If you’re worried about breaking your precious antique furniture when you move, you’re on the right track. You are already careful and know that this is a more delicate process than moving other items and appliances around the house. Even so, that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. The following suggestions will give you a good idea of how to move old furniture and how to think about it.
Clear a path
No matter how big, heavy, or small your antique furniture is, you should always clear a path to move it safely. Clear the path you’ll use to move the antique furniture of any fixtures or other furniture. Plan a different route if there are low-hanging lights that you can’t move. Roll up carpets so you don’t trip or get caught on them.
When moving antique furniture, take your time.
Antique furniture can be valuable. It can also be easy to break. So, when you move it, you should be more careful and patient. Move slowly to avoid prevent hitting wall corners, furniture edges, stairways, doors, or even the truck ramp or walls. If you can, have someone watch out for obstacles and tell you if the old piece of furniture is about to fall.
If you don’t hire professional movers, make sure you have enough people to help you move. The furniture will be safer if it is easy to move.
Carefully select your clothes and equipment
Your furniture should be safe once it’s been wrapped and packed. But you should be careful about what you wear while doing these things.
For instance, you might want to remove off your watch, jewellery, and other clothes and accessories that could touch your antique furniture. If you don’t, you could damage your valuable items by scratching or chipping them.
Lift, don’t drag
As a general rule, when lifting furniture, keep one hand under it. But because of its size or shape, that might not be possible. Still, you should keep a firm hold on the object’s base as you move it. Also, don’t drag. Instead, lift. Even dragging something across a carpet can hurt it. On top of that, it can hurt your floor or carpet. Keep in mind that old things can be fragile. When you drag something, it causes vibrations that can loosen parts, damage joints, break furniture legs, etc. Even if you wrap the furniture well in protective materials or moving blankets and drag it, it’s not the best way to move it.
Carefully safeguard your antique furniture findings
Even before loading the furniture onto the moving truck, it must be secured. Attach it to a dolly or a cart for optimal mobility stability. If you lack straps, use more wrapping cloth to secure the furniture.
Consider hiring movers
Even though you usually do most of the prep work, wrapping, and packing yourself, you should let professionals move your furniture to a new place. The trucks and trailers that movers use are big enough to fit large pieces of furniture.
They will also have special tools to lift, load, and unload the furniture safely at the pickup and delivery points. Also, movers know how to store antique furniture, no matter how heavy or big it is, so that it is as safe and stable as possible while driving. They can even use extra straps to keep the furniture in place during the ride and reduce how much the road shakes.
Only use insured movers to transport antique furniture
Every legitimate moving company and shipper must have insurance. But each moving company may offer a different amount or type of coverage. Some only pay for the bare minimum of coverage, while others pay for more.
Since you’re moving fragile and possibly valuable antique furniture, you should find a removal company with enough insurance and liability coverage to pay you back if something breaks or gets lost.
Keep it from getting too wet or too cold
If you have to move antique furniture over a long distance, it could take a few days or even a few weeks. But an environment that changes all the time, especially for a long time, can hurt your old furniture. This is especially important for things made of wood.
Find out how to keep the furniture in the best shape, what temperatures it can handle, and the best way to pack and wrap it. You can even choose a different day and time to move the furniture when the weather is good.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
When moving old furniture, you don’t have to hurry. Even if it’s not very old, it’s hard to keep it in good shape and make it last longer.
Slow down, be careful, and don’t take on more than you can handle. It’s not a bad thing to ask for help. In fact, it’s a really good idea. Now that you know how to move antique furniture, go to an upcoming antiques fair in your area to find thousands of unique, decorative, and high-quality antique pieces.
