Peak Moving Season is Here – How to Protect Your Furniture When Moving

Summer is peak season for moving, which means Spring is the best time to start planning. However, while much preparation goes into finding new homes, renting out trucks, and organizing all the packing that needs done, not a whole lot of attention is generally paid to the actual moving part of the move. So, how do you prepare and protect your furniture as you get ready to move?

 

Protect Your Furniture When Moving

Take Inventory

First things first: know what you have to move. After parsing through what furniture you are going to keep, figure out what can be disassembled early, such as office desks, and what needs to be taken apart on moving day, such as beds. This will also help you determine how much bubble wrap, plastic wrap, and blanket covers you will need to get, as well as what tools you will need, such as screwdrivers or a moving dolly.

Additionally, this is when you can ascertain the value of your furniture, and whether you will need to purchase insurance coverage. In many cases, this is the first step to protect your furniture during a move.

 

Protect Your Furniture When Moving Diagram

Measure for Dimensions

It’s a good idea to take the opportunity ahead of time to get measurements for your furniture and your doorways (for both homes, “to” and “from,” if possible). Aside from being useful in spacing out your next home, this ensures you know what will and won’t fit through each entry way and what will need taken apart in order to fit.

In some cases, it will be necessary to remove a door or doorframe to a house, in order to get a couch or some other furniture in or out.

 

Disassemble Your Furniture

Whether it’s on moving day or done in advance (and we do recommend disassembling what you can in advance), carefully take apart furniture such as bed frames, tables, or sofa sectionals, making sure to keep all the pieces together. This can best be done by wrapping them together in plastic wrap or other protective coating.

The other key here would be to place all the bolts, nuts, and screws into a plastic baggie and keep them together with the furniture. This minimizes any confusion when it comes to reassembling the pieces in your new home. You can either keep all of the baggies collected together, provided you have labeled them, or keep them taped underneath or to the side of a larger piece. If you happen to have any of the owner’s manuals or instruction booklets, keep those with the pieces as well.

When disassembling, you should also be careful using any drills or other power tools, as you could risk stripping the screws by over-drilling. Ensure your bit sizes are correct and use a low torque setting.

 

Protect

This is where all the plastic wrap and the moving blankets are going to come in handy. We’ve already mentioned keeping furniture pieces, such as table legs, together using plastic wrap. It also helps to protect your furniture while in transit against tears or scratches. As for cushions, place these into clear trash bags and tie them up.

Moving blankets are another worthwhile investment, as they are thick enough to offer excellent protection, especially for wood surfaces. When loading everything into your moving truck, make sure to use these blankets — or, alternatively, pillows or sheets of cardboard — to cover the tops of dressers and desks before loading more boxes onto them, and place them between the walls of the truck and your furniture.

 

Clean and Reassemble

Finally, once all your furniture arrives safely at your next home, take the time to wipe everything down and clean it from all the dust and debris that may have accumulated during the trip. Not only do you not want to bring this into your new home but wiping everything down will ensure your furniture stays in great condition as you reassemble it back together.

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