How to Pack Furniture for Long-Distance Moving

In 2020, The US Department of Homeland Security had declared the wood products industry as part of essential critical infrastructure. The coronavirus pandemic has impacted many segments of our lives, but believe it or not, the sales of furnishings have risen over 50% compared to 2019. So people keep buying new sofas and shelves, and they also continue to move. But in order to avoid damaging your precious pieces, we will provide you with a guide on protecting and wrapping furniture for moving.

Wondering How to Pack Furniture for Moving? Develop a Strategy

To be efficient when you move means to create a plan and stick to it. If you add some packing strategies to your plans, you will make the whole ordeal run as smoothly as possible. First of all, create a packing schedule, and start by decluttering your residence. Preparing to move will be a lot easier if you rummage through your stuff and decide what to get rid of. You can start decluttering as early as two months before the move-out day, and it will be beneficial to your move in several ways. You’ll have fewer objects to take care of, while you’ll also lower the price of your move.

Donate Everything You Won’t Be Taking With You

While you’re setting aside all the things you want to throw away, you’ll probably find some unwanted appliances that are still in fairly good condition. If you’re wondering what to do with any of these, you can donate old appliances to charities such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army. These charities can also accept furnishings and most of the other belongings you no longer require.

Sell the Objects You Don’t Know What to Do With

Once you’ve thrown away unusable things and donated some stuff to make those in need happy, you can set aside some more objects that you can sell. Perhaps you have an ancient dresser or a wardrobe you don’t want to use, and it would only clutter your new home. These could be perfect for selling. You can organize and have a successful garage sale if you advertise it in your neighborhood or through social media. All the money you earn can be added to your relocation budget.

Leave Some Furnishings in Storage

Relocations are a lot easier if you decide to invest in long-distance moving services by a reliable long-distance moving company. Many companies offer a bundle of services, and a storage service may come in handy for all the bulky furnishings you’re not sure where to position in the new abode. Some companies may even offer you free storage for the first 30 days, and that is more than enough time to make arrangements. If you have some furnishings you’re being sentimental about, keep in mind that you can repurpose old furnishings and give them a new life, either with some paint or complete remodeling. Until you decide what you want with it, it will be safe in the storage unit.

Create a List of Items You Will Need in the Next Home

Once you’ve decided what to keep, you can get to the next preparatory phase, doing a home inventory. List all the belongings you’ll be taking with you so you can contact your cross-country movers and ask for a quote. You’ll also be able to figure out just how many boxes and other supplies and materials you’ll need for boxing up everything, including the furnishings. Remember that the cheapest way to move out of state is to have as few possessions on a relocation truck as possible.

Will I Require Some Wrap for Packing Furniture? Here’s a List of Supplies That Will Protect Your Furnishings

In order for us to move efficiently and handle everything without any hassle, the next step is to obtain all the necessary materials needed to protect your furnishings. Here’s a thorough list of what you’ll require:

• Get some sturdy boxes. Although most furnishings won’t fit in them (except for doll-sized pieces,) you can use them for pillows and similar objects.
• Put some packing tape on your list, too. It’s not only useful when it comes to securing the lids of the boxes. You will also use it to secure wrapping you’ll have placed on each piece to keep it tight.
• Buying bubble and plastic stretch wrap are the next items on your to-do list. Although you shouldn’t apply them directly to any wooden surface, they will come in handy to protect the edges and wrap up already covered furnishings.
• Specialized blankets, as well as the sofa and mattress covers, are a must if you want to be certain each piece is safe from damage in transport while you’re relocating from a small town to a big city.
• Felt pads are not only a useful item for your home, but you can also find pads made out of felting, foam, and plastic that will come in handy for protecting the floors if you have to move a piece by dragging it across the floor.
• Also, gather some tools that will make the whole process easier. These include a tape dispenser, scissors, and a marker.

Additionally, if you want to save up a bit, you can use your household items instead of specialized blankets. Sheets, common blankets, and other softies can also come in handy for enveloping your furnishings.

