Moving is a stressful, time-consuming, and labor-intensive job; especially if you need to pack and move heavy furniture and set it back up in its rightful room in a new place. More often than not, furniture is so heavy that it needs to be disassembled first before it can be moved safely. For that reason, among many others, it is advised that you should contact professional movers. At MPR Movers, we have trained and insured employees to carry out the job for you while you can take care of matters that truly matter.
Here are some simple yet effective ways to make furniture moving easier:
Before you move to a new house or to a new office, it is important that you make a plan and follow through with it to get the move done as efficiently as possible. Planning not only defines your goals and gives you a direction to work towards, but it also ensures that no task or detail is left out when it is the date of the move. You may also find it easy to work through checklists, because of how precise they are when going through the work to do.
Plan a route for your movers to take when carrying your furniture. Doing this will help you plan for any complications that may be there, for instance, long hallways or narrow doorways.
After you decide the desired route for your movers to move your belongings along, you can speed up the process by clearing the pathway beforehand. Be sure to take all paintings, photographs, and clocks off the walls so that they do not get damaged when the movers get the heavy furniture out. Alternatively, you may ask the movers to ensure that the walls are bare before they start moving. Either way, clearing the pathway is an essential step in easy moving.
If you were to contact professional movers, they would get this job done for you. However, if you decide to move the heavy furniture yourself, it would be wise to get help from a friend or two. One of the most important tasks when moving is to measure the size of your furniture accurately, your doorways, and stairways. This will help you decide which furniture is better off disassembled before it can be moved, and which furniture can be moved as it is. It will also prevent the possibility of your items being damaged in the process of forcefully pushing them out of a narrow doorway.
Make sure that you have a floor plan to guide the movers where to put the furniture in the new house or office. You may also get a copy of your new house’s or office’s floor plan and tape it to the walls of each room to make it easier for the movers to know where things will go with only a glance at the taped sheets.
To pack smartly, it is important that you do not squeeze items that you no longer need, or use, into your packing boxes. If you find yourself packing the stuff you have not used, touched, or even seen in a long time, then ask yourself a few questions before you decide to pack it all. Do I really need this? If I take it with me, will I use it? Does this have emotional value to me? Would it be of greater utility to someone else? These questions should help you let go of some of the items that you do not need anymore. Here are some tips on what you can do with the stuff you have decided to not take with you.
There could be a number of charity foundations or churches around you that would accept donations of all kinds. You could narrow down the things you wish to donate if it is of no use to you but is still reusable by someone else. It will not only help you with packing a lesser number of items but also benefit someone else in the process.
Oftentimes, we have brand new items sitting in our closet that we had forgotten about and only recall having the items when we deep clean the closet (like when we are about to move to a new place). In such a case, these new and unused items we may not need anymore can make very good gifts. That watch buried deep in your drawer that you had forgotten about or that dinner set box in your kitchen – can be great gifts! And not to mention, it will cut down the number of items you take to your new place.
Sometimes, the items you leave behind are in no condition to be donated or gifted. In such times, it is necessary to trash them, recycling the ones that can be recycled.
When you move, you would not want to have to open up several boxes before you finally find the everyday essentials. Therefore, it is advisable and should be desirable for you to make a backpack of the essential items, for example, an extra set of clean clothes, some snacks and water, toiletries, and medication. Packing it up in a separate bag allows you to access it more conveniently during and after your moving day.
Furniture, such as beds, desks, and dressers, are trickier to move in one piece mostly due to their heavyweight, but also because they are sometimes too valuable or too unwieldy in shape to be moved easily. In such cases, it is best to disassemble the furniture and move it around piece by piece. If you were to hire a professional company for this, they would have this covered. However, if you wish to do this part yourself, you may need to keep some points in mind:
⭕ Some furniture parts, such as mirrors, can move unsteadily from side to side, so they can be easily damaged during a move. Such items are recommended to be removed before the move date has arrived.
⭕ It may be worth checking if the legs of dining tables and couches are detachable as it would make the move much easier and safer when crossing doorways and stairways. Always remember to use a magnetic head screwdriver when unscrewing, and also remember to take out all the bolts, screws, and nuts from the screwdriver’s head. Put them into a plastic bag so that it can stay secure till you need to access it again at the time of reassembling the furniture.
⭕ In order to lighten the load of heavy furniture, try taking out drawers (if there are any). Similarly, when moving a bookshelf, ensure that you take off all books before the shelf is moved. Trying to move two things at once could be more destructive than it may seem. But of course, if you were to hire a professional, they would take care of this by themselves.
Getting the right equipment for moving heavy furniture will be of great help to you if you wish to move the furniture yourself. You can make the task easier for yourself by either purchasing or renting items that can help you move heavy furniture. You may rent the items if you believe you may not need them again, and purchase if you believe you might need them again. Here is a list of things you may find valuable to use.
When lifting heavy furniture, ‘lifting straps’ work to shift some of the load off of your arms and back, making it notably trouble-free to carry the weighty items. That is not even the best part about them – the best part is their adjustability. You can adjust them to own body’s size, plus your furniture’s size (the one that you will be lifting).
This one, you should just buy because of how useful it will prove to be. Furniture sliders are put down under each corner or each leg of the furniture that you wish o move. Then you can move the furniture smoothly, and easily. Once a slider is fixed, it allows easy mobility, and you are free to move the furniture around with ease without the risk of damaging your floor or hurting yourself in the process. The best part about using furniture sliders is that they can even work on carpets or carpeted floors as well as on tile and hardwood floors.
