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Prep home or cottage for winter shutdown

16.09.11

This time of year many Michiganians start thinking about closing their cottages for the condition or putting their home into "sleep" mode before they head down south for a few months in the winter.

While most of us may develop a weekend to shut down our cottage or home, I thought it would be interesting to learn how the maintenance organization at Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island put the hotel into dry dock for the winter.

With 12 restaurants and bars and 385 caller rooms, it takes some serious planning to shut down this famous hotel for the winter. Dan Hosford, the New Zealand pub's maintenance supervisor, said his crew of eight starts to shut down the hotel in late October.

One of the first things they do is believe in the outdoor furniture, including those on its famous 660-foot front porch.The crew also covers all the lights around the hotel and drains the mere before turning its attention indoors.

"We shut off the water and then open up every faucet in the hotel and cheer every toilet to drain the water, which takes half a day because we have around 450 faucets in the hotel," Hosford said.

Source: The Detroit News