Fortunately, there are some easy tricks to make moving in unexpected weather a lot easier and protect both your home and your belongings in the process. Bad weather doesn’t have to equal a bad move.
Here are some moving tips for unexpected weather to help you get through the day with ease:
Tips for Moving in Unexpected Weather
Prep Your Home
On moving day, there are a lot of things you can do to protect your home from the heavy foot traffic and inevitable bumps and scrapes that happen in the process, which can also protect against the effects of bad weather. We always put down runners to protect flooring, for example, which will also protect them from the movers tracking in mud if it rains. Rugs, towels or moving pads work great around the doors to keep things clean and dry.
Protect Your Furniture & Items
One of the biggest concerns when it rains on moving day is your belongings getting damaged, especially furniture. For furniture, cover them with moving blankets and then plastic wrap to keep them from getting wet. This is good practice anyway for protecting your furniture during a move, but you might want a few extra layers of plastic wrap just to make sure the water can’t soak through and there are no spots left uncovered.
If you purchase sturdy cardboard boxes, they will hold up well in the rain so long as you tape them well and don’t let them get completely soaked through. The quick trip from the house to the truck won’t damage the integrity of them so long as they are high quality boxes.
Create an Assembly Line
Another option for keeping your house clean from muddy or wet feet is to set up an assembly line. Instead of having movers walk in and out, create one line of people from the house to the truck and have everyone pass the boxes between them. Not only does this save your flooring, but it also makes things go a little quicker.
Check for Leaks
Before you put anything in the truck, make sure there are no leaks anywhere. It would be terrible to load it up only to have the rain slowly soaking through everything on the way to the new house. If there are any leaks, repair or at the very least temporarily block them before you start moving.
Be Flexible
It’s smart to be prepared ahead of time for the possibility of severe weather that is too dangerous to move in. Put together a contingency plan if you can. While it is inconvenient to have to change your moving day, it’s better than being put in a sticky situation when a thunderstorm ends up cancelling your plans for you and you’re forced to rush to figure out how to shift your timeline. This is especially important during months when severe weather is more common. Don’t plan your move on the last possible day — build in a few days or a week around it, including your days off, to have some wiggle room.