Moving? Here’s some advice on what to do before you move in from the book “How to Survive a Move” (Hundreds of Heads Books, www.hundredsofheads.com, $13.95), straight from people who’ve done it:

“Re-do hardwood floors, install carpeting, and paint walls before you move in.”

—J.W., Rochester, N.Y.,14 moves

“If you have hardwood floors, make sure to get the walls ready beforehand so you don’t have to move furniture around and scratch them while you paint.”

—C.L., Minneapolis, 2 moves

“Kill all the bugs in your stuff before you move — don’t take them with you. We moved from South America to Iowa, and I brought beautiful wooden products, crawling with termites. They infected all of Iowa. Also, I bought these beautiful tapestries made by a famous local artist that had moths. I had to throw the wooden things away, but I froze the tapestries in the Iowa winter to keep them.”

—Susan Lanshe Escobar, San Antonio, Texas, 5 moves

“Take the move-in damage report sheet seriously, and get everything in writing! When we moved into our first apartment, which was brand-new, I noticed the bathroom flooring had been installed incorrectly, leaving a huge gap by the bathtub. Management said they’d fix it, but this never got done. Over the years, water damage caused the flooring to tear up. When we moved out, they sent us a $250 bill to pay for the replacement flooring and they kept our deposit!”

—Rachel Walaskay, Sedalia, Colo., 3 moves

“Make sure your appliances will fit where you want them. Measure everything ahead of time, especially if you are buying new stuff. We found that we couldn’t put our refrigerator where the last family had it because ours was too high. To put it on the other side of the kitchen involved taking out some cabinets — and that was no fun at all.”

—Brandon Buckley, Youngstown, Pa. 3 moves

Hundreds of Heads Books’ survival guides offer the wisdom of the masses by assembling the experiences and advice of hundreds of people who have gone through life’s biggest challenges and have insight to share.