Everyone loves moving house! OK, that’s a lie. Moving is one of life’s more annoying experiences and there’s very little you can do to make it easier, apart from burning all your stuff and buying new furniture every time your relocate. Seeing as that’s both impractical and dangerous, hiring a removalist is the best option, unless you have a bunch of willing friends and don’t mind renting a truck for a day. Then comes the hard part: what’s the most best, safest and most efficient way to pack your belongings?
Photos by nickthegreekthemover.
You’ll find no better advice than from someone who moves furniture for a living — cue the expert source in Reddit user “nickthegreekthemover”, who’s been in the business for 14 years.
Yesterday he posted an album with notations explaining the order you should pack items and how:
When you are loading a truck you need to build what are called tiers. These people didnt have much square, strong furniture (called base) but that should be your first target. Luckily for us, frog boxes stack nicely and are tough. This is a completed tier.
Another thing you can use to tie back, headboards. Notice how I’m not struggling with loads of useless odd items as my pack is winding down. Again, thats the biggest mistake people will make. A pile of crap at the end. Top right is a settee, top left a glider chair.
Turns out packing a moving truck is an art form… though perhaps not the most relaxing one.
Getting movers? Why? This is how I load my work truck, and how you can do it yourself [Reddit]
Comments
5 responses to “Professional Removalist Explains In Photos The Best Way To Pack Furniture”
I’ve moved continents several times. If I leave it to professional packers then they inflate the amount of space necessary so that they can charge you more, and they rarely do a decent job of protecting my gear. If I pack myself, then much less space is taken and nothing is scratched or broken.
True packing it yourself is good for cost in space, but remember to look at both the insurance policy and small print of your removalists. Check your home and contents insurance as well, your items may not be covered by damage caused during moving.
Generally the items I’ve had damaged by removalists are things I can’t easily fix or replace, period furniture for example. I’d rather they weren’t broken in the first place than have the paper-chase associated with compensation. The most likely things that can happen outside this are that the entire container is damaged or lost (each of which has happened to friends and colleagues), in which case who packed what is immaterial.
Goodness. I would’ve thought moving overseas, it’d just be easier to sell your furniture and buy furniture when you arrive.
For some items yes, but the cost of replacing many items can be a lot more than the marginal cost of adding them to a container.
“Removalist”? That’s a new one on me, and I’ve been in the profession for a while. I guess I’m just used the old days when we were “moving men” or “movers”. Sure we are involved in removals but it just seems like such a fancy term. Nevertheless these are good and helpful tips for preparing to move your house or office, just don’t forget to get some movers to help you with your moving!