How to Prevent Property Damage When Moving House

Has the time come for you to move out once more?

Regardless of whether you’re moving out of your own home or you’re leaving a rented property, it’s important to leave your house or flat perfectly intact so that you won’t have to deal with numerous forced troubles, endure strong yet easily avoidable headaches and ultimately, end up digging deeper into your pocket to cover the expenses for property damage restoration.

Yes, property damage when moving out is a real threat and you should do all in your power to neutralize it before it’s too late. Learn the best practices of avoiding property damage when moving house and save money, time and nervous breakdowns as a result.

Why property damage is bad for you

If you’re selling your soon-to-be old home, you will need it to be in great condition so that you get the most out of the property sale – you sell it for the price you want and the deal is finalized faster. However, if you have accidentally scratched the floors, chipped some wall corners, damaged the staircase banisters or dented a couple of door frames while getting your bulky furniture pieces or heavy kitchen appliances to the waiting moving vehicle, then all of a sudden, you’re going to have a much more complicated house move than you anticipated. Complicated in terms of lost time as you try to repair any inflicted property damage by yourself or complicated in terms of wasted money as you arrange for the damage to be repaired by professionals.

On the other hand, if you’re moving out of a rented property, then you should also be extremely careful not to cause any damage to the place that you have called home until recently because doing so will not only prevent you from getting your security deposit back, but depending on the extent of the inflicted damage, you may be forced to pay for the repair works out of your own pocket.

Either way, it’s obvious that property damage during the moving process will hurt your fair chances of having a profitable sale and a smooth relocation. One thing is clear – property damage when moving out is something that should be avoided at all costs. Read on to learn proven ways to prevent damage to your property when moving to a new home.

Find a removal company you can really trust

The best way to protect your property when moving is to find a trustworthy removal company to take care of the tough aspects of your house move. Reputable removal men have been trained to provide a high level of safety to all participants in the relocation process as well to the two homes they will be dealing with – your current house or flat and your future residence. But why exactly is a team of professional movers your best protection against property damage?

Quality packing supplies

First of all, if you have requested the extra service of having your entire home packed up by professional packers, or at least parts of it, then you will certainly receive the best protection for your personal effects and house items in terms of packing materials and packing skills. As a result, as soon as your entire shipment is safely packed and adequately prepared for the haul, then the chances of any harm being done to your home are greatly reduced.

For example, a sofa wrapped up well in furniture blankets will cause none or minimal damage to your house even if it is accidentally dropped on the floor or scraped against a wall corner while it is being moved towards the moving van.

Proper moving equipment

Secondly, your hired removal crew will arrive with the needed moving equipment so that no room, floor, wall, staircase, door or anything else inside your home is subjected to untimely hits, dents, chips, scratches and so on.

The most useful tool in your removal men’s arsenal is the utility dolly, but no house protection during a move is complete without the addition of furniture blankets, moving pads (sliders), moving straps, and other protective pieces of equipment depending on the nature of the move. Find more information below about how exactly proper pieces of moving equipment will help you avoid property damage while moving.

Moving safety experience

And most importantly, your paid labourers will come to your home with the best weapon against any property damage whatsoever – their experience. Having to deal with residential moves of all sorts on a daily basis, trained professional movers know what it takes to have a problem-free relocation from start to finish. While their alleged physical strength will certainly help them keep your home from being damaged when moving, it’s the relocation know-how they possess that will make sure nothing bad happens to neither your possessions nor to your residence.

Browse through experienced removals by city and get a moving quote to learn how much your moving costs will be.

Protect your household items the right way

In case you have reached the informed decision to move without professional assistance, then your very first line of defense against material troubles on moving day is to make sure your household items are properly packed and protected. And if you have paid attention to the top 10 packing mistakes when moving and have done whatever’s necessary to avoid those costly errors while packing for a move, then you should already be on the safe side of things.

• Take advantage of the unrivaled protection of thick moving blankets by wrapping them around fragile and delicate items, antique and valuable possessions, as well as around bulky and heavyweight belongings that have the highest chance of inflicting property damage if not handled the right way. Moving blankets serve a dual purpose during a residential move – they offer the best protection for the item wrapped in them and for the house itself in case of unwanted contacts while the item in question is being carried outside the home.
• To make things easier and safer, any protruding, loose or movable parts from your household items should be well secured or even removed if possible. For example, if you possess a front-load washing machine, you must make sure its drum is 100% immobilized by re-inserting the shipping bolts your appliance came with. Also, to prevent your fridge door from opening by accident while you’re wheeling out your refrigerator, you need to secure that same door with stretch tape, moving straps or a piece of rope. Furthermore, consider taking off the legs of your sofa temporarily (if applicable) so that the piece can fit through the living room door and direct hits with the wall or door frame are effectively prevented.

