Are you looking to move antique furniture to a new home? You’ll need to do a little extra planning and preparation to ensure your important possessions are well protected throughout the process.
Here are our top tips to ensure your antiques arrive at their new home in as good a condition as ever.
Pack Your Antique Furniture For Protection
Firstly, be sure to remove any loose items from drawers and carefully wrap and pack small bits and pieces in boxes. Use plenty of packing supplies such as packing peanuts, paper or air-filled plastic wrap to both protect your items and ensure there is no space for them to move around inside the boxes.
To protect large furniture items, wrap them carefully with packing paper or blankets, held in place with plastic wrap. Don’t wrap plastic directly onto the wood, as it may trap moisture or lift your item’s delicate surface. The same goes for packing tape – never apply it to a surface directly, as this may cause damage.
Wherever possible, use boxes or wooden crates to provide a protective shell. Choose a container that fits well with minimal space to move around and pack any spare space well. Speciality boxes are available for items such as mirrors and artworks.
Don’t forget, you can leave the packing to your removalist – a good quality removalist will have the right packaging materials and experience to ensure your antiques are prepared correctly.
Inside the moving van or vehicle, cover your furniture with blankets to asorb shocks, and ensure they are securely strapped or wedged in to minimise sliding around.
Pinder Tower Movers provide all necessary boxes and packaging materials for moves in Melbourne, Australia.
Move Your Items With Care
Wherever possible, utilise a trolley when moving. If items need to be lifted, ensure you have adequate manpower so that nothing needs to be dragged. Before you start, discuss exactly how you are going to manoeuvre items through doorways and into place, so you are not bumping against walls or other obstacles.
You’ll also want to pre-plan where your items are going in their new venue, so that they are not moved more than once.
To that end, make sure you have clearly marked your packed-up antiques and artwork so that it’s easy to tell what they are once they’re all wrapped, and to know which room they need to go into. If you are using removalists, be sure to let them know of any particularly delicate or damaged areas on your items.
Check Your Insurance
Before you move antique furniture, make sure it is adequately insured. Check the current valuation in your home insurance policy. It may be a good time to have your goods professionally appraised and their value updated. Also check that the policy covers your contents while in transit and in the new house.
If you are using professional removalists, go over the removalist’s own insurance policy and make sure you understand what is covered and to what value.
You may also like to take photos showing the condition of your antiques before moving, so if any damage does occur during transit, it can be easily identified.
Pinder Tower Movers offers a specialised antique and art removals service across Melbourne, Australia, taking meticulous care of your possessions as they move locally or interstate.