How to Prepare Furniture for Moving

Before we start talking about how to move smaller or larger furnishings, we’ll explain how to prepare them. Although we’ll do some deep cleaning of the whole abode before we leave it, we should pay special attention to each piece of furnishing before we secure and protect it. Vacuum clean upholstered furnishings and wash gently with a cloth and some solution of warm water and soap. Make sure it’s completely dry before you box it up. Other types of furnishings should be thoroughly cleaned with a dry cloth, stains, grease, and dirt should be removed, and you can do a once over with polish.

How to Protect Furniture When Moving and What to Wrap It With

Whether you have more large or mainly smaller things, the best way to pack them and avoid scratching and other kinds of damage is to thoroughly wrap them. You can freely use bubble wrap to envelop upholstered pieces or to cover over the already placed blankets. Plastic stretch foil can be of great help in case you need some packing tips for relocating in a hurry.

Any furnishing that has drawers can be packed in an instant if you simply leave the contents inside. Take out each drawer, envelop it with plastic and then put it back into its place. You can then get the whole piece wrapped with several layers to ensure the drawers stay in place during transport.

The following video gives you thorough advice on how to polish wooden surfaces correctly and get the best results.

How Do You Pack Wood Furniture for Moving?

If you’ve decided to move to a small town, you have probably bought a bigger residence, and you can take all your furnishings with you. That includes even the heavier wooden furnishings. However, these objects will require some special attention, not only because they are large and heavy, but because there are some rules when it comes to wood.

Besides prepping, cleaning, and polishing the surface, you should completely avoid wrapping wood in bubbles or plastic because it might get damaged. Instead, you should cover it with blankets and simply use wrapping to secure it in place. Also, ensure that you don’t stick any tape directly to the surface because it may also damage it and leave a residue that won’t come off so easily.

How Do You Pack Heavy Furniture on a Truck?

Now, the question that revolves around heavy items is – how do you pack furniture for cargo? First of all, no, you can’t put it in the back of your car and then send it through auto transport service, because that would be highly impractical. And also, it’s not allowed. There’s one trick that even the cross country moving company uses, and it’s disassembling. Big or small furnishings, most of them can be unscrewed, disassembled, and later assembled once it arrives. That way, they can easily fit in the back of a relocation truck.

For more hacks that will help you in this process, you should probably take your camera or phone and snap pictures of furnishings before you dismantle them. It will be way easier to unpack after a move and assemble it later.

Take Care of Hardware and Other Small Items

If you’re not aware, small hardware pieces are among the most commonly forgotten things to pack and can cause issues when you start settling in. To avoid losing screws, hooks, and other hardware, take some ziplock bags and place them inside. Another great hack is to tape each bag to the corresponding furnishing. That way, you’ll unpack and assemble everything in no time.

What Is the Easiest Way to Transport Furniture Through Your Home? Call Help

Bulky furnishings are not easy to move, and it’s almost impossible to move them without any help. So a great move would be to call some friends and throw a packing party. It’s a great way to spend some more time together before you leave, and they can help you handle everything. If there are some pieces that are still too heavy and large, even after removing some parts, someone should give you a helping hand.

This is the moment where those pads come in handy, whether you have wood floors or carpets. If you have to slide a piece over carpets, these pads have a plastic side, which will allow you to drag it with no issues. On the other hand, if your floors are wooden, you wouldn’t want to leave any scratch marks. The other side of these pads is felted, so you can slide the piece over the floors without a care in the world. Except for worrying about getting backaches.

In the End, It’s Best to Save Your Back and Call Long-Distance Movers

Although every bit of knowledge helps, especially when it comes to relocations, the best way to take care of furnishings and all your other possessions is to invest in packing service by reliable movers. When you Google for “long-distance movers near me,” ensure they offer heavy item handling among their other cross-country moving services. After that, theirs is to handle your move professionally, and yours is to sit back, relax, and look for some first apartment essentials so you can have a fresh start in your future abode.