The full spring-opening guide is here, the water and the well have their own page, and the safety check is here. This is the short version — the whole open on one page, in the order that keeps each step from wrecking the next.
Work top to bottom. The order is the point.
Before you go up
- Wait out the hard frost — don’t recommission water while nights still freeze
- Arrange power and propane reconnection a couple of weeks ahead
Look — before you switch anything on
- Walk the outside first: leaning/fallen trees, roof and shingle damage, ice-dam marks, downed lines
- Find the winter’s entry holes (where something chewed or dug in)
- Only then: energize lighting circuits only
Do not energize the water heater until the tank is confirmed full. A dry element burns out in seconds. Keep its breaker off (or gas off) until a hot tap runs steady.
Water
- Close every winterization drain you opened last fall (main, water heater, toilet supplies, hose bibs)
- Replace the pump filter; prime the pump
- Bring pressure up slowly; walk the house listening for hiss/drip/running water
- Check under sinks, around toilets, in the crawlspace; mineral crust = slow leak
- Flush antifreeze: every tap hot and cold 2–3 min; toilets twice; until clear and odourless
- Confirm tank full, then switch on the water heater
The well (if you’re on one)
- Pump off at the breaker and taped off; bypass the softener
- One 4 L bottle unscented bleach into the well; run taps until each smells of bleach
- Sit 6 hours / overnight; purge outside until smell fades; then flush indoor taps
- Keep chlorinated water away from people, animals, fish-bearing water
- Retest for bacteria after one week (shock is temporary — recurring failures mean fix the source)
Before the first fire and first night
- Propane leak test: soapy water on fittings, open valve slowly, watch for bubbles — never a flame
- Chimney checked before the first fire; clean at ~⅛“ creosote; nests out of all vents
- Test every smoke and CO detector; new batteries; check the printed expiry date
Never sweep or vacuum mouse droppings. Open up and air out 30 min. Gloves + fitted N95. Wet with 1:9 bleach, wait 10 min, wipe with paper towel, double-bag. Wash up.
Last — the ground and what it holds
- Look for frost heave: leaning deck posts, doors out of square, shifted dock cribs, tilted septic lids
- Check the septic; clean the effluent filter over the open tank
- Go easy on water use until breakup ground drains (a saturated leach field backs up)
A cottage in May isn’t a postcard. It’s a building that survived five months alone and is waiting to tell you how it went. This page is how I make sure I listen in the right order.