How to Protect Furniture When Moving: 7 Tips & Tricks

Pretty young woman and her husband with picture frames looking at you while unpacking boxes in their new house

Moving is a laborious affair. Organizing your possessions, contacting the required services for assistance, and physically moving these items can get repetitive really quickly. However, no matter how monotonous and tiring this process may be, it has to be done in a very specific manner.

If there is no care taken while moving your belongings, you risk harm to both your items and yourself. In saying that, there are several steps and processes that you can take in order to minimize harm, while protecting your possessions.

Here are seven tips and tricks to help you protect furniture when moving:

1. Make a Moving Plan

Organization is critical, especially if you want to protect furniture when moving. By keeping a list of every single item that needs to be transported, you mitigate the chances of unwarranted accidents from occurring. For your initial purposes, try to determine which items are more labour-intensive than others.

For the more physically-exerting belongings to be moved, see if they can be taken apart. This provides the breathing room you need to efficiently transport them when it is time to do so. Furniture, or office equipment will usually require disassembling, so organize your items in this way before moving on.

2. Packing Supplies

No matter what sort of item is to be transported during the moving process, there are a few supplementary supplies required. These are for protecting your items during the move, so that they can get from point A to point B without fear of harm. Of course, your usual cardboard boxes will be needed to kickstart the procedure.

Other supplies to get your hands on will include bubble wrap, first and foremost. For the more valuable items in your household, housing them in bubble wrap maximizes their overall protection. In addition, sofa covers and corrugated cardboard sheets should also be considered if necessary.

3. Cleaning

Overtime, furniture and other material possessions will collect an inordinate amount of dust. At other times, debris or insects may fester in and around those specific types of furniture. Prior to disassembling or moving, you’ll want to make sure all relevant pieces of furniture have a thorough cleaning before being moved.

This is especially important for those who are moving into a new home. The last thing you want is having unnecessary amounts of dirt and debris infiltrating your new, clean living space. As such, take the time to find all the spots of grime on your possessions, and dust them off accordingly.

4. Wrapping

Once the preliminary steps have been taken care of, your next steps include properly wrapping all of your belongings. Depending on the type of belonging to be wrapped, different pads or old blankets will be necessary. For example, smaller items should be adequately protected with bubble wrap; larger items should be wrapped with requisite blankets.

When conducting the actual wrapping, start at one end and then wrap around the entire item. Ensure that both the top of the item, as well as the bottom, have been covered before determining that it is adequate for the move. If more padding is required, use it.

5. Loading Your Belongings

Once the move is underway, you’ll want to make sure you properly pack them in your chosen vehicle. If you have bought the services of a moving truck, there is a specific way to transport your items from your old home to the vehicle.

Usually, most items can be placed in boxes for ease of access. For heavier items, always get a team of professional movers to help you carry them to the truck!

6. Item Placement

When it comes to actually placing your belongings in the truck, make sure you don’t just put them in arbitrary spots. Thin, fragile items like mirrors, can go in between heavier items such as mattresses. This further provides a layer of protection during transport, so that damage is minimized. Always think strategically about the assignment of your possessions during a move.

7. Destination Placement

Finally, when you arrive at your new home, there is a particular way to both unload your items from your vehicle, in addition to transporting them inside. Create a placement plan, which entails where all items will go prior to the move. That way, you aren’t left spontaneously choosing a determined location on the whim.

For example, a sofa should be listed as an item to be transported to the ground floor. Mattresses should also have a designated room to go into, and be written down on your placement plan accordingly. Being prepared as much as possible is always a good thing!

Moving doesn’t have to be an arduous process, if you remain level-headed and organized as much as possible. As long as you have the proper strategy ready to boot, you’ll soon realize how much time and effort you saved in the long run!