It is a sad fact that during some house moves items get broken, and this is especially true when the people moving try to do it all themselves rather than getting professional removalists to help them. More tragically is that the items which get broken can often be those which have a huge sentimental value, or a large monetary value.
Whilst not much can replace the sentimental value of a broken item, at least if a valuable item is broken by removalists they will have insurance that can reimburse the client for the value of the broken item.
In fact, this scenario is very rare as professional removalists have huge experience in how to pack delicate and fragile items so that even in the unlikely event that they drop a box, the items inside will be properly wrapped and sufficiently protected to prevent damage or breakages.
Whilst we are not able to turn you into an expert removalist, like Interstate Removals, by you simply reading this, what we can do is give you some inside tips as to how you can protect your valuables and fragile items during a house move with a view to preventing any of them being broken or damaged, so here you go…
Furniture
Most furniture is likely going to be too large to pack in boxes, which is why some people are surprised when we include it in an article about fragile items. The reason is that furniture is as likely to be damaged as a delicate piece of china, and therefore needs to be treated very carefully. You can use this time to discover what pieces of furniture need replacing or a good clean from places like couch cleaning perth.
Where you can, disassemble or dismantle items of furniture, such as removing the legs from tables. If you can, use bubble wrap or old blankets around items that could be scratch, although be careful using tape in case it sticks to the surface and removes the lacquered surface.
Artwork
Any rare, valuable, or treasured pieces of artwork will obviously be a concern with regards to damage, especially with respect to the canvas being torn or punctured. For a start, you should have it insured, so that its value is protected if it gets damaged.
In terms of transit, rather than using cardboard boxes, it might be prudent to seek out special carriers for items the size and shape of artwork, and which also have hard sides to provide extra protection.
Glassware
If you were placing a bet on which type of fragile items are the most likely to be broken during a house move, you would find that the shortest odds would be on glassware. The big mistake people make is they store glasses together in boxes without individually wrapping them.
What happens then is when the box is moved and in transit, the glasses inside the box are banging against each other, and thus highly likely to cause cracks and breakages. It follows that we recommend that you wrap every glass, and even if that is a long and tedious process, it is less of a problem than opening a box and finding half your glasses are smashed.
Pottery And Ceramics
We recommend a similar approach as to protecting glassware, so wrapping each item individually, but there is a caveat. As pottery and ceramics tend to have a higher value than glassware, especially some individual pieces, you should make any wrapping around these extra thick, and within each box add additional packing between items and around the sides, such as foam and old sheets.