How to Safely Move a China Cabinet

If you need to move a china cabinet, it requires some planning, moving equipment. A few helping hands are welcome and careful handling is mandatory. Besides being vulnerable, china cabinets are also filled with sentimental and fragile items. They also require careful handling. The safest way to move your china cabinet is to hire professional movers. They have the experience and tools for packing fragile items. Hiring movers is especially beneficial if you’re moving an antique cabinet or a curved glass one. However, if you’re moving on a budget or prefer to move china cabinet DIY for any reason, our tips will help go through it without stress. Keep on reading to learn How to Safely Move a China Cabinet.

Prepare the cabinet

The first thing to do before you prepare a china cabinet for moving is to make sure it’s empty. Take its entire content out and carefully pack your fine china for storage and moving. If you have doubts about the DIY packing of your china, hire professional movers and packers in NYC. Double-check that no items were left inside because they’ll most likely get broken during the process.

Handle with utmost care

When you’re moving a valuable piece of furniture like a china cabinet, you want to make sure you’re doing so extremely carefully. China doors usually have glass fragile doors or glass shelves. So take one step at a time while you’re moving this kind of item. Otherwise, it can break and injure your helpers or you.

Safety first

Get your work gloves to make sure your hands are protected. When you’re prepared to approach the task carefully, it’s time to think about the top priority – safety. To make sure that’s done, go ahead and secure glass doors. Unscrew the hinges and carefully remove the doors from the cabinet. Don’t make abrupt movements and do this with caution and someone’s help. Once the doors are off, go ahead and take each shelf out. Use a screwdriver to remove screws that hold shelves in place. Make sure to have someone to help you at this stage.

If you try to do this alone you may end up hurting yourself, and that’s the last thing you want. Once all doors and shelves are out, wrap each piece with packing paper to create the first layer of protection. Use bubble wrap for the second protective layer which will help avoid breaking. Keep all the small parts from your china cabinet together locked in a Ziploc bag. The last protective layer should be made by using thick blankets and packing tape to keep everything in place.

Protect wood parts

Cover each surface before moving and pay attention to what you cover it with depending on the material. Wood surfaces on your china cabinet may have a very delicate finish. It can be affected by packing tape or similar things if in direct contact. Always use packing paper first for covering delicate surfaces and protect them from scratches before you move on to the next protective layer.

Disassemble

Check if your china cabinet is made from one piece or two pieces. In case it has two sections, it will be much easier for you to pack and move it. Remove everything from inside and separate two sections with your helpers.

Use blankets

Now that you have the upper section separated from the lower section and you have all the doors and shelves out, it’s time to add a final protective layer by using blankets. Wrap the entire piece with blankets because thick covers are the best for a fragile item like a china cabinet. Find out more about different types of packing tape and choose the right one to make sure blankets will stay in place.

Secure the legs of the china cabinet

Let’s not forget the extremely fragile parts of your china cabinet – its legs. If your furniture piece is antique, legs will be ornamented and even more fragile, so use thick blankets or several layers of bubble wrap to protect them and get them ready for moving.

Moving dolly

Once you’re done with all the preparations, it’s time to take the cabinet out of your home. This part poses a great risk for the china cabinet’s safety. So you’ll need some professional equipment and a few helpers. To avoid damage and injuries, go ahead and find a moving dolly. You don’t have to buy one, just ask your local moving company if they have one for rent. Forst, load your china cabinet onto a moving dolly. Then make sure it’s properly secured in place. Use ropes and straps before taking it out. Once the dolly is immobilized, you and your helpers can take it out to the moving vehicle.

Load

If you’ve hired a professional moving company, they’ll take care of all the above things and of this final step too. But if you’ve decided to DIY, you’ll have to go through one final step and that’s load and unload a moving truck. Whether you want to rent a moving van or use your own, you’ll want t make sure it has a loading mechanism so that you could push the dolly inside. Once you get it into the truck, leave it on the dolly and secure it with ropes in place to prevent it from moving and falling during transit.

A china cabinet is an extremely fragile piece of furniture, and it’s probably among the most valuable belongings in your household. If you don’t feel like packing all the delicate chinaware and move a china cabinet on your own, go ahead and contact professional NYC movers. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with reliable and licensed movers to get a free moving quote. Dumbo Moving and Storage is at your service and we’ll be happy to chat about your upcoming relocation and moving your fragile items. Our price quotes are completely free of charge. Let’s connect!