Best Ways To Protect Your House On The Moving Day

Moving day can get chaotic very quickly. Heavy furniture, tight doorways, and endless boxes can easily lead to scratched floors, dented walls, or damaged door frames if you're not careful.

Whether you hire professional movers or decide to move everything yourself, protecting your home during the process is just as important as protecting your belongings.

Quick Checklist to Protect Your Home on Moving Day

Before the movers arrive or before you start lifting boxes yourself, take a few minutes to prepare your home. A little preparation can go a long way in preventing scratches on floors, dents in walls, and damage to door frames. Taking simple precautions ahead of time can save you from unnecessary repairs and help your move go much more smoothly.

• Cover floors with cardboard, rugs, or floor runners.
• Protect walls and corners with blankets or corner guards.
• Wrap stair railings and banisters with moving blankets.
• Plan the moving route for large furniture in advance.
• Keep tools like dollies, sliders, and straps ready.

Moving day is when you need to be the most careful, since most home damage happens during the loading and unloading process. It’s important to leave your old house in the best possible condition if you want your security deposit back.

Also, if you are selling your house, its value could decrease if it gets damaged during the move. 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 the areas of your home that are most vulnerable to damage during a move:

• Walls and wall corners.
• Doors and doorway frames.
• Stairs and banisters.
• Carpets, tiles, and hardwood floors.

Moving Supplies That Help Protect Your Home During a Move

You may want to purchase a few pieces of equipment that can help protect your house on 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 these heavy-duty furniture pads around large items to protect them during the move.
• You can also wrap moving blankets around stair railings or nearby walls to prevent damage from accidental bumps and drops while moving items 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 and flatten old cardboard boxes and tape them to the floor to create a temporary walkway. 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 paint 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

Even if you check the forecast several times, moving day weather can still surprise you. 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 can make it much easier to slide heavy furniture across wooden floors or tile without causing scratches. 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 Right 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 likely need the following equipment:

• Moving Dolly: A moving dolly is one of the most useful tools during a move. It makes it easier to transport heavy items while saving time and reducing physical strain. Most moving dollies have four wheels and two axles, which makes it easier to 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 or area rugs and want to keep them clean during the move.

• 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.

How to Protect Floors During a Move

One of the most important things to worry about is protecting your floors. Whether it's hardwood flooring or carpet, 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 to open one side of a wardrobe carton or another large box. Starting at the entrance, lay the flattened cardboard along high-traffic pathways inside the house. Tape the pieces together so they stay in place and do not shift while items are being moved. This is especially helpful for protecting finished wood and tile floors.

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 your floors are protected, you can focus on securing the rest 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.

How to Protect Banisters During a Move

The best way to protect banisters 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 protect both your packed items and the banister during the move.

How to Protect Walls When Moving Furniture

Next, make sure your walls are protected from scratches and dents. Look for walls that are likely to get scratched during the move 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 in a single large box. The extra weight can cause the box to tear and may damage the floor if it falls. Items inside the box may shift and damage other belongings. 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.

Whether you hire movers or handle the move yourself, following these tips can help keep your home in great condition from start to finish.