crate to confined area

Question
Hello,

I have an almost 8 month old Shetland Sheepdog that is potty trained and crate trained. He is adjusted to being in the crate all day while myself and my husband are working.

We will be moving soon and I am considering allowing him to stay in the utility area of our new house during the day so he can have more room. I do have a few worries. First, it is a small area but certainly larger than his crate. I am worried about him not holding his urination during the day since he will not be confined to him crate. Is that a valid concern? If we do have that problem how do we correct it?

Secondly, I am worried a little about destruction/scratching. He is a jumper (we are working on it) and I am worried about him scratching the door and/or walls. We leave things we do not want him to have out of his reach so we have not had much trouble with destruction yet. He is a chewer so I am worried about him chewing on the corners of the wall (it's open to the kitchen, so we would have baby gate) or perhaps chewing the appliances.

Any thoughts?

Answer
When you initially move into the new house, I would continue to use the crate for the first few weeks.   Being in a new home can cause accidents in itself, much less all the extra freedom.  So, you want to be sure your dog gets used to the yard there and the routine of where to properly go.   
Once you feel he is acclimated, start letting him loose in your designated areas for quick trips to the store to see how he does.   If he is still a chewer and destructive, he may not be ready for more freedom.   He could chew something and not only destroy it, but cause harm to himself.   I've found that having a nice sturdy sterlized bone can help keep the dog from chewing.   However, if you are gone all day and he has things to get into, he will otu of boredom.    So, just start very slow to see how he does -- but it is my gut feeling that at 8 months, it may be too soon to put the crate away.