- Prepare to Make Smart Decisions
Holding on to a reliable, upscale oven makes sense when you have a baking business or hobby. It’s certainly acceptable to want to keep a specialty dishwasher or a dehumidifier that aids in caring for a family member with health problems.
If you rent a home and no dishwashers or dehumidifiers were provided by the landlord, your appliances are yours to enjoy. However, you should remove specialty appliances before you put a home you own up for sale.
Potential buyers may fall in love with your side-by-side fridge and expect it to be there when they take possession of the home. Even with explicit notice that the refrigerator will be replaced with a lower-grade appliance, buyers can cause problems at closing and delay your home sale.
Problems also occur when you move your appliances but don’t check that the new home has the appropriate utilities for your appliances. Your new home’s water, electric, and gas supplies must match the water, power, and fuel needs of your dishwasher, washing machine, stove, and dryer. A gas stove or dryer is useless in an all-electric home.
- Prepare to Measure Your World
You’ll want to assemble a measuring kit, as you need to measure your appliances and door openings to avoid damaging walls and floors. You also need to ensure that old appliances will fit in new spaces.
Include in your kit:
- Masking tape
- Permanent marker
- Carpenter’s pencil
- Measuring tape
- Small notebook
- Bucket or satchel for items
Measure the height, width, and length (from back to front) of each appliance you’ll move. Use the marker to write the measurements down on masking tape. Tear off the tape and affix it to each appliance. Note the measurements in your notebook as a backup.
Next, measure the doorways and hallways through which the appliances must travel to reach the moving truck. Determine the easiest ways to maneuver furniture using the combined measurements of door openings and appliances.
When possible, measure the door and counter openings in your new home. If the home is in a distant state, your real estate broker or leasing agent may be able to take measurements for you. When you know for certain that your refrigerator or stove fit your new home, you avoid the trouble of moving a bulky appliance for nothing.
- Prepare Appliances Several Days in Advance
Some moving companies won’t disconnect gas, power, or water lines. If your appliances are not ready to go when the moving truck arrives, you face a mad scramble to unplug and disconnect these large items.
For all-electric appliances, including clothes dryers and stoves, open and clean the tops, insides, and front sections of the appliance. Use a vacuum cleaner attachment to suck out lint and debris from the dryer. Use an oven-cleaning product or the oven-cleaning setting on the stove to make the inside sparkling.
As with all appliances, pull the all-electric dryer and stove straight out from the wall. Don’t shimmy or walk the appliances out of place since this can damage the floor, walls, or nearby appliances. Use cardboard or a small piece of carpet under the front of a heavy appliance to slide the appliance out of position.
Shut your main power supply off before unplugging any large appliances. Use headlamps or other battery-operated light where visibility is low. Take care when unplugging 220-volt appliances. The larger plug ends can be difficult to pull free of the dedicated receptacle.
- Prepare to Attend to Details
Do not bend, break, pry, or remove any of the plug parts on large appliances. If possible, remove the power cable from the appliance after it’s unplugged. Whether attached or not, wrap the plug end in bubble tape and secure with packing tape. Wrap the entire cable carefully, and tape it to the back or inside of the appliance.
You may need to change the plug end to a new type of plug in your new location. If you have the alternate plug and the owner’s manual, wrap and include them with the old plug. If not, hire an electrician to configure your appliance plugs for the new receptacles.
You should also schedule disconnection of gas- or propane-fueled clothes dryers, water heaters, furnaces, and stoves several days before your move. Your local gas company or propane supplier offers this service to customers.
Great care must be taken when disconnecting gas lines. Pilot light tubing and improperly capped gas lines can cause health and property damage.
Handle water lines to refrigerators, dishwashers, and washing machines with care as well. Prepare for a mess as the appliances drain or defrost. Have plenty of towels on hand to clean up the mess.
Make sure the sides and backs of all appliances are clean to avoid bringing bugs and debris to the new place. Ensure that all plugs, tubing, manuals, and connections are taped to appliances before they’re loaded onto the moving van.
If you need a short-term place to store appliances or a quote to move your appliances, contact the relocation specialists at Bekins today. Our professional agents guide you smoothly through your move to a new neighborhood or a new state.
