Wooden furniture is a welcome addition to any home. Comfortable, attractive, and functional, it has a timeless charm that can last for years if properly cared for. But while looking after furniture is simple when it’s in your house, a moving truck is another matter.
Without the right precautions, your furnishings can easily be damaged by impacts, moisture, and temperature fluctuations. To help keep your belongings safe, in this blog we’ll explain how to protect wooden furniture during a move, including how to wrap it up and keep it from shifting in the back of the truck.
Wooden furniture is durable under the right conditions, but under the wrong ones it can easily become cracked, warped, scuffed, or swollen. Dry air, excessive moisture, and changing temperatures can permanently damage wooden items, while even relatively small scrapes can dent or scratch the finish.
What’s more, furniture legs and joints are stress points that can break unless adequately supported inside vehicles. Antique furniture often has delicate carvings, which increases the risk of damage if it starts to drift or sway during transport. Solid wooden furniture is surprisingly vulnerable as well. Due to its weight, it can easily become dented or chipped if it’s dropped or collides with another object.
Transporting wooden furniture requires a strategic approach, as well as a few basic tools and moving supplies. If you’re working with a full-service moving company, they’ll be the ones responsible for packing and protecting your furniture during transport. They’ll bring their own materials and can even help disassemble and reassemble your furniture at your new home.
However, if a full-service move isn’t in your budget or you simply prefer the DIY approach, the best advice is to start early. Last-minute packing often leads to mistakes that can leave your furniture exposed and vulnerable. To minimize risk, we recommend:
Dust and dirt may seem harmless but can cause real damage when sandwiched between furniture and packing materials. To prevent scratches and abrasions, wipe the surface of your furniture with a soft, dry cloth. For stubborn dirt or grime, apply some mild wood cleaner. Once you’re done, dab any excess moisture and let the wood dry completely before packing.
Taking apart your furnishings not only makes them easier to carry, but reduces stress on joints, hardware, and support structures. While some furniture is constructed as a single piece and cannot be disassembled, most tables, chairs, bed frames, cabinets, and bookcases can be broken down to their constituent parts with a few simple tools. In most cases, all you’ll need is a:
A rubber mallet and pry bar may be useful as well, to help loosen stubborn panels, dowels and joints. To preserve the finish, place a towel or piece of cardboard against the surface of your furniture before attempting to separate tight components.
Nuts, bolts, screws, and other hardware should be placed in a resealable plastic bag and clearly labeled, so you know which item it belongs to. To avoid confusion, never mix hardware. When you’re done, place the bags in a box so they won’t get lost.
To prevent overloading, you may want to split your hardware between several smaller boxes. Label each one and place them on your moving truck or in your personal vehicle for transport.
Most of the supplies you need to protect your furnishings are available at your local hardware store. Homeowners are often surprised at how quickly they go through packing materials, so buy more than you think you’ll need. They’re unlikely to go to waste.
Because it reacts strongly to humidity, temperature, and impacts, wooden furniture requires several layers of padding and moisture protection to keep it safe. While the requirements for each item differ slightly, for most pieces you’ll need:
Even if you’re doing your own packing, consider reaching out to your moving company for supplies, especially if you’re running short on time. They can provide everything you need, including specialized boxes and packing materials, delivered right to your front door.
When used properly, your packing materials should cushion your belongings and shield them from the elements, including rain, wind, snow, and humidity. The best strategy is to:
Holding blankets in place while applying plastic wrap is difficult, which is why wrapping furniture is normally a two-person job. To make sure everything is protected for the journey, ask your friends and family for help. Even if they can only assist you for a couple of hours, a few extra hands are the best way to ensure everything is packed correctly.
Safe carrying techniques protect you, your home, and your furniture. The best way to avoid accidents is to:
Start with your biggest pieces first, to create a solid base for lighter boxes and objects. Try to place your heaviest items near the front of the truck, where they’re less likely to shift in transit. Place them along the side of the vehicle and secure them with ratchet straps, using sideboard and D-rings as anchor points.
To avoid putting too much pressure on your furniture, place foam or cardboard squares underneath the straps wherever they make contact with an edge. Similarly, put foam pads between furniture that’s close together, to prevent them from bumping into each other during the journey. If you’re running out of foam, blankets, comforters and bath towels work as well.
Your move isn’t complete until your furnishings are unpacked and reassembled. Because you’ll likely have to move lighter and smaller items inside before you can get to larger ones, make sure the rest of your belongings are placed safely out of the way, so you won’t trip over them while carrying your heavy items.
Once you’ve gotten everything off the truck and into the correct room, remove the layers one at a time, checking for damage as you go. Keep in mind that some problems, like cracked joints and loose connections, may not be visible until examined closely. If you find anything wrong, make a note and take pictures so you can file a claim with your insurance carrier or moving company.
After the packing material is off, reassemble your furniture and apply some high-quality wood polish or furniture oil to restore lost moisture, especially if it traveled through a particularly dry area along the way to your home. Moving trucks are not typically well insulated, so even though moving blankets and plastic wrap help control moisture levels, wood often dries out a little over long trips.
If you’re moving between regions with drastically different climates, it may be a good idea to let your furniture sit for 24-48 hours before placing anything heavy on top of it, to let it adjust to your new temperature and humidity levels.
When moving wooden furniture, impacts and the environment are the two most important considerations. While no system is foolproof, careful preparation helps you minimize risks and preserve your furnishings during transport. So don’t rush. Take your time when packing each piece, so you can make sure all of your belongings arrive safely at your new home.
No matter what you’re moving, count on Allied to get it there safely. We’ve been managing long-distance and international relocations for nearly 100 years, giving our crews the skills and experience needed to prepare, load, ship, and reassemble your furniture and other belongings. Using high-quality materials and special packing techniques, we take care of your possessions from start to finish, leaving you free to focus on settling into your new home. Contact us today for a free quote!
