Protecting the House for the Move - NextDayBoxes.com

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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.

Packing Supplies You'll Need

When protecting your floors, walls, carpets, and banisters, you'll need a few materials:

• Medium-to-large sized boxes (like a wardrobe box); used boxes should be fine, so long as they aren't dirty and going to sully the floor.
• A box cutter
• Packing tape
• Moving 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 box cutter, make an incision down the side of a wardrobe box 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 banisters. They can be wrapped in clean moving 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, moving 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.

Carpets and rugs can be protected with adhesive carpet runners, moving 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.