Whenever you decide to make the bold decision of moving to a new home, it's easy to only focus on the safety of the items you are moving. We often forget that your home needs to be protected during a move as well. To save yourself the stress of cleaning up in the case of any damage, it's essential to protect your home. If you are looking to move to a new place soon, here are practical ways experts at O'Mara Moving and Storage recommend to protect your home and make sure it's in pristine condition when moving.
Protecting Your Lawn
It might not seem like a big deal, but a lawn is just as important as the building of your house. When moving property out of the house, the moving team members will likely take the same route from the house to their truck. Lifting furniture, lifting electronics, and taking out every other thing while crossing your lawn could be a recipe for disaster if not properly planned.
First, you must remove any movable landscaping items that could get in the way of the residential moving crew's work, such as lawn statues, ornaments, bird feeders, watering hoses, and sprinklers. This would help prevent your lawn from being trampled on by high foot traffic. Any obstructive items lying around could slow down and endanger the moving crew. If there are movable obstructions, tell the crew and ensure they know where the obstacles are and how to work around them.
If it rains when moving, cover your wet lawn by laying plywood, cardboard, or any other covering to keep your lawn protected.
Protect Your Floors
Moving day is challenging because numerous people walk in and out of your home while trying to move things out. Your floors bear the weight of the heavy lifting and back and forth to the amount of dirt from in and out movements.
Chances are your floor will suffer from scuffing, stains, and if you've got carpet, much worse. However, you might not have to worry about it as most moving companies will do this for you. Ensure that you protect all carpeted areas with plastic wrap, leaving no space uncovered, and use non-slip runners to prevent the moving crew members from falling. If heavier tools are used to move items out like hand trucks or dollies, you may reinforce your floor protection with particleboard.
Lift, Don't Slide, And Disassemble First
Moving furniture is where the most risk of damage is for residential movers. When moving big and heavy furniture, professional moving companies prioritize dissembling and lifting when trying to move heavy furniture out of the house. This helps prevent scratches on the floors, and if you have to slide, moving crews use dollies, moving pads, or furniture blankets.
Protecting Doorways & Stairwell Banisters
It may strike you as unnecessarily cautious, but it's also necessary to protect your doorways and banisters. Doorways, banisters, and other permanent fixtures could get scratched or dented while carrying heavy furniture. You can protect such fixtures by padding them with towels or heavy moving blankets, which many professional long-distance movers have in their trucks. If your doors cant is protected enough on high traffic routes, consider taking the doors off their hinges completely to keep them out of the way.
Protecting Window And Wall Decor
Many things could go awry when moving as you won't always have a clear sight of all the items hanging on your walls or windows lining the walls. The last thing you'd want is unexpected nicks in your paint job or scratching or, worse, breaking windows. Ensure that the moving crew is mindful of the windows and the walls as they carry items out of the house. Remove curtains, shut windows, and use corner protectors on mirrors and art.
Protecting Against Spills
Before moving day, ensure all liquids and powders are appropriately sealed to prevent spills on walls or floors. If you or the moving crew will be having refreshments, stick to bottled water - water spills are much easier to take care of than soda or other beverages.
Protecting Your Garage Floor
Your garage is probably the one place in your home where you keep potentially hazardous fluids and equipment - oil and gas for your vehicles, soils for lawn care, and so much more. Take all of these out of your garage before moving day to make the process easy and safe. Many expert moving companies expect you to do this before they arrive.
Additional tips for preparing and protecting your home while moving include:
- Hire Professional Movers
- Measure Furniture, Door Openings, And Stairwells
- Declutter First
- Leave The More Complex Stuff To The Moving Crew
- Ensure There's A Clear Spot Closeby For The Moving Van
Moving day does not have to be a nightmare for you or your moving company. When you prep ahead and employ the services of a great moving company, you're guaranteed a smooth and easy experience. At O'Mara Moving and Storage, our professional movers with experience in residential and commercial moving make your home and property safety the top priority.
Contact us if you need more information on our services, or submit our online form to get started today.
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