How To Keep Your Furniture Safe When Moving

Josh at Omni Removals Jan 29, 2024

Keeping your furniture safe and protected during transit should be a top priority - whether you're moving house yourself or hiring the help of a removal company. The last thing you want upon arrival at your new home is to find your sofas, kitchen table or chairs all battered, bruised and broken. Without proper handling, care and attention, more of your possessions than you might realise could get damaged. Luckily for you, by following the tips outlined below, you can save your wallet and your pockets from costly furniture repairs...

Have The Right Packing Materials

As much as cardboard boxes are incredibly useful and are a staple in the majority of house moves and removals, they aren't always the best for your higher-value furniture. Boxes and tapes will only ever get you so far. For your bigger, more awkward and quirkier furniture, it's wise to invest in things like sofa and carpet / rug covers, bubble wrap, sealable plastic bags and rigid cardboard sheets. Since the bigger furniture is more often heavier than the smaller stuff, dismantling it and protecting all the pieces properly with the mentioned packing material can provide welcome peace of mind!

Prepare Your Furniture

We would always recommend preparing your furniture for moving by giving what you can a clean. Dust, debris and other contaminents can contribute to the scratching, chipping and other types of damage to your items. All you have to do in most cases to prevent this is use a slightly damp or even dry microfibre cloth and give everything a seeing to. As mentioned in another blog post, any dismantling that you can do, you should. All dismantled parts should be properly packed and protected - just like your normal, more evry day things would be. At Omni Removals, we are prepared - whatever the weather.

We will do our best to make it "business as usual" - even if the weather doesn't turn up. We'll take all the necessary precautions and of course factor the bad weather into our plan. There will be plenty of furniture and carpet protectors, blankets and wraps to keep everything dry and protected on its way to the van and during transit to your new home.

Disassemble Methodically

Any disassembled parts of furniture should be kept together where possible - this includes any nuts, bolts and screws that you'll need for eventual re-assembly too. We made a point to specifically mention this because of how easy it is to lose sight of a tiny screw, bolt etc.

Pack Strategically

A common mistake people make when packing and moving is stacking boxes far too high with no sort of plan or reasoning behind doing so. Stacking heavy boxes on top of each other - especially when not secure - can contribute to the damage of your things. When packing up and when loading the van, it is essential to pack thoughtfully and arange the layout in a way to prioritise getting everything in safely, and making use of and maximising space.

Always place the heavier boxes at the bottom and stack the lighter boxes on top. These can be secured / fastened with cords, straps and dividers. Remember to create support at the back-end of the truck to provide stability when loading bigger and heavier things.

Upholstered and awkwardly shaped furniture may need further due care and attention - when loaded on to the van these can seperately be secured with rope, wrapping and other fasteners, too. Adding an extra layer of protection, such as a blanket is always a good idea here.

You also need to make sure to pay special attention when unloading and coming off of the van. Move items strategically and properly depending on their size, weight etc.

Plan and Prepare

Moving this furniture can take less time and effort if you stick to a plan and do things properly. Take the time before moving it all to understand if anything needs disassembling, how you you're going to pack it, how you're going to get it on the van, how you're going to load it in the van, how you're going to get it off the van and how you are going to get it into your new home. The more time you take to prepare, the less likely things are to go wrong during your removal. If you lack the patience or confidence yourself, get in touch with us at Omni Removals. We're on-hand and ready to help!

For furniture packing advice be sure to check out our blog posot on how to pack efficiently for a long distance move!