Day to day wear and tear on a new home is inevitable, but make sure it doesn’t happen all at once on moving day! Here are some tips for easy steps you can take to keep your new home in as good of shape the day after the move as it was the day you signed your lease.

Floors. Protect wood floors in high traffic areas (e.g., the front door foyer area) by custom-cutting a cardboard shape to fit the area. Make sure to secure the edges so the cardboard doesn’t slip and people don’t trip on the edges. For high traffic carpeted areas, lay down a packing blanket—again securing the edges so they are not a tripping hazard. Prevent tracking in dirt or water by thoroughly sweeping the walks and spreading a large packing blanket outside the entryway door. This cloth should be large enough so that anyone coming through has to step at least twice on it before crossing the threshold.

Walls. Wall gouges can happen anywhere in a moment of carelessness. It’s not practical to protect all walls so try to predict the most likely spots, such as the top or bottom of stairwells or where movers must make a 90 degree turn. Secure a blanket over these walls and consider temporarily putting corner guards on the outside corners in these spots.

Woodwork. Banisters and handrails can take a beating during a move. If the handrail can be removed without too much trouble, it would be worth taking it down on the day of the move. Banisters are more permanent so drape a packing blanket over them to absorb the inevitable collisions with passing furniture. Consider removing the outside door (weather permitting!) and any interior doors of rooms that will see heavy traffic.

And remember, these same tips apply for moving out of your current home. You’ll probably be on the hook for repairing any moving damage to your old home, so save yourself the time, aggravation and expense of having to repair damage to floors, carpet, walls and woodwork.