If you’re not careful while renovating your home, the furniture, appliances, and other items you store indoors can get damaged. It’s easy to get overexcited during a renovation, but you don’t want to lose, damage or get them stolen.
After setting a budget, finding builders and settling on designs, most people agree that figuring out what to do with their belongings during a renovation is very stressful.
Keep reading to discover what you can do to keep your valuable possessions safe during this process.
Make an Inventory of Everything
While packing, it’s essential to consider all the furniture and belongings you have in your space and if you will use them while renovating.
Renovation is also an excellent opportunity to assess the items that are significant to you. This will give you the chance to keep track of what you have and get rid of things that will go in your way.
Only keep the essential items since a renovation will likely take more than a day or two. While doing that, you may even realise that you don’t need some stuff, reorganise or sell them.
Cover Everything
A tip that proves very useful during home renovations is covering furniture you can’t move with a cloth or plastic. That way, it’ll be protected. However, ensure that the fabric or plastic is clean and large enough to conceal everything properly.
The items that are placed on open shelves should be removed. Then, the bare shelves should be covered in thick plastic or cloth before you start working on renovating your home.
It’s recommended to workroom by room because it enables you to stay in control of the mess. Dust is sneaky, and no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to eliminate it completely.
However, you can limit it. Hanging plastic sheets over the doors and separate the working area as much as possible.
Clean the site Daily
Painting, decorating, fitting, knocking down walls – whatever the job is, there will be dust and splashes. At some point, the dust sheets will most likely slip off, and even a day’s worth of dust can cause havoc to your belongings.
Even if you shut and tape the doors of unused rooms, dust will inevitably get into cupboards, soft furnishings and wardrobes.
Thinking that you’ve created the perfect space at home where no dust is floating into anything and nothing ever gets knocked down is unrealistic.
And there are the over-optimistic promises from builders, prolonging the chaos.
Don’t leave tools and cables lying around, and sweep or vacuum regularly. Cleaning every single day will minimise dirt built up on the renovation site.
If you finish every day with a complete clean-up of the site, the dirt that has been accumulating won’t have the chance to spread through the house and get on your furniture, making them almost impossible to clean later.
Create a Path for the Builders
If you’ve hired professionals, ensure they have enough space to move around. Doing a thorough inventory of your possessions and deciding which ones you’ll keep away will have already helped you. But if you notice things are still in their way, make adjustments.
This will prove helpful even if you’re doing the renovation by yourself. When you need access to something, you’ll find them more quickly if you’ve created a path around the larger items.
Turn One Room Into a Storage Area
The garage, for example, is a great place to store items during a renovation.
However, it’s probably already packed with other things like lawn chairs, patio furniture, bicycles, Christmas decorations or camping equipment. You’ll need to organise it well, so it won’t become a mess, leading to potential damage.
The risk of theft decreases if you store your items in your home. If you have a room that’s often unused, it can be a temporary storage area. You won’t have to pay for it since you already own it.
Use a Portable Storage Unit
Before you start renovating, decide if you want to move your belongings on your own or hire professional movers to help you.
If you can’t store your belongings in your house, a portable storage unit that can be temporarily placed in your yard and securely locked can be a good solution.
This will be extremely helpful if everything else fails to keep your belongings safe. Then, if you want, you can contact a moving company that can move your stuff to a facility where you won’t have to worry about their safety.
This is a good storage solution if you live in a small space or have too many articles. A portable storage unit allows you to access them quickly.
Portable storage units are optional. You can also directly get your belongings to a storage facility near you.
This may be the best solution during renovation, keeping your belongings safe for as long as you need. Self-storage units can also be climate-controlled, keeping your belongings at whatever temperature they need to be to prevent damage.
What to Store During Major Renovations
If you’ve decided to use a storage facility, here’s what to store in it:
- Large furniture: you can either move the whole piece of furniture or empty it from any non-essential items (kitchen items, books, toys, documents, files etc.) and keep them in the storage facility. They’ll be lighter and easier to move.
- Clothing: Pack and store by season into empty suitcases. Only keep clothes you’ll need in the next 3-6 months.
- Soft furniture: pieces that get easily dusty (e.g. cushions, curtains, pillows, and bedding) can be stored away until you want to use them again.
It’s essential to be practical and think about organising your belongings, whether you’re storing them at your home, in a portable storage unit or in a storage facility.
Put bulky items at the back as they’ll still be visible and all small boxes and belongings at the front. A pile of brown boxes will be overbearing to look at once you start to unpack.
To be safe, label all boxes to avoid falling into the trap of assuming you’ll remember everything.
Final Words
Renovation is neither easy nor cheap. There are many solutions from which you can choose whichever is the most affordable and convenient for you.
However, following the tips above will make it more manageable. Last but not least, always account for children and pets.
It’s best to keep pets in a certain room or blocked-off area of the house so they don’t go pawing into your renovation area.
