We close Campton camps and second homes for the winter and open them again in spring. And for the Waterville Estates houses that get used on ski weekends, we set them up so they can sit empty Monday to Friday without anybody holding their breath.
Waterville Estates is a Campton neighborhood about the size of a small town: 833 properties on 829 acres, straddling the line with Thornton and governed by its own village district since 1977. The district has owned the water system since 1981. That changes how a house closes, because the water doesn’t start at a well in your basement. It comes along a district main, through a curb stop at the street, and from there to the house on a service line that the district’s rules make the owner’s to maintain.
You don’t turn that curb stop with a borrowed key. Shut-offs and turn-ons go through the district’s water office, weekdays, with a fee charged each way. So a closing here runs in an order. The district date goes on the calendar first. We drain and blow out the house around it. And whoever opens it in spring calls the district before they call us.
The calendar itself is the odd part. A lake camp closes in October and opens in May. A lot of Estates houses get their heaviest use in January — the neighborhood has its own small ski hill, Campton Mountain, and the bigger mountains are up the road. Those houses don’t close for the winter. They close between weekends. Different job entirely.
In Waterville Estates, call the district office before you call us. Get the curb-stop date on their calendar first, then we’ll close the house around it.
If nobody’s coming back until spring, it gets the full treatment. Water off at the source, every line blown out with compressed air, water heater drained, RV antifreeze in every trap, toilet and floor drain. Then the extras ski houses collect: a hot tub on the deck, a mudroom utility sink, the washer that ran wet gear all season, an ice maker nobody remembers is plumbed.
A house you use most weekends shouldn’t be winterized — you’d be undoing it every Friday night. It needs a routine instead. Heat held at 55°F or more, which is what most policies expect anyway. A low-temperature alarm that calls a phone, not one that beeps to an empty room. And the main valve inside closed every time you leave, so a split pipe on a Wednesday can only lose what’s already in the lines rather than everything the system can push through it. We’ll find that valve, swap it if it’s seized, and show everyone in the family where it is.
Spring is the visit that catches things. We charge the system slowly and watch each fixture take pressure, outside faucets last. A cracked fitting found dripping in April costs a lot less than one found by a Memorial Day guest.
Closing a one-bathroom Campton camp is $400. Two or more bathrooms starts at $1,000, and a big ski house with a hot tub and a long list of extras is quoted once we’ve walked it. Setting up a house that stays heated for winter weekends is priced on the visit. Spring opening runs below the closing.
Not fully — you’d be undoing it every Friday. Keep the heat at 55°F or higher, add a low-temperature alarm that calls your phone, and close the main valve inside whenever you leave, so a split pipe can only lose what’s in the lines. We’ll set that up and make sure the valve actually works.
The district does. Shut-offs and turn-ons at the curb stop go through its water office, open weekdays, and there’s a fee each way. Get your date with them first and we’ll close the house around it. Under the district’s rules, the service line from that curb stop to the house is the owner’s responsibility.
By the end of October is the safe target. Campton sits farther north and a little higher than the big lakes, and the valleys along the Pemigewasset and the Mad can see a hard freeze early. If your road is private and steep, close before it ices up, not after. Spring access matters too.
The risk moves. A renter checks out Sunday, turns the thermostat way down to be helpful, and leaves a bathroom window cracked. Put a floor on the thermostat setting, a low-temperature alarm on the wall, and a short note by the door about the main valve. Cheap fixes, all of them. They beat a split pipe found Thursday.
The hot tub plumbing, outdoor showers, the ice maker line, the washing machine, and anything in a garage or mudroom. All of it holds water. On a private well, the pressure tank too — it holds more than people expect. A written fixture list for the house is the only reliable way to get them all.
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