Moving house soon?

You’re not the only one. Roughly 3.5 million Americans pack up their worldly possessions and relocate each year.

And whether you’re going to a new city for work or moving into your newly purchased dream home, you need to be careful to leave your old place in perfect nick.

After all, up to one in four Americans never get their rental deposit back. And. if you’re the homeowner, a careless move could cause considerable damage to your precious home.

Check out the following hardwood floor protection tips to help you prepare for your move.

Use Protection

Got any floor runners lying around the house? Ideally, some that are worn out and ready to be binned?

Don’t throw them away or pack with into boxes, because moving floor runners are ideal for protecting your hardwood floors.

However, depending on your furniture, these could become damaged or torn in the process. Therefore, if you’d still like to use them, consider other alternatives such as cardboard, Ram Board, or other protective floor covering.

Furniture sliders are another great option. Place these small, non-stick pads under the corner of each leg to effortlessly slide your furniture into place without damaging the floor.

Use Wheels

Another option to keep those floors safe is using a dolly. Obviously, these won’t make it up or down stairs, so they aren’t suitable for some homes or the entire process.

Nevertheless, wheels will keep your back safe from most of the heavy lifting and your floors looking as good as new.

Just be sure the dolly has been kitted out with a heavy-duty caster that has been rated to support the required amount of weight.

Use Doormats

Regardless of what the weather is like on the day of your move, throw in a few doormats to avoid movers and residents trampling dirt into the house. Obviously, this is extra increasingly important should the area directly outside be dirty from rain, mud, or snow.

Don’t have any doormats? Improvise with a bit of cardboard or the like and insist on workers scrubbing their feet clean each time they enter.

Measure Up

Moving furniture on wooden floors is difficult to do without causing some sort of damage. Most scratches, dents, and scrapes come from the corners of large pieces of furniture as the removalists inadvertently drag them across the floor.

To minimize the chance of this happening, measure all your larger pieces of furniture to ensure they’re small enough to squeeze through the corridors and doors of your new home.

If not, you’ll end of playing a super tricky game of Tetris in which something is likely to get damaged. Sadly, there’s little other option than to sell, swap or donate any furniture that won’t fit in your new home.

Don’t drag

Dragging heavy bits of furniture is a surefire way to scratch the floor, ensuring you’ll lose a good chunk of your deposit or reduce the value of your home.

Don’t overpack your boxes and use a dolly to transport them into place. As for furniture, install a furniture slider on each leg, or at the very least, tape a bit of cardboard there instead.

Attaching felt on the bottom of a leg is an easy way to protect your floors now and in the future should you need to slide your furniture around.

Hardwood Floor Protection

Aside from hardwood floor protection, there are many other things you can do to prepare your home for sale.

Get in touch with the folks at Bonnie Roberts Reality for expert advice on all things related to real estate.