One of the biggest challenges when moving house is how to properly pack furniture. It needs to keep intact and safe throughout the removal process. You definitely want your bulky, expensive items to arrive at your new home damage-free. Thus, they should always be handled with extreme care, which starts when packing them. Otherwise, your upholstery can end up ripped, the glass broken, and the wood gouged.
So, pack as your professional local furniture removalists would. Here is a step-by-step pro guide to packing your furnishings to ensure their safe arrival at your new home.
Step 1: Create an inventory
Go through your home and figure out which furniture to bring. Create an inventory of everything you will be taking to make sure that you don’t forget anything. Making a list is also a great way for you to ensure an organized move. Most importantly, it makes unpacking a lot easier.
Step 2: Gather high-quality packing supplies
After deciding what furniture to pack and move, you will know exactly what packing supplies to get and how much you’. This way, you won’t need to interrupt packing to shop, which can be time-consuming.
Contrary to what other people say, you will need more than moving boxes, blankets, and packing tapes. There are other essential packing supplies that you should get to guarantee a flawless removal process. These include bubble wrap, plastic wrap, mattress and sofa covers, and sealable plastic bags. Also, you need to have markers, scissors, a knife, and a toolkit that contains a screwdriver, a set of spanners, a wrench, pliers, a hammer, and multi-purpose oil.
Step 3: Prepare the furniture for packing
Once you have gathered all the packing supplies you will need, don’t be too eager to pack because you need to clean your furniture first. Debris can scratch the surfaces of your items during the move.
Getting rid of dust and debris will also mean that you will not be dragging dirt and grime inside your new home. While cleaning, take out everything inside your furnishings as well.
Step 4: Dismantle
Whenever possible, you must dismantle your furniture items before packing them. This will make furniture removal a lot easier, minimize damage to your home’s flooring and walls, and give you extra storage while lightening up your furniture for the removal.
With your toolkit, take out the drawers, casters, pulls or knobs from your furniture. Also, remove the legs of the couches and tables, along with the cushions. As for your bed, take the frames apart. But take note to remove only those that can be safely dismantled.
Here are other tips to safely dismantle your furniture:
- If you still have the owner’s manual, read it carefully to figure out how to correctly dismantle the furniture.
- If a screwdriver is necessary to dismantle and reassemble the item, be careful when using it to prevent the screws from getting stripped. Also, use the correct size of screwdriver.
- Place the screws and other pieces in a sealable bag. Don’t forget to label it to know which furniture it belongs to. You can either tape this bag to the item or place it in the proper moving box.
Step 5: Wrap and pad your furniture properly
When it comes to packing your furniture safely, plastic sheeting and bubble wraps are some of the best tools you can use. Use the bubble wrap to protect wood pieces, mirrors, glass table tops, and other fragile items. It is also highly recommended that you use sheets in between these items to add extra protection and prevent scratches once you place them inside the moving truck.
Padding your furniture is also important, especially the corners of your wooden furnishings. You can use quilts, blankets or pillows. This prevents the scratching of the finish or paint when they come in contact with the ground, walls or other furniture.
How you pack your furniture will have a huge impact on keeping it intact and damage-free throughout the removal process. Even if you invest in the right packing supplies but don’t know how to wrap your items (or vice versa), they can get damaged and broken while in transit. It is for this reason that hiring professional removalists is a must when moving house.
A reputable company can help you with your move from start to finish. They can supply you with high-quality packing materials if you wish to pack some of your items or pack everything on your behalf. With their expertise and specialized tools, rest assured that your furniture removal will run smoothly, safely, and without delays. So don’t hesitate to enlist the help of reputable removalists for your upcoming removals.
AUTHOR BIO
Craig Jones is the Managing Director at Aussiemove, Australia’s largest independent moving alliance. Craig is a respected member of the removalist network in Australia, having served in senior positions, including the President of the removal industries governing body, the Australian Furniture Removals Association (AFRA). With 23 years of experience at Aussiemove, he has the skills and the highly trained team to move families safely and reliably, in Adelaide, across Australia and around the world.