How to Minimize Moving Day Damage by Protecting Your Walls, Floors, and Doors


As you move out of your old place, you'll want to minimize damage as much as possible. Failure to do this could mean some pretty big headaches for you at closing time. Obviously, you'll also want to protect your new place as you go in. Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to ensure that your old and new homes are protected from the perils of the moving process. What You'll Need
When protecting your floors, walls, carpets, and banisters, you'll need a few materials: Medium-to-large sized boxes (like wardrobe cartons) A boxcutter Packing tape Packing blankets Adhesive carpet runners Drop cloths Packing paper Corner guards. How To Protect Your Home Let's begin with protecting your floors. First, carefully using a boxcutter, 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. Your next step is the banisters. They can be wrapped in clean packing blankets. Then, 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.
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.		Photo by Movers.com
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. Laying a cardboard walkway down can also usefully serve as a floor mat if it's particularly wet or messy outside.

How to Minimize Moving Day Damage by Protecting Your Walls, Floors, and Doors

Protecting the House for the Move