If you split your year between Pinellas County and somewhere colder, you already know the routine: a few frantic days of packing in the spring, months away, and then a long drive or flight back in the fall wondering what you’ll find when you open the front door.
Usually the answer is fine. Sometimes it’s a musty smell, a fridge you forgot to prop open, or a fine layer of dust and pollen across every surface. The difference almost always comes down to what happened the week before you left. Here’s how to close your home properly in the spring and reopen it without surprises in the fall, whether you’re in a Snell Isle bungalow, a Belleair condo, or a beach cottage in Indian Rocks Beach.
Part 1: Closing your home for the summer
A Florida summer is hard on an empty house. Months of heat, humidity, and afternoon storms will find anything you leave behind: crumbs, damp towels, a drip under the sink. The goal when you close up is simple: leave nothing that can rot, grow, or attract bugs.
Kitchen
- Empty the refrigerator completely, wipe it out, and prop the doors open if you’re turning it off. A closed, unplugged fridge will grow mold within weeks.
- Run the dishwasher empty with a cup of vinegar, then leave the door cracked to dry.
- Clear the pantry of anything opened: cereal, flour, crackers, pet food. Sealed cans are fine.
- Wipe down counters, the stovetop, and the inside of the microwave. Grease left behind turns sticky and draws ants.
- Run the garbage disposal with ice and a little dish soap, then take every bag of trash out of the house.
Bathrooms
- Clean showers, tubs, and toilets thoroughly. Soap scum and standing moisture are where summer mildew starts.
- Pour a cup of water into every drain you won’t use (guest showers, floor drains) so the traps don’t dry out and let sewer smell in.
- Take bath mats and towels to the laundry. Nothing damp stays behind.
Bedrooms and living areas
- Strip and wash all bedding, then store it in sealed bins or cover the beds with a light sheet.
- Vacuum carpets and rugs, including under furniture. Dust and crumbs are food for pests.
- Dust ceiling fans and vents before you leave, not after. Otherwise the first thing you do when you return is blow four months of dust around the room.
- Leave closet doors and interior doors open so air can move.
Air conditioning and humidity
This is the one that matters most in Pinellas. Don’t turn the AC off. Set it somewhere around 78 to 82 degrees, and if your thermostat has a humidity setting, keep indoor humidity at or below about 60 percent. Replace the AC filter on your way out. A closed-up house with the air off is how people come home to mildew on leather furniture, closets, and grout. (We cover this in more detail in our guide to humidity and mildew in St. Petersburg homes.)
Outside and storm season
Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, which lines up almost exactly with snowbird season away. Bring in patio furniture and anything that can blow, and make sure someone local has a key and knows how to reach you. If you’re on the beaches (Indian Rocks Beach, Belleair Beach, Madeira Beach, Treasure Island, St. Pete Beach), the 2024 storms were a hard reminder that a quick post-storm check by someone nearby can save you weeks of damage.
Part 2: Reopening your home in the fall
Even a well-closed house needs a real cleaning when you come back. Dust settles, pollen finds its way in, and humidity leaves a film on glass and hard surfaces you won’t notice until the sun hits it.
Before you unpack
- Walk the house with your nose first. A musty smell usually points to a closet, a bathroom, or under a sink.
- Look for signs of leaks under sinks, around the water heater, and at the base of the AC air handler.
- Check window sills and slider tracks for mildew or water, especially on the side of the house that takes the afternoon storms.
- Run water in every faucet and flush every toilet for a minute to clear the lines.
The reopening clean
This is closer to a deep clean than a regular cleaning. You’re not tidying up a lived-in home; you’re bringing a closed one back to life. That means:
- Dusting every surface top to bottom, including ceiling fans, blinds, baseboards, and light fixtures
- Wiping out cabinets and drawers before you put food and dishes back
- Washing windows and sliding doors inside, and cleaning slider tracks
- Scrubbing showers and wiping grout lines where mildew may have started
- Washing or replacing bedding you left covered
- Vacuuming and mopping every floor
Do this before the grandkids, the neighbors, and the holiday guests arrive, not in the middle of it.
Let someone handle the hard part
Plenty of our seasonal clients book two cleanings a year: one the week they leave and one the week before they return. A reopening clean scheduled in advance means you walk into a fresh house instead of spending your first three days back with a mop.
If you’re trusting a company with your home while you’re 1,200 miles away, it’s worth knowing who will actually be inside. At Tampa Bay Home Services, every cleaner is a background-checked, bonded W-2 employee of our company, not an independent contractor, and our insurance and bonding details are public on our Proof of Coverage page. We’re based in St. Petersburg and serve seasonal homeowners from St. Pete up through Belleair and Indian Rocks Beach.
Planning your return? Get a quote and book your reopening clean before you head south.