Second
Inside the house
The handful of things that come up every week.
Heating and cooling
Four mini-splits, four remotes
The mini-splits do both heat and air conditioning, on the same remotes. Each unit has its own remote, and each remote lives in a wall cradle near its unit. Please put them back so the next person can find them.
- First floor living area
- wall cradle by the slider at the kitchen peninsula
- First floor bathroom
- wall cradle by the light switch near the sink
- Both upstairs bedrooms
- wall cradle inside the closet
Keep all windows, doors, and sliders closed whenever the units are running, heat or cool. They work hard against beach air and an open window undoes it.
Leave the units running when you check out, set to 72. They run between guests to keep the humidity down, so there's no need to shut anything off.
Trash
Pickup is Tuesday morning
The barrels live behind the house. There's no recycling pickup here, so everything goes in the trash.
If your stay includes Monday night: put the barrels at the curb Monday evening, then bring them back behind the house after they're emptied Tuesday.
- Everything goes in a bag. Nothing loose in the barrel, ever.
- Break down pizza boxes and bag them.
- Fasten the barrel cover securely. An unsealed barrel in July gets ugly fast.
- Don't leave bags on the ground next to the barrel overnight. Gulls tear them open.
- Spare trash bags are in a dispenser mounted on the back wall inside the kitchen trash barrel.
Sand
Rinse before you come in
There's no outdoor shower, but there's a footwash bin by the front door. Use it every time, feet especially. Sand tracked inside is what wrecks the floors.
Locking up
Any time you leave
- Lock both doors, even for a short trip to the beach.
- If you're heading out for a while, close the windows and sliders. Weather comes in fast here.
Televisions
Three TVs, and one of them is different
- Living room
- Xfinity cable box, streaming works
- Primary bedroom
- Xfinity cable box, streaming works
- Bunk room
- no cable box, no streaming
The bunk room TV has no cable box and isn't set up for streaming. If you want anything on that one, bring a Roku stick or a similar device and plug it into the HDMI port.
Sign out before you leave. If you log into Netflix, Hulu, or anything else on the two main TVs, sign out at the end of your stay. Otherwise the next guest is watching on your account.
Quirks
Three things about this house
Every old beach house has a few. These are ours, and knowing them up front saves you a phone call.
The upstairs shower door has to be pulled all the way shut
If it isn't fully closed, it leaks onto the floor. Give it a firm pull and check that it's seated before you turn the water on. This is the one on the list that actually causes damage, so please don't skip it.
The kitchen slider is heavy
It takes real effort to open and close. Nothing is broken, it's just a heavy door. Use two hands and don't let the kids fight with it.
Leave the washer door open a crack
Between loads and when you check out. Front loaders in a beach house get musty fast if you shut them tight.
The house has
- Two rolls of toilet paper and one roll of paper towels to start you off
- Keurig that takes both pods and ground coffee, with pods in the rack beside it
- Gas grill and propane fire pit
- Dishes, utensils, cookware
- Bath towels, plus a few beach towels by the front door
- Bed linens, blankets, pillows
- Washer and dryer
- Cable TV
You bring
- Toilet paper and paper towels past the first roll
- Your own beach towels. We only keep a few.
- All beach gear: chairs, umbrellas, tents, boogie boards
- Dish soap and dishwasher pods
- Laundry detergent
- Shampoo and toiletries
- Food, drinks, ice, sunscreen
- Ground coffee, if you'd rather brew that than use the pods
First stop
Market Basket at 380 Lafayette Rd in Seabrook is about ten minutes up the road and is the easiest place to knock all of that out on your way in. Catalano's Market on Ocean Blvd is much closer if you just need a few things.