Tips When Moving Very Heavy Furniture

Moving soon?

When it comes time to pick up and transport those heavy pieces of furniture (couch, dining room hutch, grandfather clock, etc.), use these professional tips from Ten Mini Storage to ensure they (and you) get though unscathed.

1. Use the “high-low” method

Anything tall is hard for one person to safely and properly lift. We’re talking about things like:

Dressers
Filing cabinets
Shelving units

Grab a friend and tilt the item on an angle (not horizontally) so that one person is carrying the top and the other holds the bottom.

By doing this, you:

Centralize the weight and prevent the object from swinging or slipping side-to-side
Match the slope of stairs which makes up-or-down transport a lot easier

You can also cover the item in thick plastic wrap or other moving supply film to prevent doors from opening or shelves from sliding out.

2. Stand your couch on its end

Getting a big couch through a narrow hallway or small door before bringing it to your self-storage unit is annoying, to say the least.

The trick is to get the couch on its end first.

Once you do, you should take the feet off (if that’s possible).

Having the couch standing on its end makes it easier to slide along the floor (there’s less surface area on the end of a couch than there is on its back or side; hence, less friction too).

Secondly, when it comes time to get it out the door, you can “hook” the couch through the opening (lower side goes in first and higher side second).

And with the feet removed, there’s less chance of it getting stuck or scratching the door frame.

3. Use blankets and other moving supplies

Those thick protective blankets available at most storage unit rental facilities are much bigger and more effective than old cloths, sheets or towels.

They’re specifically designed to:

Not rip or tear on furniture corners and edges
Not scratch, scuff or mark delicate finishes
Wrap entirely around large furniture pieces (as opposed to say, 5 or 6 bath towels)

Something else you should use is a moving dolly.

It’s a lot easier and safer to wheel a cabinet (some dollies have straps attached so the item stays in place) out of a moving truck and into a storage space.

4. Empty shelves and remove drawers first

As tempting as it is to pick up a full bookcase or night table and haul it around, you may actually cause more problems in the long run.

You could:

Injure yourself
Damage the contents inside
Accidentally lose or drop the drawers or shelves

Plus, it’s a lot easier and lighter to move an empty furniture piece than it is a full one.

So make sure to grab some boxes, fill them with the contents of each item and label them appropriately.

That way, when you’re all settled into your new home, you’ll know exactly where everything goes.

5. Get friends to help

Some things you can pack and move yourself.

Other things are just too big, heavy and awkward.

Ask friends to help (remember, free pizza and beer is always a good incentive) you move.

You can also stagger things, so that 2 friends help you on Saturday and 2 different friends help you Sunday.

This way, you won’t burn out your friends and it’ll keep things fresh.

Finally, don’t forget to return the favour.

Need a place to store your furniture?

After you’ve packed your heavy furniture, you need a place to keep it.

And if your new place isn’t quite ready, storage rentals from Ten Storage will keep your belongings safe and secure for as long as you need to.

That’s because they’re:

Clean
Dry
Monitored 24/7
Only accessible by you

You worked hard to move your stuff. Let us handle protecting it for you.