Are you planning to move to a new office, house, or apartment in the near future and have artwork, electronics, glassware, and other items that are difficult to transport? You’ll need to prepare them beforehand. Get the assistance of a moving company for transporting your belongings, though in many cases, you’ll want to get them ready yourself. Here’s some tips to ensure your move with fragile and valuable things goes as smoothly as possible.
Take an Inventory
First, you’ll want to inventory the items in your home. Notice what items will be especially complicated to wrap, store, and transport. You may decide that some older items that aren’t so valuable to you just aren’t worth the hassle and get rid of them before you move.
Prepare Packing Supplies
It’s a good idea to purchase new boxes, though you can pick some up for free from a store as long as the boxes are dry, clean, and will hold up to some weight.
Packing paper may be enough for some smaller items that are breakable. This is always a great material to have on hand for moving or when you’re storing fragile things.
Bubble wrap is an excellent material when you need to protect delicate belongings. You can wrap some around larger items to protect in case anything in the movers’ truck bumps into them.
Use Labels
Whether you make fancy labels or just write on the boxes or paper/wrap, it’s important to label things so that the moving company can appropriately plan for how to arrange them. You can write “fragile” or “handle with care”, and the room you expect the box to end up in. Be sure to write large and legible enough so it can be easily read. Labeling is ideal for keeping track of what’s in each box and to be able to quickly sort them into rooms (or have the moving team do so.)
Special Care with Kitchens
When you go to pack kitchen supplies, you may get overwhelmed. There’s just so much and many items are likely to be breakable or valuable. There are special dish boxes that provide extra protection for chinaware and glassware. If you don’t have any, you can use regular cardboard boxes, just make sure to add enough padding and tape the bottoms up really well.
Packing Electronics
Electronic devices, whether they’re being used in an office or someone’s home, tend to be fragile and can be easily damaged during a move. It’s crucial that you know how to pack up these devices in a safe way.
If you have the original boxes for the electronics, you should use them for your move. Otherwise, use cardboard boxes that are the right size, but not too large, and have adequate padding.
Before disconnecting anything that has internal storage, back up any digital data and transfer important files onto USB memory sticks. You can also put them on an external hard drive or use cloud storage.
Use packing paper and bubble wrap in layers, with the bubble wrap arranged to protect the delicate areas. Place cardboard pieces on extremely fragile areas such as any sensitive screens. Our team of Philadelphia office movers can give you additional advice on this.
Photograph the setup you have for your electronic devices so you can see how they are wired once you get them to the new place. Organize cables with labels and zip ties.
Dealing with Artwork and Mirrors
You definitely should avoid throwing paintings, framed photos, and mirrors into boxes or the truck without any protection. There are special picture moving boxes with thicker cardboard. It’s good to use a large table or the floor as a packing station.
Place an X with painter’s tape on the glass parts of paintings, framed photos, and mirrors. Make sure it goes from one corner to another diagonally. This will help so that if there is breakage during transport or placing them in the truck, the glass pieces won’t go into the photo paper or canvas. Use large packing paper sheets with bubble wrap as an added layer to give that extra protection.
Any move is going to be stressful, but preparation using these tips should help a great deal. Seek out the services of a reputable moving service in your area to make this an easier process. Our movers in West Chester, PA and the greater Philadelphia, PA area with residential and commercial moves, big and small. Contact us today to get started.
