Damage free moving into your new custom home is a common worry. After carefully organizing, padding, swaddling and packing your precious belongings to move with as little damage as possible, here are some steps to protect your pristine new custom home. Having a plan in place allows to have a smart, safe move with as little damage as possible.
Measure & Create a Floor Plan
Put a floor plan together. Sketch a plan of the new house and where each piece of furniture will go. Label the area and place the same label on the actual item. This will minimize the effort and guesswork involved in preparing the home for the move. Be sure to:
- Measure the new rooms so you know exactly how your furniture will fit.
- Measure all doors, entryways and staircases.
- Remove tight doors ahead of time to avoid scraping your furniture.
Protect Walls, Corners and Stairs
Tour the house and identify corners, walls and staircase banisters that might be impacted by where your furniture will need to go.
- Drape blankets, towels or plastic sheeting around banisters to prevent nicks.
- Hang moving blankets on damage prone walls.
- Attach felt pads to furniture areas that will rest against your walls.
- Tape all furniture drawers so items don’t fly out in the move and gash a wall.
- Empty all appliances and furniture to make them less heavy and easier to maneuver.
Protect the Flooring
Your new floors and carpet may be designed to hold up under heavy traffic, but here are some steps to protect the flooring in your new home for the move:
- Flatten some left over extra large moving boxes and create pathways. Tape them together where there will be heavy traffic on hardwood of tile floors.
- Wrap furniture and appliances in moving blankets and secure with packing tape before moving them.
- Place moving blankets under heavy furniture items while moving them.
- Use sliders under the feet of furniture to put them into position without scratching or damaging the floor.
Slide, Don’t Drag
If you’re not a professional mover and don’t know how to lift things properly, you can hurt yourself. You can buy furniture slides in all kinds of shapes and sizes, or you can just make your own using container lids, Frisbees or carpet remnants. You’ll need plastic sliders for carpet and padded sliders for hard floors. This will avoid damage to your flooring, and your back.
Enjoy Your New Custom Home
Following these steps will ensure that your move will be as safe and damage free as possible. That way, when you plop down exhausted after the move, you can admire you beautiful new home without regret or worry. Enjoy!