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Tips for Packing Upholstered Furniture for Moving and Storage

Packing upholstered furniture can be a pain. It’s bulky, awkward to move, and expensive. Despite its size, upholstered furniture is often delicate and needs to be handled carefully to avoid tearing. While it’s not easy, prepping your furniture for moving and storage doesn’t have to be stressful.

Learn how to do it properly using these simple yet proven tips and tricks.

List All Your Furniture

The first step is to have a clear view of what the move entails. Start by making a list of every piece of furniture that you’re going to relocate. This will give you an idea of the number of packing materials to purchase. It also helps you figure out whether you’re going to have to secure boxes for small pieces of furniture or not.

Take Out the Measuring Tape

As you already know, furniture comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s best that you account for the obstacles that may block the path to getting them out. Write down the dimensions of each piece of furniture and compare them with your doorways, stairs, and corridors. If something doesn’t fit, you’ll either have to disassemble it or carry it in a position that works.

Gather the Right Supplies

Now that you’re done checking, it’s time to get hold of the packing supplies. First, you’ll need to purchase upholstery pads — these will be your best friends when it comes to protecting your furniture. Since they’re made with heavy-duty materials, you won’t have to worry about the dirt ruining the fabric or tearing that could occur during transit. In addition to that, you also need to buy some foam pads, bubble wrap, packing tape, and straps to secure your furniture in place.

Clean Your Stuff

This isn’t entirely necessary, but it’s an excellent practice, so your furniture arrives ready to be arranged. Plus, you should never underestimate how much dirt an upholstery can accumulate. That being said, you can use a combination of carpet shampoo and upholstery cleaner to clean your furniture. Try to brush the dust off the tight corners that the machine can’t reach.

Wrap The Furniture

You must be thinking, ‘but why?’ Furniture doesn’t break, right? While that is true, remember that you’re moving upholstered ones. One jolt during a bump on the road can end up with the fabric getting torn, or it might be exposed to external elements. Better be safe than sorry. Professional NYC movers at www.moversnyc.com suggest that you use bubble wrap to cover the furniture and make sure not to leave any gaps for air pockets. And to protect your upholstery even further, cover them in moving blankets, and secure them with tape or moving wrap.

Get Some Shrink Wrap

Alright. Before you do this, the steps above should be more than enough to help your furniture survive the move or storage conditions. You can totally skip this step if you want. However, if you’re moving a sentimental piece of furniture and need to preserve its integrity, then get several rolls of shrink wrap. This plastic doesn’t only secure your properties. It also prevents dust and dirt from building up on the layer of moving blanket you applied earlier.

Arrange Your Furniture Neatly Inside the Truck

This is the trickiest part since furniture can be of irregular shape. But here’s the good news: you don’t have to worry about tearing if you’ve done everything above correctly. All you need to do now is balance the weight of the truck. Start by putting in other types of large furniture like bed frames, desks, and cabinets. After that, put your couch in an upright position to save more space. Next comes the chairs, and finally your smaller pieces of furniture. Don’t forget to insert a few layers of foam pad in gaps to prevent damage.

Plan the Arrangement Inside the Storage

Stowing furniture requires a different strategy than loading them in a truck for moving. No worries, though. It’s pretty easy. If you have to arrange things in a truck according to weight, you’ll have to organize furniture according to importance inside a storage unit. It means to put the ones that you don’t plan on using for a long time to the farthest edge. Place the more essential things near the door, so you can easily pull them out when the time comes.

Unpacking Your Furniture

Unloading upholstered furniture is pretty straightforward. Unpacking is the real challenge here. Considering the layers of protection you applied earlier, you’ll have to be very careful when taking them out. It’s better if you use scissors instead of a cutter to remove the wraps and tape. A blade might slice through one of the paddings and damage the fabric.

And done! Congratulations on successfully packing your furniture! Just follow the steps above, and you should have nothing to worry about.

