Moving Casualties in Oklahoma City: How to Protect Your Most Difficult-to-Move Items

By Julie DeLong, A-1 Freeman Moving Group 

As a professional moving company in Oklahoma City, we pack a lot of sensitive pieces for our clients in order to make certain they reach the destination undamaged. So, today, we're here to discuss ways to avoid the most frequent moving casualties if you are packing yourself and how to protect your most difficult-to-move pieces.

Vulnerable Glassware, Fine China, & Antiques

There is a good reason that professional movers have a great number of specialized packing supplies for packing your dishes. Glasses and ceramic dishes are difficult enough to safely move without damaging them, much less fine china and also sensitive antiques. Many families discover at least one crack or destroyed glass item in a move with numerous delicate things in boxes.

You will want to be extra careful packing, filling, separating, and cushioning your most vulnerable pieces. 

• Make use of cardboard dishware dividers
• Pack plates upright, this method decreases the potential for breaking
• Fill each hollow place with paper, bubble wrap, or packing peanuts
• Don't permit glass to contact other glass
• Do not pack too tightly, or pressure/bumps can lead to shattering
• Pad extra space and also the outside of every box with fluffy packing material

Wall mirrors & Pictures

Sizeable panes of glass are especially tough to pack because they have a great chance of being damaged or destroyed in the move. This implies mirrors and glass-covered picture frames need to be packed with special care. What is important would be to secure the glass surface and lessen the danger of an impact with the glass. 

• Stack mirrors with each other in a carton using cardboard partitions in between
• Attach a blanket or cloth covering the whole area of the glass
• Make use of a sizable sheet of cardboard over each individual glass surface to minimize shocks
• Store vertical, like the plates
• Never permit packed glass to lay flat

 Wood Household furniture

Wood furniture is a common moving casualty, however not the full piece of furniture itself. Instead, wood is likely to experience scrapes, scuffs, and harm to the finish when being disassembled or carted through tight corners and doorways of the house. It's very usual for once-pristine wood household furniture to get to the new residence requiring refinishing or fixes. Here is how to avoid harm to your household furniture (as well as wall surfaces) along the route: 

• Detach components including handles and feet to help make the furniture more rectangular and even.
• Keep all removed pieces with each other inside a visibly tagged bag or box.
• Small packages of taken off pieces could be placed in a drawer of the furniture it came from
• Keep multiple groups of taken off pieces in the same box for simple reconstruction
• Tape All drawers and cabinets closed
• Utilize paper tape or masking tape which will not harm paint, stain, or finish
• Take big home furniture apart when you can.
• Wrap every piece individually and load up into just one container or bundle.
• Clearly tag everything you disassemble, including the place that the parts need to be reconnected in the future. Colored tape may help.
• Cover everything in furniture pads or moving blankets to decrease the possibility of scuffs
• Ask for guidance or hire professional movers to safely move substantial or heavy pieces of furniture 

Musical Instruments

If you should possess any musical instruments, you understand that moving can mean real peril for these carefully tuned and fragile objects. From grand pianos to clarinets and everything in between, instruments tend to be vulnerable and need to be treated with the maximum concern.

For sizeable musical instruments like pianos, harps, and acoustic bass, you might have to employ a professional instrument moving team. Talk to your moving company in Oklahoma City regarding what they are able to do or providers they can connect you with that concentrate on moving sizeable musical instruments securely across short or long distances.

For small sized individual instruments, these steps will assist you to keep your musical equipment safe and in good condition through the move: 

• Loosen the strings of all stringed instruments such as guitars, violins, cellos, and small harps. The temperature and humidity variations during a move or when in storage can cause strings to snap or even warp the wood of your instrument in the event the strings are too tight.
• Pack mouthpieces individually and think about transporting your mouthpieces along with you rather than putting them in a box.
• Pack instruments in their own shaped and also padded cases when possible.
• If realistic, wrap instruments in bubble wrap, even inside their cases, to provide extra padding and also protection.
• If perhaps you do not have a case wrap the instrument in several layers of bubble wrap and after that put in its own carton with nothing else inside.
• Cushion the container with newsprint, bubble wrap, or packing peanuts to avoid wiggling and bumping.
• Don't put two instruments inside the same package in the event they damage each other on the move.
• When it's a possibility, contemplate moving instruments within your car or truck instead of on the moving truck. 

