Preparing delicate furniture when moving home
If you are lucky enough to have fine furniture in your house, then you may be looking at a bit of a double edged sword in terms of the removal. Moving house in London or anywhere for that matter is quite a rough and dynamic process, and it has to be, given the volume of things that need to be moved in order for the removal to happen. It is impossible to treat the removal with the sort of cotton wool touch that may be preferred by some, as it would simply take way too long! If you feel like your furniture has the potential to suffer badly under the conditions that it is subjected to, then you need to ensure that the preparation of the furniture is up to the standard that you require, so that even if it is thrown about, it is well protected, and as safe as possible.
For a start, you should think about the outer shell of your protection. There are various ways in which to ensure that your furniture is well protected, and the most excessive one is to crate up everything. This means that your furniture is loaded in to wooden crates before being transported separately from the rest of your belongings, to ensure that nothing can possibly go wrong.
This sort of removal is usually carried out by specialist art and furniture removal companies, and the results are, as you would expect, safe! This is also extremely expensive and can be rather time consuming, so you will perhaps want to think of other options, unless your furniture is of museum quality and rarity!
A simpler version of the crate system is to get cardboard furniture boxes. These are simply large boxes that will fit a wardrobe or fridge in to them, which protect the item from most knocks and bumps. However, finding boxes the right size can be difficult and expensive, so it may well be worth looking at getting large sheets of card, which can then be folded and cut in to the right shapes and sizes for the furniture that you need it applied to. Be sure to tape these structures up well, as they will be put under a fair amount of pressure over the course of the removal, and you will want them to stand up against this! Remember to label the outside of the wrapping to ensure that everyone who deals with it is aware of exactly what it is that they are handling!
The next layer of protection is equally important, and you will find that it is a lot easier to make work. The interior protection that lies under the cardboard exterior is where the actual cushioning happens, and this is an extremely important part of the protection. Use bubble wrap for extremely delicate pieces, and use newspaper for areas that simply need a little padding.
Wrapping an item in bubble wrap will be expensive as well as time consuming, and it will take up a lot of space! If there is room for movement within the box, then you should fill it out with scrunched up news paper, to be sure that the piece of furniture will not be free to move round the box and cause damage simply be being thrown around. Be sure to cover all extremities like wardrobe door handles and caster feet on chairs, so that they are not knocked off in the process of moving them, as these parts are a lot more delicate than the rest of the item, and can be easily damaged.
