Your possessions mean a lot to you. Gathered over many years of your life, some will be worth thousands of dollars, while others will be priceless because of the sentimental value you attach to them. So when you’re moving home or putting your possessions into a storage box, you want to know that they’re going to be safe, undamaged, and ready to eventually fill a new home in your name. This quick guide is about how you’ll guarantee the safety of your possessions when they’re moving, masse, from place to place.
1. Insurance
For the get-go, it’s important to mention that insurance policies exist to not only protect your household belongings in the long-term but to protect their value should they be damaged in the removal process. It’s wise to take out one or both of these policies so that if the worst does take place – and a valuable item of furniture is dropped between your homes – you’ll be able to recuperate the value of that item in an insurance payout.
2. Good Labor
The quality of the removal personnel you choose to use for your house move matters. If you hire the cheapest laborers in your area, you might not be hiring experienced hands who’ve carried hundreds of items of furniture from place to place. On the other hand, if you go to a trusted company with excellent reviews, your furniture should, in theory, be in safer hands. So don’t cut costs when you’re hiring removal personnel, and your possessions will stay safer.
3. Packing and Protection
It’s usually your responsibility to pack up your own possessions and to prepare them for transportation. As such, it’s also your responsibility to use as much scrunched-up paper, bubble wrap, and other protective sheets and layers as possible to keep all of your possessions safe. Invest in plenty of these at your local hardware store so that you have more than enough to keep everything – from tiny boxes to large couches – safe on their journey from your home.
4. Robust Boxes
After all of the protective layers that you’ve added, the last thing you want is for a box that you’ve packed to come apart en route to your new home. This can happen if your possessions are too heavy, if you’ve stacked your boxes too high and have thus damaged them, or if you haven’t used enough tape to seal them. Make sure you’re packing robust boxes, using plenty of tape to seal them on the top and bottom. That’ll avoid calamities during your move.
5. Separate Items
There are some fragile items in your possession that you would label as priceless. These might include heirlooms from distant relatives, paintings that were made by famous artists, or sets of china or glassware that you’d like to keep in one piece in your new home. These possessions, of high value and fragility, you may wish to pack and transport yourself carefully in your own vehicle. That’s a way to keep an eye on them throughout the removal process – just in case one box is dropped accidentally on the journey to your new home.
6. Preparing For Weather
The weather can be unpredictable on the day of your move, and any rain or snow could lead to your possessions being damaged as they’re carried outside your home. The solution to this is simple: as you cannot easily reorganize the day of your move, you should instead make sure you have tarpaulins or umbrellas to help shepherd your possessions safely from your home, keeping them dry and undamaged. Wet boxes are liable to collapse, while valuable rugs, couches, and wooden furniture can be damaged even by a few spots of rainwater.
7. Storage Options
There are plenty of house moves that take place in two stages. In the first, you’ll move all of your belongings into storage, and in the second, another move will take place from the storage container to your new home. In these cases, you’re looking for climate-controlled storage boxes, which will keep all your possessions from getting damaged by damp. To learn more about high-quality storage options for your cherished possessions, visit https://www.storagearea.com.
8. Friends and Family
If you’re lacking in manpower for your move – especially if it’s raining on the day, or if you’re unsure whether you’re going to get everything done on time – then it might be helpful to call in trusted friends and family to give you a hand. They’ll know to be careful with your possessions and will respond responsibly to your feedback and direction. Don’t leave a big job to too few workers, as that’s when mistakes can creep in that may pose a threat to your possessions. Have a couple of helpers primed to come and help, and they’ll provide the extra labor you need to get the job done.
9. Security
It’s worth being aware that a house move is a good opportunity for a would-be thief to attempt to rob you of your possessions. With so many boxes moving around at two different locations, it’s no surprise that some people end up at their new home missing a box – with this having been picked up by someone during the removal process. Again, friends and family can provide extra eyes in this regard, or you should be diligent that nothing’s left unsupervised as you move home – especially if you live on a busy street on which a thief might not be noticed.
10. Labeling and Direction
Finally, it’s going to be your responsibility, when your furniture and your possessions are hauled from place to place, to let the carriers know which boxes are valuable and which should be treated with particular care. You can do this by labeling boxes and furniture so that everyone’s aware of their vulnerability, but also by giving directions to the personnel you hire to carry your things – they’ll respond to your advice by being extra gentle with certain items.
There you have it: some simple tips for keeping your possessions as safe as possible when they’re in transit between homes. If you follow all of the above, you’ll be doing your utmost to be responsible for every item that you moving from place to place.
