When you decide to relocate to a new place, it's very important to protect your house when moving. Whether you have hired professional movers, or you have chosen to handle everything by yourself, moving heavy furniture and other household items around the house can cause a lot of damage to the floors, ceiling, walls and doors. The wall corners may get chipped, the wooden floor may receive scratches and even the doors can get hit resulting in marks and dents all over them.
Fortunately, there are several ways to avoid the perils of the moving process if you want to protect the house for the move. Most importantly, you need to be extra cautious while moving through tight spaces, especially staircases, and make use of good quality supplies and equipment. The more efficient you are at handling the items, the smoother the maneuvering will be.
If you wish to protect your house when moving, make sure to follow these tips mentioned below:
Supplies you'll need
To shield your floors, walls, carpets, and banisters, against any kind of damage, you'll need a few supplies:
- Medium-to-large sized boxes (like wardrobe cartons)
- A boxcutter
- Packing tape
- Packing blankets
- Adhesive carpet runners
- Drop cloths
- Packing paper
- Corner guards
Use the correct moving equipment
It's extremely important to use the right kind of equipment so as to protect your house when moving. There are certain tools that not only ensure safety of your heavy objects but also reduce the risk of damaging the carpet and rug on your floors. You can either buy this equipment or rent the required pieces, as per your convenience.
If you wish to protect your house when moving, you'll need the following equipment:
- Moving Dolly : A moving dolly is a quintessential equipment for every move as it not only makes handling heavy objects a piece of cake but also saves a lot of time and efforts of the people who are carrying out the move.
There are different types of dollies like utility dolly, appliance dolly, and furniture dolly- each varying in their size and shape yet carrying the same set of features.
You can simply put an object on a dolly and slide it around the house without making much effort while protecting the floor from getting scraped or scratched. It's equally useful if you have carpet or rug all over the floor and don't want it to get dirty with the maneuver.
- Moving Straps : With the help of moving straps, you can easily move out items that will be impossible to life otherwise. It has a harness system that allows two people to carry an object with the help of straps instead without having to use much physical strength.
- Moving Sliders : Much like the moving pads, sliders make it easy to slide heavy objects around the house except that these don't have any wheels. Whether it's a bulky dresser or a heavy table, sliders will make the entire process quite easy and you'll be able to protect your house when moving without much hassle.
- Moving Blankets : These are quilted pads made of thick fabric that can be wrapped around heavy appliances and other objects while carrying them around. It not only protects the packed items from dirt and moisture but also reduces the chances of any scratches or dents on any part of the house during the move.
Protecting the house for the move
In order to safeguard your house against any damage, you need to make sure that each and every area of the house is adequately covered and there are no chances of any packed item either hitting or falling onto anything expensive. For this, you can start with one element at a time ranging from floors to walls and carpet to ceiling.
Protecting the floors
The first thing to worry about is how to protect your floors when moving. Whether it's hardwood floor or carpeted one, the chances of damage are always quite high during a move. The most important step towards securing the floor during the move is never to slide anything on the floor without using tools like dollies and sliders, especially for heavy items. Here's how to protect your floors when moving:
Use a box cutter and make an incision down the side of a wardrobe carton or other medium-to-large box. Beginning at the entrance to the home, lay the flattened boxes down on the pathways that are going to receive the bulk of the traffic during the moving process. This is especially important for finished wood and tile floors. Secure the flattened boxes together with some packing tape so they don't slide around.
Now, if you are wondering how to protect carpets when moving, we have a solution for that as well. Carpets and rugs can be protected with adhesive carpet runners, packing blankets, or drop cloths. The runners are more expensive, but they do the job very well. Essentially, they are big pieces of tape you lay down on the carpet to make a walkway. In a pinch, you can also just put some packing paper down to protect a nice rug you are working on.
Once you learn how to protect your floors when moving, you can proceed to secure the rest of the areas of the house.
Tip: Laying a cardboard walkway down can also usefully serve as a floor mat if it's particularly wet or messy outside.
Protecting the bannisters
The best way to protect bannisters during a move is to wrap them in clean packing blankets. Secure them with packing tape by taping the blanket around itself. Do not put packing tape directly on finished wood. It might leave a gummy residue or even strip the finish off. Another tip is to place anti-slip covers onto the stairs so that there are no chances of someone tripping and falling while moving heavy furniture up or down the staircase. This will surely protect the packed items as well as the bannister during the move.
Protecting the walls
The next thing to learn is how to protect walls when moving. Look for any walls that are in danger of being scratched and protect them with cardboard boxes, packing blankets, or drop cloths. Simply tape them up there. Corners that are going to receive high traffic can be easily protected with corner guards, which are simple to install if you follow the instructions on the manufacturer's packaging. Shielding the walls and corners will surely help you protect your house when moving.
With the combination of right moving tips alongside adequate equipment and good quality of supplies, you can protect your house for the move like a pro without risking any damage to your valuable property.