A St. Louis winter rarely shows its hand early. One week it’s mild, the next a cold snap drops down with freezing rain on top of it, and suddenly the brick front steps in Soulard are a sheet of glass. Gina Marchetti has worked through more than a dozen of these St. Louis winters, first on a packing crew for an old van line and later at the county dispatch desk. Her cold-weather rule is simple: plan for the ugliest forecast on the calendar, then bring the move home on time and on budget anyway. What follows is the way we run a winter job so the weather stays a footnote instead of the headline.
What St. Louis Cold Actually Does to a Move Day
Snow is the part people picture. The harder problems are the quiet ones: a thin ice glaze under fresh powder, slush dragged across hardwood, a truck that sat overnight in single digits. Each one has a fix, and the fix works best when it’s handled before we ever pull up.
- Ice on the approach. Those steep Lafayette Square stone stoops and the Benton Park brick walk-ups need salt and a cleared path well ahead of the first carry.
- Slush on the floors. Boots dragging snowmelt across refinished oak is the quiet way a tidy move leaves damage behind.
- A cold-soaked rig. A battery and a liftgate left out all night in the cold won’t cooperate at 7 a.m.
- Items that hate the cold. Electronics, instruments, candles, and certain wood finishes react badly to deep freeze and fast temperature swings.
Who Owns Each Winter Task
A cold move runs smoother when everyone knows their role ahead of arrival. Here’s the short version of who covers what on a typical First Place Moves winter day.
| Task | What It Means | Who Handles It |
|---|---|---|
| Clearing the stoop and walkway | Salt and shovel the path the night before and that morning | You, with our crew touching up on arrival |
| Floor protection | Runners and pads over hardwood, tile, and high-traffic lanes | We bring and lay it |
| Warming the truck | Starting the rig early, freeing the liftgate, checking the battery | We handle it at the yard |
| Heat and power at both homes | Keeping utilities live so doorways and stairs stay clear of ice | You coordinate the turn-on dates |
| Cold-sensitive packing | Extra wrap on electronics, instruments, and finishes | We pack and pad them |
Salting the Steps and Saving the Floors
St. Louis brick stoops are charming until they’re frozen. The walk-ups in Soulard and Lafayette Square have narrow, pitched stone steps that turn treacherous under ice, and that’s the first thing our crew checks on arrival. If the path isn’t clear, nobody carries a dresser down it. We’ll spread salt and chip a lane, but a head start from you the night before makes the whole morning faster.
Inside, the enemy is water. Snow melts off boots and box corners, and on bare hardwood that leaves slick spots and water stains. We run runners down every walking lane and set pads at the doorway, so the floor you love in your South City two-family looks identical after the final box as it did before the first.
How We Prep a Truck and Crew for the Cold
A winter job adds a handful of steps a fair-weather move skips. We fold every one of them into the route well ahead of your date so nothing stalls in the driveway.
- Track the forecast together. We watch the radar in the days leading up and flag a storm early rather than waking up surprised.
- Warm the rig at the yard. Trucks get started early, batteries checked, and the liftgate cycled loose before they head for your address.
- Clear and salt the lanes. The crew refreshes each stoop, walkway, and ramp so footing stays solid in both directions.
- Armor the floors. Runners and pads go down at both homes before a single item crosses the threshold.
- Wrap the cold-sensitive pieces. Electronics, instruments, and delicate finishes get extra padding and ride in the warmest part of the load.
Scheduling Around a Storm
You can’t outrun a Midwest ice storm, but you can plan around it. When a system shows up on the long-range forecast, we talk options early. Sometimes that means starting an hour earlier to beat the heaviest snow. Sometimes it means sliding to a backup date we set aside when you booked. Either way, you’re not finding out at the last minute, and the price doesn’t move because the weather did.
Keep Heat and Power On at Both Ends
This one trips up more moves than ice does. With utilities cut at the old place or not yet live at the new one, you get cold floors, dark stairwells, and doorways that glaze over. So we tell every winter client the same thing: leave heat and power running at both homes through your date. A warm house is safer to work out of, and it keeps the crew moving at full speed.
What a Hard Freeze Can Ruin
Some belongings shrug off a 20-degree truck ride, and some really don’t. Flat-screen TVs and electronics can crack when they swing from freezing to warm too fast. Instruments drift out of tune or split, and certain plastics and wood finishes turn brittle. We flag those pieces at your estimate, give them extra padding, and let them warm up slowly before unboxing.
I grew up watching freezing rain shut down The Hill, so I never let a forecast catch my crew flat-footed. We salt the steps, lay the runners, warm the trucks, and bring the move home on time and on budget. — Gina Marchetti, owner
Licensed for Every St. Louis Winter Route
First Place Moves is a licensed, insured St. Louis mover with our own employed crew and our own trucks, founded by Gina Marchetti in 2011. We hold Missouri Division of Motor Carrier Services authority for in-state household moves, US DOT and MC authority for interstate work, and Illinois Commerce Commission authority for the Metro East, with $1M cargo coverage on every job. Nothing is subcontracted; the people who salt your steps are the same people who carry your couch. If you’re planning a cold-weather move, read up on a standard in-town job on our local moving page, walk-up and loft moves on our apartment moving page, and every town we cover from Kirkwood to the Metro East on our service areas page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will you work in snow and ice?
Yes. Our crews run through St. Louis winters every year. We track the forecast with you, salt and clear the approach, shield your floors from slush, and reserve a backup date when a serious storm shows on the radar. The aim is a safe job that still finishes on time and on budget.
Who clears the stoop and sidewalk, you or me?
It works best as a team effort. A salt and shovel pass the night before from you makes the morning faster, and our crew touches up the steps, walk, and truck ramp on arrival. On those steep Soulard and Lafayette Square stoops, a clear path is non-negotiable before anyone carries furniture.
Will slush and snowmelt damage my hardwood floors?
Not when we prep for it. We lay runners along every walking lane and set pads at the doorways at both homes before the first box moves, so melting snow off boots and boxes never touches your bare floors.
What about items that can be damaged by the cold?
We flag cold-sensitive pieces like TVs, electronics, instruments, and delicate finishes at your estimate. Those get extra wrap, ride in the warmest spot on the load, and we let them warm up gradually at the new home before unboxing.
Is a cold-season move pricier?
No. You get a single flat figure in writing with no surprise fees, and it holds whether your day turns out clear or snowy. The cold-weather work is baked into your quote, never added on later as weather charges.
Planning a Winter Move in St. Louis?
Beat the next cold snap with a crew that plans for it. Tell us your dates and your homes, and we’ll build a winter-ready move around your flat written price.