Packing is an important aspect of the moving process, if not the most important. Each item you pack will at a point be loading into the moving truck and transported to your new home.
There is a huge number of delicate items in each household, such as plates, cups, glasses, bowls, delicate paintings, and pictures, as well as sensitive electronic devices and fragile objects around the home, like mirrors, lamps, fish tanks, and jewelry.
Regardless of where your items are heading to, whether a warehouse or onto a moving truck, you will always be worried that something might go wrong.
You will need to find out how to pack breakable items for storage like a professional if you want your fragile items to be secure. Fortunately, you are in the right place to learn the logic.
In this post, Adams Van Lines reveals how to pack fragile items, such as glassware, lamps, and vases for long-distance move or storage, so they would safely make the move from your old house to your new residence.
Packing Materials for Breakables
Breakables need packing materials that give cushion while in transit and protect most delicate areas from breaking or cracking, such as picture frames or wine glasses.
Let the following items be with you before you pack your fragile items:
- Boxes
- Bubble wrap
- Dish and glass packers
- Markers
- Newspaper or packing paper
- Packing peanuts
- Plastic furniture covers
- Tape
- Towels or rags
It is so much helpful to make use of moving boxes that are divided already for particular sizes of certain products, like glassware or dishes.
These smaller compartments help restrict the movement of fragile items, thus lowering the chance of damage. Also, if you have the original box and/or packing features of the item, like Styrofoam sleeves specially made for electronics or any other pre-packaged items, make plans to repackage and move these items using their original packaging.
These materials are specially sized for a product and will give the highest level of protection.
Steps for Packing Fragile Items
1. Preparing an Inventory of the Items you are Packing
When you are packing breakables for a long-distance move, extra steps are needed. Aside from making a list of items you are moving with you, you need to make another list.
On the list, include every fragile item. These can be breakable items like pieces of furniture like lamps, expensive china, or anything that has glass. In this breakable category, paintings and antiques are also there.
Also, remember your electronic equipment, if you own one. That also requires the right packing as it might be difficult to repair if damaged while in transit.
For packing, gather as many moving boxes necessary for your move as possible.
Gather them in different sizes, as it is not efficient to have all the boxes in the same sizes. After you have your supplies available to go, try these steps to pack your breakables safely and securely.
Key-in to these quick tips:
- Safeguard the bottom of your moving box by using tape to hold all seams and corners.
- Create a cushion base using bubble wrap or packing peanuts to line the inside of the box.
- Wrap each item separately using bubble wrap, newspaper, packing paper, or towels. Add extra material around thin areas, like handles on mugs or stems on a wine glass. Use tape to secure it to make sure protective material remains in position.
- Place wrapped items in the moving box carefully, beginning with the heaviest on the base and the lightest at the top. If your boxes are pre-divided, keep items in their proper compartments.
- Fill up any space in the box using packing peanuts, paper, or towels to save fragile items from moving around. This includes adding an extra layer to the top before you seal the box.
2. Labeling is Everything
Labeling moving boxes is important to know the content. You can make use of labeling by noting down the room that this item is meant for.
The important reason why you should consider the labeling system is when you are packing delicate items for your interstate move. Who knows the number of hours or transportation waiting for you and your belongings?
If you want your long-distance movers to take care of your moving boxes during loading and transporting, you need to inform them of the content. But not just by word of mouth.
In your chosen way that will show clearly that there is a fragile or breakable item inside. If you are transporting electronic devices, make sure you also label them, because they will surely fall in the category of delicate items.
3. Packing Glasses for Moving
Avoid letting that happen to you, finding broken glasses when you begin to unpack after moving. Just try out some helpful tips for packing glassware for moving and you should also improve protection to your highly-fragile kitchen items on the road.
Below is the best way to pack glassware when moving to a new home:
- Sort your glassware items before wrapping them in bubble wrap and paper. There is absolutely no point in packing and transporting damaged or stained glasses, or ones that you don’t even like or used for a certain reason. Check each glass one by one and decide on what to do with it while on the spot.
- Lay the huge pile of wrapping paper onto your chosen packing site, possibly the kitchen table.
- Place kitchens glass every center of that paper pile, then pick two sheets from a corner and carefully tuck them in the glass piece. Repeat the same process with other corners until the delicate item is covered in ink-free packing paper.
- Make use of small pieces of packing tape to hold your newly-made paper bundle to avoid a case where the delicate item unwrap itself while being moved in the moving box.
- Protect expensive glasses (usually crystal types) or stemware pieces. Place a thick layer of bubble wrap on the whole stem of the glass, and then secure it using tape. To be on the safe side, wrap all the glass in another layer of bubble wrap that will cover the additional fragile item totally and will be on the first paper sheets.
- Transfer the covered glassware pieces into a formerly padded and pre-reinforced dish pack. If you don’t have any specially designed cardboard boxes that you have padded already, using whether pieces of bubble wrap or crumpled paper.
- Increase the safety of the kitchen glasses by facing their openings downward. Also, place the glassware next to the other in a close formation.
- Place paper pieces between any free spaces in the moving box after you’ve filled it with glassware. Everything should be sturdy and firm in the box all through the move to prevent breakage.
- Close and label the box properly. Inscribe ‘handle with care’ and ‘fragile’ as warnings in red markers to let the person handling those boxes know to be more careful.
How to Pack Plates for Your Move
Below is the best way to pack your plates for moving so that even if the move involves a long distance, your fragile kitchen items will survive the residential move in one piece:
- Purchase dish packs, if possible. Dish packs (known as dish barrels) are thicker-walled cardboard boxes that are specifically designed to offer much protection for your delicate kitchen plates.
- Reinforce the outside of the moving boxes towards the seams, sides, and bottoms using tape. Also, pad the interior of each box using crumpled packing paper to make enough insulation layers on the base.
- Place the whole stack of wrapping paper on the table in your kitchen. If for some reason the table is busy, then you can use your floor as your packing station.
- Carefully inspect all your plates and set the damaged, worn-out and never to be used ones, and the ones you no longer like. Those will be in the category of kitchen items that you don’t have to pack and move to the kitchen of your new home.
- Place a china plate on the middle of the stack and pull two paper sheets on it. Do this in a diagonal means from one edge to the next until the whole delicate piece is covered using soft paper. Make use of pieces to hold the paper bundle.
- Add one more layer of bubble wrap for your costly or valuable kitchen plates to make sure they are safe by wrapping the plastic wrap around the paper stack and tape it in position.
- Pack many kitchen plates together to save you time as well as space. In that situation, make sure you apply for paper plates between the delicate flatware pieces to protect them from contacting each other.
- Load every packed kitchen plates into the dish pack, individually, and sort them standing in their edges, and not flat. Always load the heavier kitchen items into the packing box first, and then the lighter ones can follow.
- Use pieces of newspaper to fill any blank spaces in the dish pack to ensure no item is moving inside the box while in transit. This step is so much important as regards safety.
- Cover the lid of the moving box and tape it shut to complete the process of packing plates for moving. There is only one step to completion.
- Use a black marker pen to label the dish pack. Indicate ‘kitchen plates’ and ‘fragile’ on each of each box.
Conclusion
Maybe hiring professionals will be the best tip in your situation if you are performing a long-distance or international move.
On a moving day, show the packed moving boxes that contain breakables to your movers.
But if you are still not convinced of your packing skill, request help.
Adams Van Lines gives our clients specialized packing services for their breakables and material like dish packs and picture frame/mirror packs. As your moving company, we have all the time, so why not trust a service like that!
