Top 10 Tips For Moving Furniture

Moving house is never easy, and moving furniture is one of the biggest issues you have to deal with. While a team of professionals can take the load off your mind (and back), you might want to DIY, so we’re here to provide the tips. Here are our top 10 tips for moving furniture:

1. Start With A Plan, From Start To Finish

It can be tempting to just call over your buddies on a Sunday afternoon and think you’ll have your entire house packed up before sundown, but that just isn’t going to work out. Problems and issues will get in the way, and the best way to streamline your day of moving furniture is by drafting up a plan.

This means knowing which items are coming out first, which are coming out last, what routes you need to take throughout the house, and whether or not everything will fit through your doorways, hallways, and stairs. Plan everything from start to finish.

2. Get The Right Tools 

You’re going to need a lot more than elbow grease to properly move your furniture. A long list of packing and moving materials is necessary if you want to get through this with your items unscathed and your back still intact. Consider preparing the following moving items from your nearest hardware store:

• Lifting straps
• Shoulder dolly
• Moving dolly
• Packing tape
• Packing wrap
• Bubble wrap
• Ropes
• Ramps
• Moving blankets

These items will help with keeping your items safe as well as successfully moving your items throughout your home and into your moving truck.

3. Wrap And Prepare

Even the best movers will occasionally bump and graze against the floors, doors, and walls. You will want to wrap your furniture – especially those pieces that can’t afford to acquire any scratches or marks – with two layers: a first layer of professional moving blankets, and a second layer of moving plastic wrap.

You might even want to invest in door jamb protectors to keep your doorways safe from the move.

4. Lighten Your Items

There’s no reason why you have to carry items the way they sit. Most items in a home come in parts, and can be disassembled into smaller bits. Take out the backs from recliners, unscrew shelves and pieces of bookcases and tables, take out small pieces from desk chairs and couches such as wheels and feet, and more.

Anything that can be pulled apart, should be pulled apart. Not only will this make it easier for everyone involved, but it lowers the risk of anything getting damaged.

5. Slide Your Goods

Items don’t always have to be carried or dragged. In some cases, you can save tons of energy by simply sliding your items across the floor. To do this, simply lift the item a slight degree and slip a blanket or sheet underneath it. Now pull it gently, making sure that nothing is in the way.

6. Take Out the Door Stops

Some houses have door stops behind all their doors, protecting the wall from being scratched by the door knob. These door stop mouldings might not seem like a big deal, but there are cases where that extra inch or half-inch is all you need to squeeze out the couch, bed, or desk from the room. In these cases, take out the door stop moulding and free yourself for that extra bit of space.

7. Ramp It Up

When lifting items into the moving van or moving truck, it’s important that you don’t simply carry it into the back of the truck.

When dealing with heavier items, this can lead to injury and damage to the item and is overall simply a risky endeavour. Instead, use ramps or a hydraulic lift to lift the items into the truck.

8. Secure Everything In the Truck

As you slowly start to fill the moving truck, it’s important to start securing everything down, piece by piece. For this you can use ropes or bungee cords to tie items to the floor of the truck, making sure that it all stays together for the entire ride.

9. Small To Big, And Big To Small

One good way to plan your entire loading and unloading process is by starting small to big, and then big to small. This means that as you start moving your furniture out of your house and into the truck, you should begin with the smaller and lighter objects first before moving onto the biggest items in the house. This makes it easier for you to navigate and manoeuvre while handling the bigger items, as most of the other stuff will already be out of the house.

When unloading the truck and moving furniture into your new home, you will then want to go big to small – biggest items before the smaller ones.

10. Don’t Do It On Your Own: Grab A Team Of Professionals From Giffen Furniture Removals

While you might be able to save money by asking a group of friends to help you with your move, you still burden yourself with the responsibility of securing all the equipment, wrapping all the items, and making sure everything stays safe and sound without the help of a professional.

With Giffen Furniture Removals, you relieve yourself of all that stress by letting us handle everything. We’ll take care of everything from equipment to expertise, and make sure that your items move with pristine condition.

Contact us today and request a quote for all your moving and storage needs. Don’t let your next house move be a pain – let us deal with it!