Easy Hacks to Protect Your Furniture When Moving

Easy Hacks to Protect Your Furniture When Moving

When you’re moving house, one of your top concerns is how to successfully transport your items from point A to point B without sustaining any damage. Admittedly, this can be difficult. You may feel like something is bound to arrive in less-than-perfect condition, especially if you and your belongings have a long way to travel. Without the right know-how, this might be true. However, if you’re armed with the proper tips and tricks, it couldn’t be further from the truth. If you’re looking for how to protect furniture when moving, your search ends here. We have seven of the most important steps required to keep your items – even the fragile ones – in excellent condition during your next move. Want to find out how? Keep reading!

• Get quality supplies

One of the first things you can do to make sure your furniture and other belongings stay safe en route to your new home is to acquire the right supplies. First, you’ll of course want sturdy boxes for any items that are small enough or can be disassembled enough to fit inside. For everything else, there are plenty of high-quality options to invest in. Moving blankets will be a huge help for many of your items, as you can easily wrap things of various sizes, absorbing any shock from movement and preventing scratches and scuffs. Specifically for mattresses, you can obtain plastic mattress covers that wrap around the entire mattress to ensure it doesn’t get ripped. Additionally, you should get plenty of bubble wrap, large plastic wrap, and resealable bags. Finally, make sure you have lots of packing tape on hand to secure everything.

• Clean your items

A step that may be forgotten when it comes to transporting your furniture items for a move is to clean them. You might be thinking, “I’ll do that when I set everything up in my new home.” Although that may seem more logical at first, it actually can be harmful to the quality of your furniture. In fact, dust and other particles sitting on the surface of your belongings can result in scratches when moved around. You certainly don’t need to complete a deep clean, but it’s useful to ensure no dust has accumulated on your items before you pack them up.

• Disassemble your furniture

Next, disassemble your furniture items as much as you can. This, of course, will vary depending on the type of furniture you’re referring to and the way it was built or how you had to put it together upon receiving it. Before you disassemble your furniture, check to see if you still have the instructions manual for assembly or if it’s available online for your specific piece of furniture. If not, take note of what you’re doing to disassemble, taking pictures or videos if possible. Although you may think you’ll easily remember it, you’re going to be busy during your move, and you’ll surely have numerous pieces of furniture to take apart. It’s easy to forget at least some of the steps, causing frustration when you need to reassemble your items.

During disassembly, be as thorough as possible. Anything protruding, such as the legs of tables or the arms of chairs, can typically be removed. Try to collapse everything as much as you can to make the most effective use of your space in your moving truck or storage unit. Don’t forget to remove small parts such as knobs too, as they can easily sustain damage if they accidentally get bumped or jostled during the move.

• Wrap properly

After disassembling your furniture, you’ll want to take careful measures to wrap everything properly and completely. Moving blankets will be your best friend during this process. These blankets are thick and offer ample protection against much of the movement that will happen as you move. If you need to, you can opt for your own blankets that you already have in your house as a way to save money by repurposing them. However, ensure that these blankets are heavy and thick enough to successfully offer protection.

For more fragile items, you’ll want to add more layers of security. For instance, glass items could benefit from bubble wrapping, and you can even add a moving blanket over the top of the bubble wrap. When you’re dealing with cushions from chairs and couches, this is where your large roll of plastic wrap will come in handy. Thoroughly secure the plastic wrap around the entire surface, preventing rips and stains as you transport them.

• Place small parts in bags

When you disassemble your furniture, you’re bound to have plenty of small parts that can easily get lost or misplaced. Be sure to have plastic resealable bags on hand, and get ready to label your heart out. You’ll want to be extremely specific about where nuts, bolts, screws, and any other small parts belong. The bags should be labeled with the furniture item they correspond to, and then you can tape the sealed bag onto the item of furniture itself if possible. Alternatively, you can keep all of the small parts in one box – but again, be mindful about thorough labeling.

• Be mindful of weight

As you place the items into whatever vehicle or container will be holding your home’s belongings, make sure to keep the weight of everything in mind. You don’t want to place anything heavy on top of something fragile, as this could result in the item getting crushed. Heavy items also shouldn’t be leaned against anything too light or anything that has the potential to collapse. Likewise, you shouldn’t have any sharp edges near things like cushions, as this could result in rips and scratches.

• Use original packaging when possible

Finally, if you have any of the original packagings for your furniture, try to repackage your items inside there. Things like the boxes or the molded foam pieces that fit exactly around pieces of furniture can be extremely helpful and minimize any potential damages greatly. Because this packaging was designed specifically for a particular furniture item, it’s the best way to repack your things. Especially for technology items like televisions, the original packaging has the perfect spots for various parts and pieces.

Protect your furniture like an expert

Once you utilize these steps to pack your furniture, you’re all set for a safe and secure trip to your new destination! And if you’re seeking furniture movers who you can trust to take the utmost care of your items, call on the help of Hollander Storage & Moving Company Chicago. Whether you’re moving locally or long distance, our team of professional movers is committed to providing customers with the best service possible—interested in learning more? Request a free quote today!