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Questions to Ask Before Hiring a NYC Moving Company

Moving is stressful, but moving in New York City is even more grueling. As a densely populated area, favorite tourist destination, and center of trade and finance, moving within NYC poses a mountain of challenges.

When hiring movers, it’s good to be extra picky. You’ll want to hire a company that genuinely understands your needs. And in this case, an NYC moving company that knows the ins-and-outs of the Big Apple.

With this in mind, here are practical questions to ask before sealing the deal with a New York City mover.

What Experience Do You Have With Moving?

Experience equals reliability. A proven track record means that the movers have plenty of exposure in the moving industry. This makes them efficient and less prone to errors. Plus, years of experience allows them to troubleshoot problems quickly.

However, you don’t necessarily need to look for a company with decades of experience. Even a startup will suffice as long as they have a good reputation. Be sure to check online reviews of movers before hiring. Now that you’ve cleared this one up, it’s time to move on to the next question.

May I Take a Look at Your Credentials?

Experience means nothing if there’s no authentication to back it up. Who knows? Movers could claim they’ve been relocating homes for ten years. But it could be ten years of scamming people! See, rogue moving companies are becoming more rampant nowadays.

It’s only rational to ask for credentials – Proof that they’re authorized to run a moving business. That said, your potential movers must provide at least one of these:

  • DOT number.  This is the king of all moving business certifications. Having one means that the movers have submitted all the requirements by the Department of Transportation and the FMCSA. To check, run the number on the FMCSA search tool. 
  • ProMover Certificate.  The American Moving and Storage Association (AMSA) awards this title to exceptional moving companies with no record of fraud or unsatisfactory relocation services.
  • BBB accreditation.  Similar to AMSA, BBB’s goal is to expose all rogue movers in the country. Getting accredited by the organization means that the movers are credible and have professionally delivered their customers’ demands.

What Type of Insurance Do You Offer?

The safety of items is one of the primary concerns when moving. So you’ll want to know what kind of damage the company covers in case things go south.

In general, there are two types of moving insurance:

  • Full-value Protection – this is the most extensive coverage you can get, but it comes with a twist: You’ll have to pay for all of your belongings to be insured. If the thought of moving your stuff makes you anxious, it’s better to purchase this insurance type for your peace of mind.
  • Limited-value Protection – this is the standard insurance that most companies offer. It’s free, and they guarantee to pay up to 60 cents per pound for damaged or lost items. If you’re confident with your movers and want to save money, you should get this one.

In addition to those two, there’s also extraordinary-value insurance that protects valuable items like antiques, collections, and electronics.

Where Can I Find Reviews About Your Company?

Movers would generally redirect you to their website, where you can find testimonials from previous customers. Of course, they want to put up a good image on their site, so they probably handpicked the best recommendations they could get.

If you want a more comprehensive compilation of customer experience, check out the reviews in legitimate sites like Yelp, Great Guys, and Google. If you wish to be more specific, reach out to the Better Business Bureau to see if there’s any complaint regarding your potential moving company.

Now that you’re done with the basic questions, this blog now brings you to the last important question:

How Well Do You Know NYC?

As stated in the beginning, moving to NYC is quite different from the usual move. And the fact that it’s one of the most congested cities in the country doesn’t help. But this doesn’t stop the influx of tourists from visiting the Big Apple. You also have crowded apartments, a lack of parking spaces, and dysfunctional elevators to worry about.

Your potential movers must know NYC well to overcome these hurdles. Suppose you hire a moving company from Nashville. Chances are they’re going to have a hard time dealing with the obstacles that come with moving to New York City. That’s why you should make sure to hire a reliable NYC moving company.

Final Tip

Keep in mind that the questions above are somewhat generalized. You might have more specific concerns you want to discuss with your movers. If so, don’t hesitate to speak your mind!

As French playwright Eugène Ionesco said, “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”

Hoping for the success of your move!