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

By Julie DeLong, A-1 Freeman Moving Group 

Being a professional moving company in Little Rock, we pack lots of vulnerable items for our clients in order to make certain they reach the destination undamaged. And so, today, we're here to discuss ways to avoid the most common moving casualties when you're packing yourself and ways to safeguard your most difficult-to-move pieces.

Delicate Glassware, Fine China, & Antiques

There is a valid reason that professional movers use so many specialty packing supplies for moving your dishes. Glasses and ceramic plates are hard enough to transport without breaking them, much less fine china in addition to fragile collectors items. Many people discover at least one crack or smashed glass piece in a move with dozens of fragile items in boxes.

You need to be extra careful packing, filling, separating, and padding your most delicate belongings. 

• Use cardboard dishware partitions
• Pack plates vertical, this approach decreases the chance of breaking
• Fill each and every hollow space using paper, bubble wrap, or packing peanuts
• Do not allow glass to touch other glass
• Never pack too tightly, or pressure/bumps may cause shattering
• Pad extra room and also the outside of each and every carton with fluffy packing material

Mirrors & Pictures

Substantial panes of glass are particularly tricky to pack since they have a great chance of getting damaged or smashed in the move. This indicates mirrors and glass-covered picture frames must be packed with special care. What's important would be to protect the glass area and decrease the possibility of an impact with the glass. 

• Stack framed artwork together in a box with cardboard partitions in between
• Attach a blanket or cloth covering the whole surface of the glass
• Apply a substantial sheet of cardboard over every glass surface to lessen impacts
• Keep vertical, like the plates
• Do not allow packed glass to lay flat

 Wood Home furniture

Wood household furniture is a typical moving casualty, however not the whole furniture item itself. Instead, wood tends to endure chafes, scuffs, and problems with the finish when being disassembled or carted via limited corners and doorways of the house. It is quite usual for once-pristine wood pieces of furniture to reach the new house needing refinishing or repairs. Here is how to prevent damage to your household furniture (and also walls) along the way: 

• Remove hardware such as handles and feet to help make the pieces of furniture more rectangle-shaped and even.
• Store all removed pieces together inside a clearly marked bag or box.
• Smaller groups of taken off hardware could be kept in a drawer of the pieces of furniture it came from
• Stow multiple groups of removed components in the same carton for easy reconstruction
• Tape All drawers and also cabinets shut
• Use paper tape or masking tape that does not ruin paint, stain, or finish
• Take sizeable home furniture apart when you can.
• Wrap each piece separately and load up into one box or bundle.
• Clearly label anything you disassemble, including the place that the pieces need to be reconnected later. Colored tape may help.
• Wrap all things in furniture pads or blankets to reduce the possibility of scuffs
• Ask for guidance or hire professional movers to safely move large or heavy furniture 

Musical Instruments

If you have any musical instruments, you understand that a move often means real risk for these finely tuned and fragile items. From grand pianos to flutes and all things in between, musical instruments are usually breakable and need to be treated with the maximum attention.

For big musical instruments like pianos, harps, and acoustic bass, you might need to work with a professional instrument moving team. Confer with your moving company in Little Rock about what they could undertake or companies they're able to hook you up with who specialize in moving big instruments safely over short or long distances.

For more compact personal instruments, these procedures will allow you to keep your musical equipment protected and in good condition during the move: 

• Loosen the strings of stringed instruments including guitars, violins, cellos, and small harps. The humidity and temperature alterations throughout a move or when in storage may cause strings to snap or sometimes warp the wood of your musical instrument when the strings are extremely snug.
• Pack mouthpieces separately and think about transporting your mouthpieces together with you rather than packing them in a box.
• Stow musical instruments in their own fashioned in addition to padded cases if possible.
• If realistic, wrap musical instruments in bubble wrap, even within their cases, to provide extra padding and also protection.
• If you don't have a case wrap the musical instrument in several layers of bubble wrap and then package in its own carton with nothing more inside.
• Pad the box with newsprint, bubble wrap, or peanuts to circumvent moving and bumping.
• Do not ever put 2 instruments within the same container just in case they hurt the other on the move.
• If perhaps it is a possibility, contemplate moving instruments in your car or truck rather than in the moving truck. 

Art

No matter whether you have posters, painted canvas, or sculptures, packing up fine art is often challenging. There is a pretty good possibility your artwork may survive the move without customized moving services, but only if you prepare it the proper way and are careful concerning where it will be placed in the moving truck. For extremely high-priced items, talk with your moving company in Little Rock about whether you should consider moving them within your car or truck or shipping with an artwork transportation service.

Even so, should you have only got a few vulnerable pieces of artwork to pack and take with you, here's how to keep them from turning into moving casualties:

Canvas & Posters 

• Determine if it's acceptable to roll up the artwork and stow in poster tubes. Vertical, durable poster tubes are frequently the safest strategy to use.
• When stowing flat, think about keeping within picture frames which are already packed meticulously to lessen bumps.
• If stowing flat, make use of a thin flat box near the size of your artwork
• Set the canvas or poster in between pieces of cardboard to ensure they are both flat and secure
• Contemplate plastic wrap, wax paper or even a rapid spray of paint-sealant for unsealed paintings or perhaps drawings 

Fragile or Unusually Shaped Sculptures 

• Like dishes, fill every crevice, cavity, and handle with fluffy packing material
• Similar to musical instruments, place in a cargo box of packing material and surround with more packing material to shield through bumps or compression
• Metal as well as wood could be placed in the same carton
• In general, do not load up a couple glass or breakable sculptures within the same box

 Workout Machines

Lastly, we arrive at the sturdiest but maybe most difficult packing job of all: your exercise equipment. Dumbbells, weight benches, stationary bicycles, and special workout gear tend to be a huge obstacle to move. The weighted and structural parts can be quite hefty while the apparatus by itself may be challenging and/or clumsy to move. The truth is, significant work out devices are often the cause of moving casualties.

Sporting gear, however, can be quite sensitive. Rackets and skis, snowboards and surfboards, along with other carefully wrought sporting gear could take considerable harm from the wrong kind of jostling during a move. These are things you don't want to merely throw in a carton and head out.

Here's how to move your home gym and sporting gear safely without any breaks, losses, or too-heavy containers:

Weights 

• Load up one or two per container
• Pad snugly and pack into small now-heavy cartons
• Hunt for or construct boxes smaller than a book container
• Stow disc weights in acceptable stacks
• Wrap in furniture pads and secure with shrink wrap
• Don't package several weights weightier than you can carry
• Lift up utilizing your legs 

Training Gear 

• Preserve and pack the set up guidelines
• Disassemble whatever you can and stow in bundles of bars and bench portions
• Mark each piece and also screw while you take apart and stow in tagged bags together with the exercise gear pieces
• Snap photos prior to when you take apart to assist with reassembly 

Sporting Equipment (Rackets, Surfboard, etc.) 

• Stow rackets within their cases with an additional layer of cushioning. Do not allow to flex.
• Bubble-wrap skis and surfboards and then put within cases or vertical boxes.
• Contemplate extra cardboard or struts to maintain cartons impact-resistant and rigid
• A professional mover can provide boxes, should you need them
• Pack groups of equipment collectively in the same box.

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Moving to a new home in Little Rock doesn't have to include the typical moving casualties including furniture scratches or shattered plates. No matter if you're packing big everyday things or exclusive fragile items, these tips will assist you to have a tragedy-free move with every one of your treasured things making it safely to your new home. If you need more practical moving suggestions from a professional moving company who has seen it all or you're wary of packing unique belongings in your home, give us a call today!