Moving Casualties in Austin: How to Protect Your Most Difficult-to-Move Items

By Julie DeLong, A-1 Freeman Moving Group 

As a professional moving company in Austin, we pack lots of fragile items for our customers to make sure they reach the destination unscathed. Therefore, today, we are here to share how to prevent the most common moving casualties if you are packing yourself and how to secure your most hard-to-move items.

Delicate Glassware, Fine China, & Collectibles

There exists a good reason that professional movers use so many unique packing materials for moving your kitchen items. Glasses and ceramic dishes are difficult enough to move without damaging them, much less fine china and also sensitive collectibles. Lots of people observe at least one crack or broken glass item in a move with lots of fragile items in boxes.

You will want to be extra careful packing, stuffing, separating, and padding your most vulnerable items. 

• Utilize cardboard dishware dividers
• Pack plates vertically, this method decreases the possibility of breaking
• Stuff each and every hollow place with paper shreds, bubble wrap, or peanuts
• Never permit glass to contact other glass
• Don't pack too tightly, or pressure/bumps can lead to damaging
• Pad extra room and the outside of every box with fluffy packing material

Mirrors & Pictures

Large panes of glass are particularly tough to pack because they have a high chance of getting broken or smashed in the move. This suggests mirrors and glass-covered picture frames need to be packed with special care. The most important thing is to protect the glass surface and reduce the danger of an impact with the glass. 

• Pack framed artwork with each other in a box utilizing cardboard partitions between
• Attach a blanket or cloth on the complete surface of the glass
• Utilize a large sheet of cardboard over every glass surface to lessen impacts
• Stow upright, much like the dishes
• Never permit packed glass to lay flat

 Wood Home furniture

Wood household furniture is a frequent moving casualty, however not the complete furniture item itself. Rather, wood is likely to experience chafes, scuffs, in addition to problems with the finish when being disassembled or carted through narrow corners and doorways of the house. It's very usual for once-pristine wood furniture to arrive at the new house in need of refinishing or fixes. Here's how to prevent harm to your home furniture (and also walls) as you go along: 

• Detach components like handles and feet to help make the furniture more rectangular and even.
• Keep all removed hardware with each other within a plainly marked bag or box.
• Small sets of removed pieces might be placed in a drawer of the pieces of furniture it came from
• Stow numerous sets of removed hardware in the same box for easy reconstruction
• Tape All drawers along with cabinets shut
• Utilize paper tape or masking tape that won't harm paint, stain, or finish
• Take sizeable furniture apart if you can.
• Cover every piece separately and load up into just one container or bundle.
• Clearly tag anything you take apart, including where the pieces should be reconnected in the future. Colored tape may help.
• Cover all things in furniture pads or blankets to decrease the possibility of scuffs
• Ask for assistance or hire professional movers to relocate large or cumbersome pieces of furniture 

Musical Instruments

If you own any musical instruments, you know that a move can indicate actual danger for these types of finely tuned and fragile belongings. From grand pianos to oboes and all things in between, instruments tend to be delicate and need to be addressed using the maximum concern.

For big instruments such as pianos, harps, and acoustic bass, you may want to employ a specialty instrument moving team. Confer with your moving company in Austin regarding what they are able to manage or providers they're able to connect you with who focus on moving big musical instruments securely over short or long distances.

With regard to smaller personal musical instruments, these tips will help you keep your musical equipment secure and in fine shape throughout the move: 

• Loosen the strings of all stringed instruments like guitars, violins, cellos, and small harps. The humidity and temperature changes over a move or while in storage may cause strings to snap or possibly warp the wood of the instrument if the strings are very tight.
• Pack mouthpieces individually and consider carrying your mouthpieces along with you as opposed to packaging them in a carton.
• Pack instruments within their own fashioned in addition to padded cases whenever possible.
• If valuable, wrap instruments in bubble wrap, even inside their cases, to provide extra padding in addition to protection.
• In the event that there isn't a case wrap the instrument in several layers of bubble wrap and after that put in its own box with nothing more inside.
• Fill your box with newsprint, bubble wrap, or peanuts to prevent moving and bumping.
• Do not ever put two musical instruments in the same container just in case they hurt each other on the move.
• In the event that it's a possibility, consider moving instruments within your vehicle rather than in the moving truck. 

Art

No matter whether you have posters, painted canvas, or sculptures, packing up artwork could be challenging. There is a pretty good chance your artwork will certainly survive the move without customized moving services, but only if you pack it the right way and are mindful concerning where it's put in the moving truck. For extremely high-priced pieces, talk to your moving company in Austin concerning when you should research moving them in your car or shipping with an artwork transport service.

Even so, if you have just got a few delicate pieces of artwork to pack and take, here's how to keep them from turning into moving casualties:

Canvas & Posters 

• Decide if it's okay to roll up the artwork and keep in poster tubes. Upright, durable poster tubes will often be the soundest way to go.
• When stowing flat, think about leaving inside picture frames which are already packed properly to decrease bumps.
• If keeping flat, make use of a thin flat box near the size of your artwork
• Set your canvas or poster between pieces of cardboard to ensure they are each flat and secured
• Contemplate plastic wrap, wax paper or perhaps a fast spray of paint-sealant for unsealed paintings or sketches 

Sensitive or Strangely Shaped Statues 

• Like dishes, fill every crevice, cavity, and handle with fluffy packing material
• Like musical instruments, spot in a base of packaging material and encompass with more packing materials to protect from bumps or compression
• Metal in addition to wood may be located in the same box
• Normally, do not put a couple glass or fragile sculptures within the same container

 Exercise Gear

Lastly, we come to the strongest but maybe most challenging packing undertaking of all: your workout machines. Weights, weight benches, stationary bicycles, and specialty workout equipment are frequently an enormous obstacle to move. The weighted and structural parts can be quite weighty while the apparatus itself might be complex and/or clumsy to move. In fact, significant workout machines are often the reason for moving casualties.

Sporting equipment, on the other hand, could be very delicate. Rackets and skis, snowboards and also surfboards, and other carefully wrought sporting equipment might take severe harm from the wrong kind of jostling during a move. These are definitely things you shouldn't quickly toss in a carton and go.

Here's how to move your home gymnasium and sporting gear properly with no breaks, losses, or too-heavy boxes:

Weights 

• Put 1 or 2 per carton
• Cushion securely and pack into small now-heavy cartons
• Search for or build cartons smaller than a book container
• Package disc weights in workable stacks
• Wrap in moving pads and secure with shrink wrap
• Don't load up some weights weightier than it is possible to carry
• Lift up with your legs 

Training Equipment 

• Maintain and prepare the set up guidelines
• Take down everything you will be able to and load up in bundles of bars and bench pieces
• Tag each and every piece and screw as you take apart and stow in tagged bags with the exercise gear parts
• Snap pictures prior to when you take down to assist with reassembly 

Sporting Equipment (Rackets, Skis, etc.) 

• Keep rackets in their cases with an added layer of cushioning. Do not allow to bend.
• Bubble-wrap skis and boards then pack in cases or vertical boxes.
• Think about added cardboard or struts to maintain boxes impact-resistant and inflexible
• A professional mover can supply containers, should you need them
• Pack sets of equipment together in the identical container.

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Relocating to a new house in Austin does not have to include the typical moving casualties including furniture scratches or shattered china. If you happen to be relocating large everyday things or unique delicate possessions, these suggestions will assist you to have a tragedy-free move with each and every one of your beloved items making it safely to your new home. If you need additional practical moving suggestions from a professional moving company who has seen it all or you might be concerned about moving special belongings in your home, call us today!