Thanks, CB, we are aware of that kind of stuff. Not more than a month yet, and they said that they would be checking on the place… not that I trust them that much, especially the no walk through nonsense. We will get there. 
What happens to the plumbing after a month? I never heard this before.
CB should know! Probably a poop issue!
Is there wiring in the peak of the new front porch overhang for a hanging light fixture?
NRE, if the plumbing sat dry for a while, the valves, gaskets, seals, etc. might dry out and begin to leak when the water is turned on. Plus, if the toiles bowls dry out, watch out for that lovely sewer gas smell!
Two issues happen when water is not flowing through the drain system
Whatever was the last thing down that drain system (think poop and wads of toilet paper), will dry out rock hard and cannot pass through the system. I’m not an expert on freezing temperature areas but that would probably cause pressure in system from shrinking and expanding when water is just sitting in the system.
Plus what bunsenburner said. Angle valves, faucet valves, shower valve gaskets dry o ut and shrink and/or corrode closed, especially angle valves. Then when you try to shut them off to change toilet or faucet hoses they will not close properly and you are basically shutting off all water and sawing them off for replacement.
Excellent idea about a hanging light in the new porch overhang, but we did not open up roof and/or exterior wall to run a wire out there. The rafters are open to the shiplap roof so the wire would be noticeable running to the middle of the ceiling. It just wasn’t in the budget to pay electrician for another new wire setup. But I did change the trim around the right side of the front door to allow for a much larger light. The way the trim was before, the light could not be any wider than say 4" total and it looked wimpy. I think I can have about a 6 to 8" wide exterior light now.
When DH was trying to sell his parents’ empty house, some of the faucets developed leaks because no water had been run for weeks at at time. I mentioned it to my brother when we were selling our mom’s condo and he ran water in each sink and flushed the toilets on a weekly basis.
Maybe I am wrong…but I thought that Ikea cabs had to be built on site…Ie they didn’t come assembled??
Correct. IKEA cabinets come in thousands of pieces and parts and you have to create an assembly line to get them built before they can be installed in the kitchen. That’s part of the savings. Savings is passed over to labor costs
I pushed out the IKEA delivery to next week because we just don’t have room for all those boxes until after we get the ceilings painted and walls primed (because we just want to go to town with the sprayer all over the place)
I find the issues for not having the water running through the system interesting… Maybe it’s different based on where you live? Both sets of grandparents would go south for winter and we didn’t ever go to their houses to run the water just to check to see if the heat was still on so the pipes wouldn’t freeze. Also my dad goes now goes to Florida for 5 months a year and it’s the same for him. So I’m surprised that someone could have problems in just a month.
We had a house that sat vacant for a few years before we rented it out. We didn’t disconnect the water or electricity and we didn’t have any plumbing or other problems when the tenant took occupancy or thereafter. Of course, we don’t have COLD winters or anything, but just saying. I guess we were very lucky? We would just go up and see the place maybe once a year or so.
I don’t know why it happens sometimes and not other times. The house next to my personal home sold all cash 4 years ago and has been vacant ever since. Don’t ever see anyone coming by to run water. They probably have the main shut off. They won’t know whether they have leaks or not.
Bought one foreclosure that had been vacant over a year. Got water turned on and we suddenly had a busted water line under house in crawl space.
I remember when a company I worked for moved into a vacant facility, and one day we were greeted by a putrid stench… Turns out, that was the sewer gases escaping into the building through the plumbing that went completely dry without a tenant. The commercial realtor apologized profusely - he forgot about his duty to pour a bucket of water into the bathroom floor drain at least once a week. 
We scoped the sewer the see if there were any surprises in there… None. The ground here almost never freezes, and the in-ground plumbing is always moistened from the outside, so the only potential worry is about the inside stuff. I do know some valves can dry out easily - we had to replace one on our DW when I decided to go “green” and use it sparingly. Now I run it every day.
The water in a sink or tub or (less so) a toilet trap can evaporate and allow sewer gasses back into your bathroom. Now that our kiddos are gone, we have learned to flush and run a bit of water in sinks and showers monthly. It has nothing to do with weather, just evaporation. Once that cup or so of water in the trap has evaporated, you can get gas. I have no idea how properties vacant for years can avoid this, but evidently some do.
Well, if the properties are vacant, no one will complain until someone actually enters the house. 
A good flush of the plumbing that fills the traps will fix the issue (that’s what the bucket of water did at the new location of my former workplace). The dried out pipes are a different story…
And here is another thought. We all heard the “rat in the toilet” story. True? You bet. How can a rat get inside a home via a toilet? Truly fascinating! Here is a video from the National Geographic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t2VPBF6Kp4
Enjoy!
Happy to say I haven’t had the pleasure of finding a rodent staring up from the toilet bowl yet
I’m just messing around watching my favorite Youtube videos. That is one of them. We know how the rats got into the attic of the house we are trying to buy - not via a toilet. The inspector found a spot where they were crawling up the wall to squeeze through a gap in one spot. That will be remedied easily as soon as the sellers are out of the place.
Hope there are no scheduling hiccups for your crew, CB, and the work is moving!
It rained very hard here Monday. I think a record amount of inches for San Diego. Finally got the pressure washing done around the house and we pressure washed driveway and concrete out front. The whole front yard of this house is Concrete and we all really want to cut it out and haul away but its not in the budget.
Also trying to figure out whether to knock out ugly fence along sidewalk or just paint it white. Its in poor condition so it may not take paint well.
Moving along with drywall but its a slow process. Painter sent his B team over because he is still working full time on a new build in Coronado that already sold before completion so you can imagine that builder is in a rush to complete. I think its a $5 mil house. I’ll try to get an address so we can all look at it.
But he has someone that can do sanding and retexture of the original areas of house
Today my carpenter is cutting out door to laundry room and removing giant sliding door for french door install
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