroughs, downspouts, and roof valleys before you close up, so meltwater has a path off the roof. If the roof is steep or high, do not force it from a wobbly ladder — that is exactly the kind of work our techs are trained for and do in proper fall-arrest gear, and it is part of our roof snow removal service.

8. Leaving propane and fuel handling unclear

What happens: The BBQ tank stays connected, the heating propane gets left in an in-between state, the boat and generator fuel go untouched, and nobody writes down what was actually done.

Why it goes wrong: Fuel left in an uncertain state is both a safety question and a spring-startup headache. A BBQ tank left hooked up outdoors all winter is a hazard, and untreated fuel in a boat or generator can gum up over a long, cold off-season.

Do this instead: Disconnect the BBQ propane tank and store it outdoors, upright, off the appliance. Set the heating propane deliberately — know whether it is off, on pilot, or feeding a low heat setting — and check the tank level before you leave. Stabilize the fuel in boats and generators. Then write down the state you left each one in, so next season is not a guessing game.

9. Not photographing the closed-up state

What happens: The cottage gets closed correctly, but there is no record of how it was left.

Why it goes wrong: Come spring — or if you get a call over the winter — you have no baseline to compare against, and no proof for insurance of the condition you left the place in. A memory is not a record, and details blur over five or six months.

Do this instead: Walk through with your phone and photograph each room, the shut-off valves, the electrical panel, the drained water heater, and the outside of the building. Date-stamped photos take five minutes and give you a simple, honest record of the day you locked up.

10. Nobody arranged winter checks

What happens: Everything gets closed correctly, and then the cottage sits unseen from October to May.

Why it goes wrong: Even a perfectly closed cottage can have something go wrong in the months nobody is there — a branch through a window, wind lifting a shingle, a furnace that quit, or a critter that found a fresh gap. The closing is a snapshot of one good day. It tells you nothing about how the place is doing in February.

Do this instead: Arrange for someone to actually lay eyes on the cottage through the winter. That is what our winter checkups are built for — someone genuinely walks the property while it sits empty, and if anything looks off, you hear about it fast, with photos and a plain explanation rather than a nasty surprise in the spring.

Closing up? Here is the short version

Most of these fixes take minutes once you know to look for them. The whole list really comes down to three habits: do not leave water anywhere it can freeze, do not leave food where mice can find it, and leave yourself a record of what you did. Run that pass and you have covered the mistakes behind the calls we hear most.

If you would rather hand off the parts that bite — the full plumbing drain-down with the lines blown out, roof and eaves work up a ladder, or a set of winter checkups — that is what we do across the Bruce and the Lake Huron and Georgian Bay shore, from Sauble Beach and the South Bruce Peninsula down through Southampton and Kincardine to Goderich and Grand Bend, and around the bay through Owen Sound and Collingwood. Our plumbing winterization covers every water step above, and if you want the full sequence in order, our complete cottage winterization checklist walks it through start to finish.

Call us at 519-783-1575 — the phone is answered 7 days a week. Tell us where your cottage is and how it is set up, and we will give you a clear quote up front.