Art

Whether you have posters, painted canvas, or sculptures, packing up fine art is usually difficult. There's a pretty good possibility your artwork will certainly survive the move not having special moving services, but only if you pack it the correct way and are mindful concerning where it's placed in the moving truck. For particularly high-priced pieces, talk to your moving company in Oklahoma City about whether you should evaluate moving them within your car or truck or sending with an artwork transportation service.

However, in case you have just got a handful of vulnerable pieces of art to pack and take with you, here is how to keep them from turning into moving casualties:

Canvas & Posters 

• Decide if it's acceptable to roll up your artwork and keep in poster tubes. Vertical, sturdy poster tubes are frequently the soundest strategy to use.
• When stowing flat, think about leaving in picture frames that are currently loaded properly to decrease bumps.
• If storing flat, make use of a thin flat box near the size of your art
• Set your canvas or poster between pieces of cardboard to ensure that they're each flat and protected
• Contemplate plastic wrap, wax paper or maybe a swift spray of paint-sealant for unsealed paintings or perhaps drawings 

Fragile or Surprisingly Shaped Statues 

• Like dishes, fill every crevice, cavity, and handle with fluffy packing material
• Like instruments, place into a bed of packaging material and enclose with more packaging materials to shield through bumps or compression
• Metal as well as wood can be placed in the same carton
• Generally, don't put a couple glass or breakable statues within the same carton

 Workout Equipment

Lastly, we arrive at the toughest but perhaps most difficult packing process of all: your workout gear. Barbells, weight benches, stationary bicycles, and specialty workout equipment are often a massive concern to move. The weighted and structural parts can be extremely weighty while the equipment itself could be intricate and/or clumsy to move. In reality, large workout equipment is often the cause of moving casualties.

Sporting equipment, alternatively, could be very delicate. Rackets and skis, snowboards and also surfboards, along with other finely wrought sporting equipment can take serious destruction from the wrong kind of jostling during a move. They're things you ought not simply toss in a box and set off.

Here's how to move your home gym and sporting gear correctly without the breaks, losses, or too-heavy containers:

Weights 

• Put a couple per container
• Cushion snugly and pack into small now-heavy containers
• Hunt for or put together containers smaller than a book carton
• Pack disc weights in acceptable piles
• Wrap in furniture pads and secure utilizing shrink wrap
• Do not ever load up some weights more substantial than you can carry
• Lift using your legs 

Training Gear 

• Retain and load up the assembly guidelines
• Take apart whatever you can and pack in bundles of bars and bench sections
• Tag each element in addition to screw as you take apart and stow within tagged bags along with the workout equipment parts
• Shoot pictures before you disassemble to aid with reassembly 

Sporting Equipment (Rackets, Skis, etc.) 

• Store rackets within their cases with an extra layer of padding. Do not allow to bend.
• Bubble-wrap skis and surfboards then put in cases or upright boxes.
• Contemplate additional cardboard or struts to keep boxes impact-resistant and inflexible
• A professional mover can provide boxes, when you need them
• Pack groups of gear jointly in the identical container.

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Relocating to a new home in Oklahoma City doesn't need to include the usual moving casualties including household furniture scuff marks or broken china. If you're moving significant everyday items or exclusive vulnerable possessions, these tips will help you have a tragedy-free move with every one of your treasured belongings making it safely to your new house. If you're looking for additional practical moving suggestions from a professional moving company who has seen it all or you are wary of packing specific items in your home, contact us today!