[MercuryArc]

Of course it's possible. But there's going to have to be air circulation to keep the humidity levels balanced. But just to lock it up and abandon ship, this will happen. Floors and stairs will warp and if there is crown over the doors and windows the ends will curl. My first house had been setting empty. I know what it looked like before hand and there were chunks of plaster that had fallen. The upstairs hallway was cracked and the hardwood floors were compressed together and pushing up. My opinion doesn't come from just one example. I've owned 3 houses and all three were setting before I bought them. Not trying to be rude, but bad things will happen to an empty house.

 

[Irish 33]

Here's the way I see it...it's possible to do anything (well, almost) if a person is creative and resourceful enough.

If the homeowner doesn't want to pay for heat all winter because they're not in their home, someone needs to find a viable solution. Lots of people close their houses up for the winter...how do they do it? A quick google search for "winterize a summer home" turned up this...http://www.homeadditionplus.com/Winterizing a Vacation Home.htm..and many more. It's silly to think you can't do something because you've seen some worst case scenarios. How many calls do you get to fix homes that haven't had any trouble being closed up for the winter?

I see a lot of people on this site saying "You CAN'T do that!"....and if you disagree they try to tear you a new a$$h0le. Our jobs go beyond hang, finish, and texture, at least mine does. Sometimes we are called upon to solve problems.

We leave every winter for florida. New york can get plenty cold. We leave heat at 55 and heat bills are not high. Biggest concern is not having pipes freeze. It’s a possibility if we didn’t heat the house at all. We turn off water valves then drain lines and flush toilet , cover toilet . We turn down frig to lowest setting. put some arm and hammer in frig and freezer. All part of winterizing when leaving for any length of time. For me I’m more concerned with leaving my place in florida during the brutal summers. That’s where mold can do most damage. We have someone checking our place. If the HVAC goes we would be in a mess in a very short time. Between the heat and high humidity : Major destruction. I think heat and humidity is the worst. Also in florida should have thermostat which controls both temperature and/or humidity. We set thermostat at 85 and humidity at 55. No problems on return. To say you don’t want to heat a place because of cost of gas or electric is crazy. Any home that’s well insulated, setting at 55 in most cases will not use that much electricity or gas. Sometimes common sense is in short supply.