What You Need to Know About Moving During Winter

Clear Your Walkway and Sidewalk

An hour or so before the moving activities are scheduled to begin, take the time to thoroughly clear your front walkway and sidewalk. Also, clear your driveway and other areas where you and the movers may walk. Using a shovel and snowblower, double check to make sure that the walkways are still free of snow before you or the movers start transporting your belongings.

Prepare Your New Home for Comfort

With the weather extremes during the winter months, you don't want to have a miserable first few days in your new home. Take steps to winterize it before your moving day. Have the heating system serviced and checked. Turn on all utilities before the big day. Test your smoke detectors and your carbon monoxide detectors.

Caulk around windows and doors if there are any gaps that will allow cold air into your home. Call a professional to clean and inspect your chimney. Buy cold weather tools if you're not planning to move them from your old home. Make sure that you will have everything from a snowblower to ice melt in your new house.

Also, don't turn off power or other utilities in your current home yet. Although you may want to arrange for the home to be ready for the new residents, keep utilities turned on and keep them in your name until after you've moved out to avoid any surprise interruptions.

Board Your Cats and Dogs

Board your pets for the full moving day, then pick them up and take them to your new home once the move is complete. Cats and dogs can easily escape when doors keep opening and closing, and an escape during cold weather could be life-threatening for some pets. Also, you and the movers can work more easily when pets aren't underfoot.

Enlist the Services of a Professional Mover

Do-it-yourself moving is challenging even in perfect weather, but it can be downright dangerous during the winter months. Walking on an icy surface is tough, especially if you also have to carry heavy electronics. That can easily lead to slips and falls where you could potentially injure yourself and ruin the expensive electronics.

A professional mover will have the right equipment to move all your furniture and electronics safely to your new home. They can also help you avoid the stress of trying to coordinate a move during brief windows of warmer weather. Professional moving services can also ultimately save you both money and time

Have Warm Beverages on Hand

Plan to make coffee or hot cocoa to keep on hand throughout your moving day. When you're doing a lot of work out in the cold, having the comfort of a warm beverage can help you feel warm and refreshed every time you take a break.

Take Extra Precautions for Fragile Items

When fragile things are being moved during the winter months, wrap them two or three times to protect them from worst-case scenario situations. If it's something that is valuable to you for sentimental reasons, that's especially important. Professional movers are sure to have insurance to protect fragile things, but sentimental items may not be replaceable.

Also, consider whether the things you're moving could be damaged by cold weather. If water damage would ruin some things, wrap those items with a plastic covering if you think they may get rained or snowed on. Let your movers know about any antique furniture and discuss the transportation of any exceptionally valuable or fragile belongings.

Plan to Give Your Children a Day Out

Plan to give your kids a fun day out with a relative, friend, or babysitter on your moving day. Alternately, take them to daycare for the day. If you have the added stress of watching children and keeping them warm and protected from cold weather, you will have to battle unnecessary stress. Instead, do what you can to eliminate probable stress on moving day.

Create a Little Winter Haven in Your Car

Most people who hire movers take a separate car with a few things as they from their old home to a new one. Make your car a winter haven with any cold weather necessities you may need in the first few days in your new home.

Instead of packing things like ice scrapers, tow ropes, flashlights, snow shovels, and other things that make life easier in the snow, put them in your car, along with blankets and a first aid kit. Make sure to wear extra layers.

Are you interested in hiring professional movers? contact United Moving & Storage today for a free moving estimate. Our caring staff will also help answer any questions you have about our moving services. As experts in moving in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, we can help ensure that you winter move goes smoothly. Before you know it, you could be relaxing and enjoying your new home.