Want to protect your furniture during a remodel?
Thousands of homeowners watch their possessions get ruined every year due to construction dust, debris and careless workers moving heavy equipment around. And guess what?
It’s 100% preventable.
By taking the time to properly prepare and invest in handy dust protection methods, your furniture and valuables can be kept safe while your home gets the remodel it deserves
Here’s how to protect furniture during a remodel:
What you’re going to learn:
- Why You Should Protect Your Belongings
- How to Safely Protect Furniture
- How Specialty Item Movers Can Help Protect Furniture
- Recommended Dust Control Methods
- Protecting Valuables During Construction
Why You Should Protect Your Belongings
Home remodeling is huge. Spending by homeowners on remodeling projects is expected to hit $524 billion by early 2026. Research from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies shows that. This will be the highest rate ever recorded.
But here’s the deal…
Most homeowners will spend enough money on the remodel but won’t spend anywhere near enough money on keeping their stuff safe during construction.
It only takes a few minutes for construction dust to damage upholstery, electronics and wood surfaces. Add in workers dragging heavy equipment across your floors and walls getting nicked during the demo and you’ve got yourself a disaster.
That’s why taking preventative measures is always recommended.
It’ll save so much stress in the long run. Moving fragile antiques, artwork, and high-value furniture to a self-storage unit with specialty item movers is often the best bet. High-end full service movers know how to safely pack up these items so nothing gets damaged in transit. You don’t want to risk your valuables getting ruined during the remodel because you failed to plan ahead.
Imagine going over your remodeling budget (because let’s face it, remodeling almost always goes over budget) and now you have to buy replacement furniture on top of your expenses. Avoid the headache and keep your furniture protected from day one.
How To Safely Protect Furniture
Before demolition starts, make sure every piece of furniture has a protection plan.
Your plan will look different depending on the nature of the remodel and how much “nice” furniture you have.
If you don’t have furniture you care about, this article might not be for you!
Here’s how to sort through belongings before a big project:
- Remove: Furniture that can easily be moved out of the house
- Relocate: Furniture that can’t be removed but can be moved to a different room
- Cover: Large furniture that can’t be moved
Heavy plastic sheeting is the bare minimum for covering furniture that will remain in your home during construction. Regular bed sheets, blankets and other fabrics simply aren’t strong enough to prevent damage.
The best option is removing as much furniture as you can out of the “construction zone.” The less you have to worry about protecting the better.
How Specialty Item Movers Can Help Protect Furniture
All furniture is not created equal.
If your “nice” furniture is a sofa you bought from IKEA ten years ago, you can probably get away with throwing it in the garage. But expensive items like grand pianos, antique armoires, high-value furniture and expensive artwork should be moved far away from the construction zone.
If those things sound like they’d be in your house, then it’s time to bring in specialty item movers.
This type of moving company specializes in protecting furniture during moves. They know how to wrap items correctly, provide proper padding and handle high-value items with care. Specialty furniture movers have the right tools and experience to safely relocate items that are too large for the average person.
Renovation projects can be unpredictable. Timing can change, workers come and go on their schedule and dust travels to every corner of your home even with barriers up.
By moving your valuables to self-storage with a company that specialises in transporting luxury items, you don’t have to worry about any of it.
Keep these things in climate-controlled storage during the renovation for maximum protection!
Recommended Dust Control Methods
Dust is the worst part of any home remodel.
It spreads quickly to every part of your home. Workers track it across your floors and outdoor dust gets inside when they’re drilling holes in your walls.
Protecting furniture from dust might be difficult if you don’t know where to start. Here are the best tips for dust control:
- Block off the work area. Invest in heavy plastic sheeting and use it to block off where the remodeling will take place. You can even find pre-made zippered doors that allow workers in and out without fully exposing your home.
- Cover HVAC vents. Dust will spread through your heating and cooling system quicker than anything else. Block off every vent leading into the work area.
- Cover the furniture that can’t be moved. Once you’ve done everything you can to block off the construction area, cover the rest of your furniture with heavy plastic sheeting. Regular drop cloths won’t suffice when there’s a heavy demo taking place.
- Invest in air filters. HEPA air filters can catch most of the dust floating around the rooms adjacent to the work area.
And bonus tip:
Always ask your contractor about their dust protection plan before they start work. A good contractor will have a solid strategy in place to mitigate the spread of dust. If they don’t bring this up on their own… run.
Protecting Valuables During Construction
Family photos, electronics, jewelry boxes and your grandma’s antique vase should be taken into consideration when protecting your home from damage during construction.
Nearly 78% of homeowners went over budget on their home renovations according to Clever Real Estate. Taking into account lost or damaged valuables can increase that percentage even further.
Follow these tips to protect valuables from damage:
- Keep electronics out of the work area. Whether it’s a laptop computer or a TV mounted on your wall, electronic screens can be damaged by construction dust.
- Secure irreplaceable documents. Don’t take any chances with important documents. Keep them in a fireproof safe or take them to your storage unit.
- Pack away fragile decor. Easy fixes like swapping out picture frames, collectible vases or knick-knacks should be packed away until after construction is finished.
- Photograph everything. Take pictures of all high-value items for insurance purposes before demolition begins.
Do whatever you can to protect your belongings before day one. It sounds like a pain but it’s better than coming home to broken furniture on day one.
Pulling It All Together
Keeping your furniture safe during a remodel is easy if you know what to do. Between sorting out your belongings, using heavy-duty protection and finding the right contractors to do the job, you can prevent damage to your furniture and valuables.
Here’s what you need to remember:
- Sort everything into one of the three categories (remove, relocate, cover).
- Cover anything that will stay in the home with heavy plastic.
- Bring in specialty item movers to relocate expensive furniture and decor.
- Use plastic sheeting to block off the construction zone.
- Cover HVAC vents to prevent dust from spreading.
- Remove electronics and valuables from the work area.
You know your house better than anyone. Make sure you do whatever you can to protect your valuables from damage.
Remodels are exciting. Don’t let ruined furniture and other decorations bring you down. Plan ahead and prepare as much as you can before construction begins and you’ll be just fine.