Moving Heavy Furniture

Hire Professional Movers for Lifting Heaving Furniture

It’s difficult and can be dangerous to move your heavy furniture by yourself. So, how do you move your heavy furniture if you are doing the lifting yourself?

• Planning
• Care
• Finesse
• Correct Equipment

Still, do a thorough assessment first of the types of heavy furniture you want to move. Some items are best left to the pros. You can hire professional movers to assist with just one item if necessary. What types of items should be handled by professional movers?

• 800-pound safes
• Grand pianos
• Jacuzzis
• Expensive large appliances
• And many more…

Plan and sketch the move in advance. Begin by measuring the largest pieces of furniture and the rooms in your current home. This is vital information to plan on getting the furniture out and into your new home.

On the day of the move, you can show the plan to the crew, whether it’s your friends or professionals. Have extra copies to tape to the walls for reference. This helps ensure that your furniture is in the right placement the first time around.

When moving the bigger items into your new home, stack boxes in the driveway if weather permits until the heavy furniture is in place. This makes it easier and safer for the mover to navigate while carrying the big items.

Some Disassembly Required

Should you or shouldn’t you disassemble? Take into account the benefits of taking time to disassemble:

• Lessen the likelihood of damaging your home and furniture
• Reduce the risk of injury
• Minimize overall move time

Typically, it’s best to disassemble beds, dresser mirrors, tables, home gyms, and entertainment centers. But, you should also consider removing refrigerator doors, sofa legs, and hardware from cabinets, chests of drawers, and wardrobes.
Protect Furniture with Blankets, Plastic Wrap, or Both

Reduce the risk of damage by wrapping your heavy items with moving blankets and shrink wrap before loading them onto the truck. At the same time, take into account that you will need to get a good grip when moving them. This is where shrink wrap helps tremendously by giving it a snug fit and a tackier surface to grip.

Use shrink wrap with upholstered furniture. However, avoid shrink wrapping wood furniture as shrink-wrap may damage the surface.

Slide Rather than Carrying Heavy Furniture

Furniture sliders are very handy and come in a wide array of sizes and shapes to fit most needs. You can keep them to help change furniture placement later on.

What About Awkward Shapes?

Follow three easy steps:

• Carry easy chairs and recliners on their sides, with one person at either end
• The person carrying the back should go through the door or around the corner first
• Once through, he (or she) turns or ‘hooks’ to one side, after which the larger bottom portion will follow naturally with plenty of room to spare

When moving recliners with spring-loaded footrests, it may be best to remove the top. It’s often as easy as finding the mounting brackets on the frame and removing a few screws. Then, the top will usually slide right out. Remember to secure the footrest with mover’s bands or twine before moving it.

Moving Sofas and Couches

Sofas and couches fit down most hallways and stairways relatively easily, but getting them through doorways and around corners can take a little finesse.

You can also try standing them on their ends.

• Fold a moving pad into a large square and place it on the floor in front of the door or corner you’re trying to navigate.
• With a partner, stand the couch on its end so it’s resting on the pad.
• Next, position one person on either side.
• Last, one person pulls the pad while the other pushes gently from the other side, twisting the back slightly through the opening like with the aforementioned easy chair example.
• If the sofa is taller than the door frame, try inclining it slightly. You may gain just enough clearance to get it through.

Use the Right Equipment

Appliance Dollies – Although they’re similar to box dollies, appliance or furniture dollies are stronger, have smaller wheels, and include ratchet straps that secure appliances when they’re being moved. They’re also great for filing cabinets, wardrobes, and triple dressers, just pad them carefully beforehand to avoid scratches and gouges.

4-Wheel Dollies – 4-wheel dollies are best used for things like hot tubs and safes, as well as other heavy items too big for appliance dollies. They’re commonly used for moving pianos too, but unless you’re a professional mover with gobs of experience, this can be dangerous. They need relatively hard and flat surfaces to roll properly, so for outdoor use, you’ll have to use thick sheets of plywood if the ground is soft or wet.

Before you commit to moving your heavy and awkward items yourself, let Alliance Relocation Services give you an estimate. We can customize a quote to meet your individual needs. Then, you can compare whether it’s worth it to risk your expensive furniture and your back by moving it yourself or let us help you.