Be properly equipped for the moving task

To avoid property damage when moving house, you need to have the right type of moving equipment. Depending on your specific requirements and the nature of the relocation, you can either rent the necessary pieces or purchase them if you think you might need them anytime soon.

Here are the 3 most fundamental equipment components without whose help your house or apartment, as well as your move in general, can never be safe enough.

• 

  A utility dolly. This first class lever will truly be the most important (understand useful) tool in your struggles to keep your home damage-free throughout the course of your move. Keep in mind that the sheer weight that moving dollies can wheel around safely is much more than what can be handled by an entire team of friendly non-professional helpers who have answered your desperate call for relocation help. After all, wheels are not regarded as one of the greatest inventions ever in the history of mankind for nothing. Just make sure there are enough people to support and guide the dolly towards the moving vehicle, and that whatever item is about to be transported on it is well secured to the two-wheeled assistant via ropes, straps, tape, etc.

• Moving pads (aka Sliders). Placed underneath big and heavy household items, those sliders will facilitate the movement across the rooms without leaving any scrapes, scratches or dents on hardwood floors. Furniture pads can be purchased or rented from your local removal company. In case you don’t have access to such pads, then you can use furniture blankets instead.
• Moving straps. Similar to the protective blankets, moving straps can often be used for two purposes – (1) to keep doors and drawers from opening during transport, and (2) to help you lift and carry large and heavy items easier (not recommended unless you have a good deal of experience using straps to actually move things around).

Protect your home against relocation damage

Property damage when moving house can turn out to be a very costly affair so all possible protective measures should be taken to ensure nothing unexpectedly bad happens on your moving day. To make things worse, possible damage inflicted on your home while moving out will come at a very inopportune moment – you will simply have no time to spare in order to take care of property damage restoration procedures.

Therefore, be proactive so that you prevent bad things from happening to your current home.

Hardwood floors and carpeted floors

The floors of your place are probably the easiest ones to get ruined by rush actions on your side. Any attempts to slide a heavy object along the floors without proper preparations can easily scratch or even scrape hardwood surfaces (some polished surfaces have rather delicate finishes that can be damaged in seconds). Also, any accidental drops of heavyweight items can and most probably will, once again, affect the integrity of your house floors.

• Use a utility dolly to move bulky stuff around whenever possible because the heavy duty rubber wheels can never actually harm your floors. Also, take advantage of the protective power of sliders and furniture blankets.
• Excellent floor protectors which you should definitely consider using include plywood sheets, film protectors, large cut-out cardboard sheets, old oilcloths, bed sheets, blankets and anything else you can find in your home that will insulate the floors.
• Place doormats in front of your doors to minimize the entrance of dust, dirt, water, etc. which will shorten the lifetime of your floor protectors.

Wall sections and tight corners

• Avoid untimely damage to your wall corners the same way you would protect your floors. Use furniture blankets, thick cardboard pieces or old pieces of clothing and tape them on strategic sections along your walls which you think will be most endangered when moving large items out of the house.
• Pay special attention to tight corners where damage-free navigation becomes a real challenge. If you’re really worried about a specific zone, consider installing specially designed corner guards to keep your property intact while moving house.

Staircases

The stairs in your home can actually inflict more damage to you and everyone else involved in the move than the other way round. To avoid personal injuries when moving house, place anti-slip covers onto the stairs and secure them well in place so that no one trips while carrying heavy items. Wrap the banisters with old blankets or useless rags to soften any accidental attempts to break them.

Note: Be extremely careful when going down or up the stairs.

Bonus property protection advice

Finally, here are a few extra tips to avoid damage to your house and stay safe during the process of moving from one home to another.

• Ultimately, the best way to protect your property when moving is to use your brain and plan a few steps ahead before taking the very first one. If you’re not sure how to do something, don’t do it until you figure out a safety method of doing it or seek adequate help when your attempts fail.
• Make sure you have measured your large and awkwardly-shaped furniture pieces and the entrances and exits of your home before you get down to moving them outside.
• Probably the biggest mistake you can make while moving out is to think that property damage is out of the question simply because you will be very careful. Accidents tend to happen in split seconds and it’s so much better to be safe than sorry. Decide to go with a specific plan only after its careful consideration from all angles.
• Arguably, the best advice on how to prevent property damage when moving house is to receive much needed help with all the heavy lifting business, either from your trusted friends or from reputable professionals.

Have you ever had to deal with property damage when moving house? Will you share your unfortunate experience with us?

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