Read This Before Considering A Diy House Move

Are you planning to move and thinking about how to cut costs? Handling this yourself could be just what you need. Although hiring a moving company is not a bad idea, it can be a bit expensive and way beyond your budget.

There are different ways to carry out a ‘Do It Yourself’ move without resorting to a moving company. You can hire a truck, moving pods, or container to move from your present address to your new space. However, some items are best left for professionals to handle. This includes things such as pianos, valuable antiques, and various other hard-to-move items such as pool tables, home gym equipment and so on. To transport these items, it is strongly recommended to engage the services of a specialty moving company to carry out the task. Once the fragile items are out of the way, you can move out the remaining items with the help of a friend.

Below are some of the essential tips you need to follow to achieve a hassle-free, DIY move.

1) Seek for assistance

Doing it yourself does not imply you have to carry the moving responsibility all alone. It simply means that you are choosing to move house without the aid of a professional moving company for the task. To make the job easier, you should enlist the help of a friend or family member.

Unless you’ve been endowed with the strength of Hercules, moving items such as the refrigerator, dishwasher, and other heavy furnishings can prove extremely difficult. In such cases, you should seek an additional set of hands to help you move them into the truck without causing unnecessary damage.

2) Start your preparation early

Moving to a new location requires proper planning, to ensure a safe and responsible DIY moving experience. Your plan should include your moving time and a suitably sized truck for transporting your belongings. If you plan to move during the summer months, it’s a good idea to leave early before the sun comes up, to avoid the hazards and delays caused by morning traffic.

3) Select right truck size

Ensure your reach out to the truck rental company on time to finalize the truck size you intend to use for the move. If you are move fall within the peak season, you should have a miscellaneous budget for the truck, pod, or container you plan to hire. Before deciding on the truck rental, make sure you are picking the perfect size. But when in doubt of the size, the best option is to go for a bigger truck size. If you are renting a trailer, you have to test run to ensure the vehicle can tow the road.

4) Get rid of items you don’t need, before you move

Before you start packing, ensure you dejunk items that won’t be needed in your new space. For example, some things can be sold, donated to charity, or trashed, depending on their state and importance. Dejunking some items will create space for other needed items.  

5) Use proper boxes to pack your items

Before packing all your possessions for the move, make sure your items are correctly packed using an appropriate box to avoid damage. Some of the specific boxes you can use for your packing are foam pouches, moving straps, bankers’ boxes, wardrobe boxes, corrugated boxes, heavy-duty boxes, amongst others.

6) Make provisions for essential items

On your first night in your new home, you don’t want to get into a frenzy because you need to find your toothpaste. Before moving, you should make provisions for an essentials items bag that contains your toothbrush, toothpaste, towel, body cream, pajamas, and other essentials. 

7) Try using a moving container

To make your DIY move more enjoyable, consider renting a moving container. A moving container is suitable for those with items that can’t contain a single truck. You can rent a moving container and attach it to a moving truck. On the other way around, all you have to do is load your belongings, while the moving company will ship them to your destination.

8) Move on a weekend

To enjoy a smooth ride, you should move on a weekend. Then, when you move, you can move either on Saturday or Sunday without paying extra or missing work.

9) Make provision for moving equipment

Aside from renting a moving truck, you should also make provision for moving equipment as well. Having the right moving equipment will make it easy to lift heavy items in and out of trucks. Some of the moving items you need include furniture pads, furniture dollies, and heavy-duty appliances.

10) Prepare for the unexpected

The key to achieving a successful DIY relocation move is to prepare for uncertainties. For example, if you are moving during summer, make sure you have sun shades while driving. If moving during winter, ensure you have a heater on before moving.

Final thought

With proper planning in place, trouble-free DIY home moves are indeed possible. Always seek out the help of a friend or family member to help ensure that your possessions are packed and transported in a safe and responsible manner that reduces the risk of unwanted damage.