Transporting furniture is one of the more labor-intensive aspects of relocating. But if you’re not careful, you could damage your items and reduce their attractiveness, functionality, or value. Whether you’re moving your furniture straight into your new home or into a temporary storage unit, you’ll need to take precautions to ensure nothing gets damaged. Here are a few tips to get you started on the right foot.

How to Protect Furniture While Moving

1. Gather Materials

When you think of moving or putting items in a storage unit, you likely think about needing cardboard boxes and tape. While that may be sufficient for small objects, it won’t work for furniture like beds and sofas. To transport these pieces safely, you’ll need plastic stretch wrap, bubble wrap, covers for the couch and mattress, and corrugated cardboard sheets. 

2. Clean Furniture

It’s common for furniture to gather dust and dirt despite cleaning efforts. However, you don’t want to move into a new home or leave a mess in the storage unit. Before you pack up the pieces, dust and wipe them to ensure they’re clean.

3. Disassemble Items

Lifting and carrying heavy wood tables, chairs, and dressers can be cumbersome, so it’s best to disassemble pieces where possible. Empty all dressers, cabinets, and chests, and remove all legs from tables, chairs, and beds.

If the furniture has a glass component, like a tabletop, carefully remove that as well. Correctly taking apart the furniture will take time, but you can ensure that each item is thoroughly wrapped, protected, and ready to be loaded onto the truck.

4. Wrap Furniture

The individual furniture parts should be carefully wrapped in packing materials and placed in boxes. Once a box is full, clearly label the outside so that you or the movers will know what the box contains.

Cover wooden furniture with moving blankets and place a corrugated cardboard sheet between pieces to prevent scratches. Glass doors and tabletops should be wrapped in packing paper or bubble wrap. You can also use telescoping cardboard boxes or old blankets if you don’t have the other packing materials to protect them from scratching or shattering.

If you’re moving to a new residence and need a storage unit to keep your extra belongings, contact East “O” Street Self Storage. This Lincoln, NE, facility has a variety of self-storage units to accommodate everything from furniture to an RV or boat. Their outdoor and indoor units are protected 24/7 by security cameras to ensure the safety of your belongings. To learn more about their services, call (402) 489-0134 or visit them online today.