Why does the middle section of To the Lighthouse focus on an empty house?

In the middle section of To the Lighthouse, titled "Time Passes," Virginia Woolf focuses on the empty summer home to illustrate the passage of time over a decade.12

By describing the physical decay of the house—such as the accumulation of dust, mold, and the encroachment of weeds—Woolf emphasizes the relentless progression of time and the indifference of the natural world to human affairs. This section serves as a structural and thematic bridge, contrasting the domestic life of the Ramsay family in the first section with their return in the third. Notably, Woolf uses this period of abandonment to relegate major human events, including the deaths of Mrs. Ramsay and two of her children, to mere parenthetical announcements, thereby highlighting the transience of individual lives against the backdrop of time's steady, impersonal movement.12