How to Pack Fragile Items for Moving
Packing up and moving delicate items—from vases and fine ceramics to antique furniture and paintings—is an everyday process for our experienced domestic removal experts at AnyVan, so we understand how it can be a daunting and demanding task better than most. Even properties featuring minimal interior design practices can require far more cardboard boxes and hours of labour than first expected.
Taking time to organise and carefully consider how to pack and protect your belongings is crucial for a successful move. Arriving with boxes of broken possessions will cost you money and delay the time it takes for you to feel settled in your new home. For first time movers, such as students, breakages can be even more distressing.
HOW TO PACK GLASSWARE AND CERAMICS
Fragile items like glasses and plates are vulnerable at the best of times, but in a house move they’re even more at risk. Often expensive or rich in sentimental value, it is important to be particularly vigilant whenwrapping and arranging any glass or ceramic goods.
Use small boxes for packaging these items, making sure they have firm sides that will hold their shape during the journey. These boxes should be kept light and not overfilled, with enough padding to prevent the individual items coming into contact with each other inside the box. Bubble wrap, tissue paper or protective cloth should fill any empty spaces to stop items from moving around.
Every box containing fragile goods should be clearly labelled as such, and the label must be immediately visible. These boxes should never be put underneath anything – except light clothes and duvets. Such soft items can be used to hold them in place and offer another layer of protection during transit.
PACKING AND MOVING DELICATE FURNITURE
Despite their proportions or weight, large, heavy or bulky items can sometimes be starved of much-needed attention during a house move. Often they’re pieces of furniture that have been in the house for so long that no one can remember quite how they got through the narrow doorways in the first place.
But leaving these logistical challenges until last only increases the likelihood of your goods incurring damage on the journey.
Where possible, these items should be dismantled into smaller parts early on in the packing process. This will give you more time and flexibility when considering how best to arrange them in your chosen transport vehicle. Left in their entirety, the pieces may be an awkward shape to load and transport; the larger the surface area, the more likely it is to be scratched or dented.
Heavy furniture that cannot be taken apart, such as antique furniture, requires a lot more planning and special treatment. It goes without saying that you should never try to move heavy objects alone.
Hard furniture can be wrapped in blankets using soft materials. You can use a mixture of bedding, sheets, towels and blankets to prevent the likelihood of dents and scratches.
More often than not, hefty items are damaged when homeowners have underestimated how many hands are needed to safely manoeuvre the piece out of their living space. Our professional handlers offer more than just strength, they are highly specialised and can calculate how best to transport difficult items between homes without putting it, or any of your other possessions, at risk.
