How to protect fragile items for your move?

When you pack fragile household items you should take extra precaution, as a measure for safeguarding items such as glassware, chinaware, delicate furniture pieces and/or antiques, including electronic equipment, artwork, mirrors, lamps, musical instruments and so on. Missing out on some of the most important safety tips can lead to careless packing, thinking that nothing will be damaged during the move, which can turn the process of unpacking into a real headache when you find some fragile items broken and you aren’t able to fix them.

The most important thing to remember is that packing fragile items when you are moving is not to be underrated. Following the necessary safety tips when packing for a move is important for all of your household items. Ways of how you protect your clothes or pack books for your relocation is very different than the way you should pack fragile and breakable items found in your home.

The following is a list of tips of how you need to make sure any fragile belongings survive the upcoming move.

• Have proper packing boxes or containers ready for packing fragile items

As a prerequisite for packing very fragile items, especially when packing dishes for the move, is that you have adequate moving and packing supplies, so that you can pack all these items safely.  You can’t skip this step or underestimate its significance for a hassle-free packing and moving experience.

To pack fragile items for your move, you will need strong cardboard boxes. If you know where to get moving boxes for free to save money, you need to make sure they are in good condition. You will also need a lot of packing paper, pieces of cardboard and bubble wrap, which is vital for keeping your breakables safe, so you should get a few rolls of bubble wrap.

• Wrapping fragile items

Preparing the containers you will use to store your breakables is just as important as protecting the delicate items themselves. Packing fragile items for moving is all about following the major safety rules accepted and adopted in the moving industry.

Always try and keep in mind when packing for a move, especially when packing fragile items you should have a suitable packing area with a clean, flat and stable surface – kitchen tables are usually safe enough for that task.

Use small to mid-sized boxes for your breakables and don’t make the containers too heavy to lift and carry.

Place on the bubble-wrap. Make sure ends and tops are covered well. First use soft paper and then place the fragile item on the bubble wrap on top and slowly roll it up until it is completely protected.

If you’re using a large piece of cardboard, place the bubble-wrapped item at one end and roll it tightly. Make sure you keep a firm grip on it to ensure the object is well-protected and won’t slip out the bottom. For extra protection, wrap the entire package in another layer of bubble-wrap and securely tape both ends.

What you should do when you pack and wrap dishes is to stack wrapped-up plates sideways in their respective boxes, and try not to use newspapers to wrap fragile items with delicate surfaces as you might end up with to possible ink stains.

• Extra padding around your fragile items

Once your fragile items are inside their boxes or containers, you need to make sure that your wrapped-up items won’t move around inside the box during the moving process. Don’t dismiss this safety tip, because you want to achieve the level of immobility by placing scrunched paper, old pieces of clothing, towels or no longer needed pieces of bubble wrap to fill up any remaining space and avoid accidental movements.

By providing sufficient padding for you very fragile items you will find each item in one piece after the move. You may choose to use foam packing peanuts or cushioning foam to get this job faster but these kinds of supplies are more costly, but many of the cushioning materials can be reused for additional packing at a later time.

• Labeling boxes with fragile items

Proper labeling of boxes that contain highly breakable items will increase the chance of finding your fragile items intact when you unpack at your new home. Make sure you write FRAGILE and/or HANDLE WITH CARE with big black or red letters on at least 2 sides of each box. ‘’This End Up’’ Labels keep your packages from tipping or being stored on their sides. Also, don’t forget to mark down the contents of the containers and their destination rooms, for example, glassware or kitchen. Regardless of who’s going to handle your delicate household items either you are using the services of professional movers, your friends or you yourself, such inscriptions are generally taken into consideration on the day of the move.

• Handling boxes with fragile items with extra caution

Unless you’ve entrusted the tricky job of securing the packing of your fragile items to professional movers, as there are different types of movers and moving services, you will need to be extremely careful when carrying boxes that contain fragile items and then loading them safely onto the moving truck, and finally unloading and carrying them inside your new home. You need to be careful each step of the way, and do not rush in order to save time, because you might end up damaging the contents. Usually ropes or straps are used to secure these containers once inside the moving truck and extra caution while driving – it doesn’t matter if it’s a local moving or long distance moving

All in all, by using the right packing materials and taking the right level of caution when packing your fragile items for moving, you will ensure these items arrive safely to your new home.