Furniture Dollies come in two useful types: two-wheelers, and four-wheelers. The two-wheeler is a hand truck that has a small base that helps to fit and move tall and heavy items around once they are secured with ropes. It is fit for moving a standalone fridge or cupboards. The four-wheeler has a square platform that comes with or without a handle. Since it is larger than the two-wheel dolly, it is easier to put more items on it before you move it around. All it requires is that the furniture should be secured with ropes before it is moved around.
As mentioned before, disassembling furniture will make the task of moving the furniture plenty easier. Before a move, you must take away all removable items of furniture in order to lighten their load; for example, taking cushions off of beds and couches, knobs out of doors, legs, and drawers out of dressers, books out of a bookshelf, and so on. You must keep in mind that if you remove any screws, nuts, or bolts, you should keep them in different plastic bags to keep them safe till the time you need them again. You may also find it convenient later on if you label the plastic bags with the relevant furniture’s name on them so that you know what screw goes where.
Chairs are one of the trickiest furniture items to move across a doorway, as it is a surprise to none that chairs get ‘hooked’. In order to combat this obstacle, the safest and quickest way to get a chair past a doorway is to use the ‘L’ method. All you really have to do is to turn the chair on its side to make an ‘L’ shape, and then move it outside the doorway back-first. Let the chair curl around the doorway and then let it pass through. This is how the ‘L’ method works. You may be new to this concept, but in a professional moving company, like MPR Movers, all employees are trained to carry chairs through this particular method wherever applicable.
Here are some ways you can wrap and move your furniture safely and quickly.
When wrapping or transporting furniture, it is imperative to shield it from abrasion damage. For ensuring safe and risk-free transportation, consider packing the furniture using protective layers like bubble wraps and safety cushions.
With the help of the latest transportation tools, the process of moving becomes a lot easier, inexpensive, and stress-free. MPR Movers employ a team of qualified workers who are equipped with the safest and the most reliable moving tools available in the market. With these tools, the process of moving not only becomes easier but also becomes safer.
It can be tough to move large furniture across a floor; that is why it is better to use heavy blankets or sliders when moving furniture. This makes it easier for you to handle and move the bulky furniture without breaking a sweat. When you are moving, make sure that all of you wear thick and lined gloves. They can provide more traction and keep the furniture from slipping. These gloves also provide protection to the skin from getting any scratches
There is no doubt that if you contact a professional moving company for their services, they will come well-prepared that you may want to skip this step. However, you always have the option to get help from your family, friends, and neighbors. It will be free of cost, and yet you can thank and appreciate them by inviting them to your housewarming party (whenever you host one). Do not hesitate to ask for help! Here are some common heavy items that you may need external help with while moving.
⭕ Clean the fridge of its content (eat, trash, pack, or give away),
⭕ Unplug it,
⭕ Get rid of the trays,
⭕ Put the fridge onto a two-wheeler or four-wheeler dolly,
⭕ Secure with rope,
⭕ You are ready to move your fridge!
⭕ Unplug the washing machine,
⭕ Stop the water supply,
⭕ Ensure that the machine is empty of clothes, water, and detergent,
⭕ Slide a carpet or blanket you no longer need under the washing machine,
⭕ Move the machine somewhere it is simpler to access it without leaving the floor scratched,
⭕ Wrap it in bubble wrap to prevent it from getting damaged,
⭕ Strap it onto a two-wheeler or four-wheeler dolly,
⭕ Secure with rope,
⭕ You are ready to move your washing machine!
⭕ Remove all cushions,
⭕ Check if the sofa can be disassembled, and if it can, disassemble it for easy moving,
⭕ If it cannot, use the L method or pivot and tilt it around corners.
Lifting puts a considerable amount of stress on your body when you have to move heavy items of furniture. It can, sometimes, end up hurting you or someone around you. Luckily, there are some pro tips that we can share with you as the dos and don’ts of lifting, so that you may move furniture around without professional help and still get the job done safely and adequately.
Lifting is not the only way you will be moving furniture. You will need to push, slide, and drag it wherever whichever works best. It makes the task easier than just lifting it all. And of course, unless you are the Hulk, we do not advise that either! Ensure your safety first and know how to lift the right way.
Here are some pro tips that you can find useful when you decide to move furniture yourself.
In order to settle the weight accurately, it is in your best interests to ‘squat’ down instead of ‘bending’. Bending puts weight on your back, whereas the squat position puts weight on your legs.
Try to ensure that your body is still when you are lifting and walking a heavy item of furniture. Avoid running or walking fast because that can lead to serious injuries through accidents. If you have to turn at a corner or a door, do so slowly and carefully.
Wherever possible, try to carry items close to your body. This will help you keep your balance when you lift and move and will also involve your upper body and arms in the work.
You should be able to watch where you are going. Do not hold furniture that is so large that it blocks your view. For those items, call a friend or a professional moving company. Ensure that you can see where you are walking, keep your head up straight, and look forward instead of downward.
Immensely passionate for literature, Arsh-E-Bareen is a freelance writer. She writes content for many renowned firms, including this one. In her spare time, she loves to write sonnets and short stories that touch and inspire people. You can contact her on LinkedIn