Two Ways to Keep Your Old Home Clean When Moving on a Rainy Day
Moving on a rainy day presents many challenges, one of which is keeping your old home clean as you pack and carry endless boxes and pieces of furniture out to the moving truck. It's all too easy to track muddy footprints across the carpet or soak the floor with water from an umbrella. Your landlord (or the new owners of the home if you're selling) won't appreciate this type of mess being left behind. Use one of these two strategies to keep your old home clean throughout the moving process.
Create a indoor-outdoor transition zone under a tent.
Moving requires a lot of going in and out, and the main concern is that when you go inside, your wet clothes and muddy boots go with you. One possible way to abate this issue is to set up a simple shelter tent right outside the door to your old home. Use this tented area as a transition area. Your helpers can take off their muddy outdoor shoes in this area and switch to clean indoor shoes before stepping inside. When they come back out again, they can switch back to their muddy shoes, leaving their indoor shoes protected under the tent.
You can also keep items like raincoats and umbrellas under the tent, so they don't track any water inside. If the rain is coming down at an angle, hanging a tarp along one or two sides of the tent will help keep it from coming in. You can attach a tarp to the side of the tent by using clothes pins to attach it to the metal rail along the side of the tent's roof.
Tape plastic sheeting over the entryway floor.
This idea works well if it is only raining lightly, or if setting up a tent simply is not an option. Before you start moving, obtain some heavy plastic sheeting. An old shower curtain will work, as will rolls of plastic tablecloth. Tape the sheeting to the floor around the entryway to create a "safe" zone where your helpers can walk without worrying about getting the carpet messy. This is handy because it gives your helpers somewhere to stand as they take off their muddy shoes before walking though the rest of the house. It also gives you a safe place to set wet items like umbrellas. When you're done moving, just pick up the plastic sheeting and throw it away.
Whether you create a tented area outside or a plastic-protected area inside, these strategies create a buffer between the mess of rainy moving and your clean home interior. Cleaning up a small area, such as a tented area or plastic-covered entryway, is a lot easier than scrubbing multiple mud and water stains off of the carpet at the last minute. For more ideas, talk to a moving professional like E-Z Moving & Storage.
