Keeping Your Furniture Safe When Moving
Taking proper precautions is the key to ensuring that even the most delicate piece reaches its final destination in prime condition.
Whether you decide to move your furniture yourself or entrust the job to an experienced moving company, these useful tips can help warrant their safety as they travel to your next home.
Track your belongings
The best way of tracking your belongings is by keeping a detailed inventory of all the items, both big and small, that go into the moving truck. You can also create labels for every box and wrapped piece to save time from figuring out what’s inside. Also, consider making a separate list for large items that have to be dismantled and taken apart, so you don’t miss any of them.
Take measurements
One of the trickiest things about moving is not knowing whether your stuff will fit through the door or not. And it’s not just doors that you have to worry about – there are hallways, staircases, elevators, etc.
Before you start lifting furniture, measure them and the spaces they’ll have to go through first. By the way, don’t forget that you’re moving, so it’s not just the size of the doorways and hallways of your current house that you have to calculate but that of your new home as well.
Assess the pieces
Assessing your furniture is an essential step in the moving process. Obviously, not all your furniture will make the cut. You have to leave some of them behind. The first question you have to ask yourself then is: is it worth it? If the pieces are too old or worn out, or you’d just store and not use them when you get to your new place, then maybe you’re better off letting them go.
One more thing you need to assess is the current condition of your individual furniture pieces. Some of them may have pre-existing damage that’s worth noting or, better yet, photographed. It’s also important to determine the worth, condition, and make-up of the pieces to pack and protect them accordingly. Expensive, fragile furniture may require professional packing.
Disassemble what you can
Take apart large and bulky pieces of furniture if possible. Dismantling them does not only make them easier to transport but protects them from damage as well. Because they won’t require as much clearance to move around compared to when they were still intact, there’s also a lesser risk of scratching and bumping walls, door frames, and other furniture while moving them around.
Clean before you pack
You don’t want to carry the dirt from your old place to your new one, do you? Cleaning your furniture before packing protects it from any coarse particles that may scratch and damage the surface as they’re carried and moved around. Anyway, it doesn’t take much effort to vacuum or run a damp cloth across the surface of your furniture before wrapping them.
Invest in proper packing materials
If you want to protect your furniture in the best way possible when moving, you’ll have to use the right packing materials for the job. Some of them are costly enough to be called an investment, but they’ll do what they’re supposed to, which is keeping your precious pieces safe.
Ensure safe transport
Securing your furniture properly inside the moving truck lessens the possibility of any damage as they get from point A to point B. For extra protection, line the floor of the vehicle with moving blankets or cardboard to serve as padding in case some items topple over during the transit.
Strategically arrange your furniture by putting heavy boxes on the back end of the truck and place regularly-shaped furniture against them for stability. Move in the mattresses in an upright position and set flat, fragile pieces in between them. Remember not to put any heavy and breakable items on top, as they may fall and break while you’re on the road.
