When deciding to relocate to a new place, it's very important to protect your house while moving. Whether you have hired professional movers or have chosen to handle everything by yourself, moving heavy furniture and other household items can cause a lot of damage to floors, ceilings, walls, and doors.
Fortunately, there are several ways to avoid these perils if you want to protect the house while you move out or move in. The main things you'll need to keep in mind is caution (especially around tricky areas), using quality supplies and equipment, and prioritizing efficiency.
Where to begin?
Moving day is when you'll have to be most vigilant since most house damage occurs around this time. It’s important to leave your old house in the best possible condition if you want your security deposit back.
Moreover, if you are selling your own house, its selling price will likely be reduced if it gets damaged while you are moving out of it. This is why it’s essential for you to protect your house. Here we will identify multiple strategies which can make the process easier for you.
While you are moving out of your current house, we recommend you focus on protecting specific areas from wear and tear. You don't want a piece of your furniture to get damaged or hit a wall mistakenly.
Here are a few key areas that you must protect from scraping and other types of damage:
- Walls and wall corners.
- Doors and doorway frames.
- Stairs and banisters.
- Carpets, tiles, and hardwood floors.
List of Moving Supplies - Protecting your house and properties
You may consider purchasing a few pieces of equipment that will help you secure a protect your house on the moving day. However, you might not know that you probably already have a few such supplies at home!
Moving Blankets
Here are a few things you must know about moving blankets:
- You can wrap this heavy-duty furniture pad around a piece of furniture which will safeguard it during the moving process.
- Another good idea would be to wrap the blanket around your stair railings by hanging it on the wall and fastening it on the floors. With this, you can avoid damage due to accidental hits, drops, and bumps while moving things on the stairs.
- If you are putting a moving blanket on the floor, make sure you use superior quality packing tape to keep it in place and avoid falls or trips.
- Alternatively, if you have hired professional movers, make sure you ask them if they will provide you with moving supplies. Moreover, if you hire high quality movers, they will bring furniture pads with them to pack your furniture properly. It is still a good idea though to keep a few blankets handy as you might need to apply them in other areas of your house.
Tip: We suggest you wrap heavy furniture with a moving blanket or place the blanket under the furniture. This will help you easily glide the furniture across the floor without causing any abrasions or scratches.
Cardboard boxes
- You can cut old cardboard boxes, flatten them, and tape them to the floor to create an artificial pathway. This will safeguard the floors from scuffs, dirt, and abrasions.
- Another good idea is to place the cardboard pieces along the walls or on the windows. This will protect the wall paints from getting scraped and windows from getting cracked (similar to a moving blanket).
Tip: It would be worthwhile to plan your in-house moving route ahead of time, especially for heavy items. You should also discuss this route with the movers before they start their job.
Tarps and plastic sheets
Regardless of the number of times you might check the forecast, the weather will not always be in your favor. Here's how to deal with unfavorable weather:
- You can use protective covers like plastic sheets and tarps on the floors and even cover furniture and moving boxes with them. This will protect your possessions from getting wet when it starts to rain or snow.
- Making use of tarps will prevent a moving blanket or cardboard box from getting wet. This will also help you avoid muddy puddles and boots from damaging anything.
Rugs and old sheets
Rugs are an efficient tool for gliding your heavy furniture across the wooden floor or tiles. Regardless of how you are using it, you must place the rug on its side on the floor. Next, you need to place the furniture on the rug before you start the move. This will help save your energy, which you may need more of when loading items into the moving truck and moving items down the stairs.
Other options would be to use old blankets and sheets that are thick. You can drape these materials on the walls and railings if you don’t have enough moving blankets to use.
Treads
Stairs are one of the most complicated areas that you will need to maneuver around if you need to move something heavy. You can put non-slip treads on stairs, mostly if you are moving on a rainy/snowy day to increase your traction. It’s in times like that when your shoes would be more prone to slipping.
Edge protectors
You can use corner guards to safeguard your house from getting chipped while you try to get your heavy furniture through the doorway or along the hallway. Here’s what you need to know:
- Edge protectors are available in diverse colors, with a few being permanently sticky while others are just temporary.
- A temporary corner guard is made up of rubber or foam which can be applied on a pathway through which you need to move heavy items.
Use the correct moving equipment
It's extremely important to use the right kind of equipment to protect your house when moving. There are certain tools that not only ensure the safety of your heavy objects but also reduce the risk of damaging the carpets and rugs on your floors. You can either buy or rent this equipment 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 an important piece of equipment for every move as it not only makes handling heavy objects a piece of cake but also saves a lot of time and effort for the people who are carrying out the move. A moving dolly has four wheels and two axles, that can help you move heavy items from one place to another.
There are different types of dollies such as the utility dolly, appliance dolly, and furniture dolly-each varying in size and shape.
You simply put an object on a dolly and slide it around the house without much effort while protecting the floor from getting scraped and scratched. It's equally useful if you have carpet/rug floor and don't want it to get dirty.
- Moving Straps: With the help of moving straps, you can easily move items that would be impossible to lift otherwise. They have a harness system that allows two people to carry an object having to use much strength.
- Moving Sliders: Much like the moving pads, sliders make it easy to move heavy objects around the house, the difference being 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.
Protecting the floors
One of the most important things to worry about is protecting your floors. Whether it's a 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 a move is never to slide anything across the floor without using tools like dollies and sliders, especially if the item is heavy. 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 of the home, lay the flattened boxes 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.
If you are wondering how to protect carpets while moving, we have a solution for that as well. Carpets and rugs can be protected with adhesive carpet runners, packing blankets, and drop cloths. Runners are more expensive, but they do the job very well.
Essentially, they are big pieces of tape that 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 that 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 the finished wood since it might leave a gummy residue and 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 help you protect packed items and 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. 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.
With the combination of our moving tips alongside adequate equipment and good quality supplies, you can protect your house like a pro without risking any damage to your valuable property.
Hire a reliable moving company
The best way to reduce stress and move smoothly and quickly to your new home would be to hire quality movers. Here are a few benefits of hiring moving companies:
- A moving company will have both the professional expertise as well as the relevant equipment to assist you with your move without causing any damage.
- A professional mover is skilled enough to predict the possible risks and take proper measures to ensure the safety of your house as well as your possessions.
- You won’t have to buy tools or necessary packing supplies.
Tip: We suggest you prepare a list of a few moving companies and request a moving quote from each of them for relocating your belongings to your new destination.
Pack your items properly
If you don’t have the budget to hire a moving company or want to move by yourself, here’s what you need to do to safeguard your belongings:
- You need to collect adequate packing supplies, organize your belongings, and pack each piece considering their fragility, weight, and shape.
- Use solid boxes to pack your items and fasten them with excellent quality packing tape. Moreover, you shouldn’t forget to stuff adequate padding inside the box to keep your items firmly in their place.
- Avoid placing multiple heavy items inside one large moving box. Chances are that something inside the box might fall and damage more items inside it. The items can even break and damage your floor too.
- We suggest you distribute your items in several small boxes. Don’t use large boxes unless your items are large but lightweight.
- Consider disassembling your furniture before you move it and make sure you wrap the sharp edges and corners very carefully.
To know more about protecting your house from damage, you can connect with us at movers.com and request a quote for moving your belongings. Then you can shortlist a few quality movers and request moving quotes. If you have the budget, we still suggest hiring professional movers to reduce your stress.Regardless of whether you take on extra help or not, if you follow our tips your house will be left in pristine quality when you’re finished.