There are numerous benefits to installing hardwood floors, but one downside is that they can get damaged quite easily. Hence, any inattentiveness or uncareful dragging of heavy furniture is likely to leave an irreparable mark in the wood. For this reason, we have noted down a few tips that can help you protect hardwood floors when moving or rearranging furniture.
- Carry lighter furniture
No matter if you have timber flooring or laminate flooring, anything you can carry should be carried rather than dragged. So, when possible, always try to avoid any kind of dragging. Accidents happen and something that looks easy to carry or drag may cause injuries or leave traces in the floor. Hence, always test out if your dining room table or armchair can be carried over to the desired spot. In addition, make frequent breaks while you are carrying the item.
Carry the furniture to minimize contact with the floor.
If you are dead set on rearranging your living room or bedroom, do not do this on your own. Ask a friend or a relative to come over and help you out. One helping hand will most likely be enough to help you lift most of the furniture that you have. Read below how you can protect your floors from those pieces of furniture which you cannot lift.
- Hire professional movers
On the other hand, if you are planning to relocate in the near future, then asking your friends to help you out may not be a good strategy. Indeed, moving a heavy piece of furniture from one corner to the other might be something you and your friends can achieve. But, when it comes to lifting, carrying, loading, and unloading furniture from a moving truck, you just might be out of your depth.
Remember – not only could your hardwood floors suffer if something fell from your hands, you could even get seriously injured. Luckily, moving crews have a lot of training and experience with lifting and moving heavy items. That is why you should consider hiring a professional moving company such as triple7movers.com. In the end, better safe than sorry – leave heavy lifting to the professionals.
Pack your belongings with safety in mind
Preparing your furniture for the relocation properly is half the work. If packed safely, the furniture cannot get in direct contact with your hardwood floors. Yet, it is not only heavy pieces you should be careful about.
You might have to replace the hardwood floor if it is stained or damaged.
Use appropriate boxes
First of all, be sure to buy or recycle sturdy, high-quality moving boxes for heavy pieces of furniture. There is a big chance something might fall out or tear through the box if the cardboard boxes are worn out or soft. Hence, use recycled, insecure boxes for packing light and soft items such as clothing, small appliances, toys…
Double tape the boxes
Nevertheless, make sure you double tape the bottom edges of all boxes that you use during the relocation. The weight limit for each box is approximately 20 pounds, but still, use common sense and never overfill the boxes. The easier the box, the quicker and safer it is to carry it.
Ask for packing help or packing advice
If you are unsure whether you know how to safely pack some items that may be more challenging to pack, leave those items to the movers or ask them for their professional opinion.
For example, packing large area rugs can pose a challenge, especially since they can be very heavy as well as difficult to clean afterwards due to their size. So, make sure you put off packing such items until the moving crew arrives at your home. They will have the rug ready in no time and you will be able to devote your attention to packing tasks you can solve on your own.
Use furniture sliders
Furniture sliders are extremely helpful with moving anything from furniture, large appliances, or any other extra large or heavy item you have. These thin, flat pieces of plastic have a rubber bottom that eliminates friction between the furniture piece and the floor. So, when you are preparing to move something heavy like a couch or a bed, you just place the furniture slider under the legs. You will be able to slide the furniture to the desired spot without leaving marks in the wood. Just note that you should always push furniture rather than pull.
Use furniture blankets to protect hardwood floors when moving or rearranging furniture
You can also wrap the feet and edges of chairs and tables with protective furniture blankets. This extra effort will pay off since you won’t have to worry about damaging the floors even if a furniture piece falls on it. If you move frequently, you might consider choosing home furniture that can be disassembled or is more convenient for transportation.
Furniture blankets and rubber sliders are your allies.
Measure the furniture before you attempt to move it
If you are moving something to a different room (or home), knowing the exact dimensions of the item helps a lot. Essentially, the door frame could be too narrow for the item to go through it. You could cause irreparable damage to the hardwood floor if a table or a wardrobe falls on the floor because you cannot squeeze it through the door.
Knowing the exact size of the item will help you rotate the piece in a safe way. So, never improvise and always preplan how you are going to move something through the door.
All in all, if you are planning to restyle your home this autumn or move, you should definitely do your best to keep your hardwood floors intact. Once damaged, hardwood floors are difficult to restore to their original state. Hence, we hope these suggestions on how to protect hardwood floors when moving or rearranging furniture have helped you figure out how to keep your floors damage-free.
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