Moving House in the Rain

How Often It Rains on a Manchester Move

The Met Office publishes long-term averages for Woodford, in Stockport, the closest of its listed stations to south Manchester. Over 1991 to 2020 it averaged 868.4mm of rain a year and 156.49 days with 1mm or more. December is the wettest month at 96.98mm and has the most rain days, 15.70. March is the driest at 52.53mm, and May and April have the fewest rain days, 10.84 and 10.96.

The hills to the north are wetter. Rochdale averaged 1,197.22mm and 170.75 rain days a year over the same period. So a spring move in south Manchester has the best odds of staying dry, and any move in the north of the county should assume a shower at some point. The Met Office publishes the full monthly table for Woodford.

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  Driest months for a move: March, April and May.

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  Wettest: October to January, with December the worst.

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  Check the Met Office warnings and the GOV.UK flood check the evening before.

Mattresses, Sofas and Anything Soft

Upholstery and mattresses soak up rain and are slow to dry out. Wrap mattresses in plastic covers before they leave the bedroom, keep sofas wrapped in blankets and covers between the door and the van, and load them from the doorstep straight in rather than staging them on the pavement.

A soaked mattress is also a disposal problem. Manchester City Council's bulky collection will not take items that become too heavy after being left out in the rain, and gives mattresses as the example. If something soft is not coming with you, keep it under cover until it goes, or have it taken away in the van the same day.

Floors, Doorways and Slips

The Health and Safety Executive's guidance on slips makes a simple point that matters on a wet moving day: if rainwater gets onto a smooth surface inside or outside a building, it may create a slip hazard, and good entrance design such as canopies can help. A hallway of laminate or tiles can become the riskiest part of the route once the crew has walked in from the street a dozen times.

So the floor gets covered before the first item moves, at both ends. Door and floor protection is part of a house removal with us as standard, and on a wet day it matters more than anything else on the list. Keep a towel and a mat at the door, and leave the porch clear so the crew is not putting things down outside.

Electricals and Boxes

Televisions, computers and anything with a plug travel best in their original boxes or wrapped and bagged, and they go in the van early and deep, away from the doors. If an appliance does get properly soaked, Electrical Safety First's advice for flood-damaged appliances is not to use it until a registered electrician has checked it, and that is the safe rule to follow.

Cardboard boxes are fine in a shower but not left standing in one. Close and tape the tops, stack them inside the door rather than on the path, and use plastic crates for anything you cannot afford to get wet, such as paperwork and photographs.

What Your Insurance Says About Bad Weather

Contents insurance can cover a move, but the wording is narrow. One council tenants' contents policy, for example, covers accidental loss or damage to contents while they are being moved by a professional removal contractor directly between the old home and the new one, which leaves open what happens to things you move yourself.

Storm cover is narrower still. In April 2025 Which? examined 133 policy documents from 67 insurers and found that 20% contained a potentially unfair definition of storm, and that over half of those only covered damage where high winds were involved. Read the storm and removal sections of your own policy before moving day.