Moving is a stressful time. You are always surprised by how much stuff you have—and then handle the transport to and unloading in your new Grand Lake Home. You take care to protect your precious possessions from all the threats of being shifted, lifted, and jostled. How do you protect them during the last leg of the journey? Here are some moving tips to help you move in without destroying your new home.
Plan, plan, plan. Minimize the moving time and effort (particularly if you are paying professional movers by the hour) by creating a moving plan and floor layout.
- Take measurements of your new space, room by room, so you know where your furniture will fit.
- Measure your furniture and create a floor plan, making sure you leave space for walking.
- Measure the doorways and stairways to make sure the pieces will easily fit through, so you don’t scrape them or your furniture. You might need to have some doors removed temporarily until all the furniture is in place.
Protect the floors. While your floors are certainly designed to withstand traffic, there’s no need to put them to the test during your move. From scrapes on your hardwood to stains on the carpet to cracks in the tile, your flooring is at risk of damage when you’re hauling in a houseful of possessions.
- Provide a protected pathway through your new home by laying down a trail of plastic sheeting.
- Put a moving blanket underneath large pieces to drag them easily and without leaving scratches behind.
- Place a doormat or flattened moving boxes outside and inside the entryway so that people aren’t tracking in dirt.
Protect walls and railings. Do a walk-through of your new home before moving day. Look for places that might be at risk of scrapes, scratches, dents, and dings.
- Wrap the banisters with towels or sheets.
- Hang moving blankets or drop cloths on walls and corners.
- If you have furniture that will be pushed up against walls (e.g., bookcases, headboard, dressers), protect the surfaces by attaching felt pads to the back corners of those pieces.
Move from back to front. Reduce the traffic in and out of your new home during the move by first unloading the items in the farthest reaches, like the upper floors before the main level, or the back of the house before the area close to the entrance. By following this pattern, your move will not only go faster, but you will have less back-and-forth foot traffic in the rooms and spaces farthest from the entrance.
- Look at the plan you created in Step #1. Number the rooms and then number your boxes and furnishings accordingly (#1 for the first room to be unloaded) Then ask your movers to load everything in reverse order, so they can unload “by the numbers”.
Your new home is a significant investment. Follow these moving tips to protect its value right from the start.