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Sent by a restoration contractor, under their own name and logo. Who it is for: Owners and commercial real estate teams with empty or lightly occupied buildings. When to send it: Send it before winter and whenever a building goes vacant.

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PROPERTY CHECKLIST

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Vacant Property Damage Prevention Checklist

An empty building fails quietly: a freeze, a slow leak, mold or a break-in nobody sees for weeks. A regular inspection routine catches most of it early and documents the building's condition for your carrier.

Water and freeze

• Hold heat through the building or fully drain the plumbing. Keep the thermostat at or above 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Your policy sets the actual obligation, and most forms name no temperature, only that you do your best to maintain heat or drain the system, so read yours.
• Shut off water at the main where practical
• Keep any wet-pipe sprinkler spaces at or above 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Keeping water-filled sprinkler piping at that minimum is the owner's job under NFPA 25, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standard for inspecting, testing and maintaining water-based fire protection systems.
• Install freeze and leak alarms tied to someone who will respond

Mold and air

• Keep humidity down and run minimal HVAC to control moisture
• Fix any leak fast; do not let it sit
• Check the building after every storm or cold snap
• Watch for staining and a musty odor

Inspections and coverage

• Secure doors, windows, and openings against intrusion
• Run documented inspections on a set schedule
• Keep coverage current and read your policy's vacancy provision. On the standard commercial property form, once a building has been vacant more than 60 consecutive days, water damage, vandalism, theft and glass breakage are not paid at all, sprinkler leakage is not paid unless the system was protected against freezing, and everything else is cut by 15 percent. The same form counts a building as vacant unless at least 31 percent of its square footage is in customary use, so a lightly tenanted building can be vacant while people are still in it. Other forms can use a different number of days, so check yours.