How to Prepare Furniture for Moving: 7 Helpful Tips

Planning and organizing a move is often a lengthy process that requires effort and patience as there are so many steps to go through to get it right.

One of the main challenges of any move is the large number of different items that need to be sorted, packed, transported, and unpacked upon arrival at a new home. With numerous tasks in the process of moving, you need to constantly be focused and attentive so as not to miss anything. However, not only the number of your items is essential here, but also their size. If we are talking about moving along with your furniture, workplaces, and other equipment, then the process of relocation becomes noticeably more complicated, because there are many additional obstacles.

If you live in or plan to move to Illinois, your furniture should be prepared ahead of time before hiring professional furniture hauling in Chicago or the suburbs.

Let's take a look at some important and helpful furniture moving tips on where to start and how to get the job done efficiently to ensure your belongings get safely to their new location.

1. Make an inventory list

This is the first step in any relocation. Take an inventory of all the items and furniture you are moving into your new home and write it all down.

At this stage, also determine the part of the belongings that you do not plan to bring with you. You can sell, donate or throw them away.

Next to the furniture items in the inventory list, additionally, indicate their dimensions and the need to disassemble them before transportation. 

It will also be helpful to prioritize the items, which will allow you to make a more effective plan and get a clear idea of ​​​​the time frame.

2. Take measurements

The next step is to take all the necessary measurements. It is important here to visualize the entire process from start to finish regarding how you will carry out and load the furniture onto the truck.

Therefore, after you have finished measuring furniture, start measuring doorways, hallways, stairwells, elevators, etc. Here, the key task is to determine whether you can easily move out all the furniture from the rooms and the house, or whether some of the items should be disassembled first.

In addition to the interior space, pay attention to the surrounding area of your home. It must be easily accessible to the truck. If there are any obstacles and rubbish, deal with them in advance so as not to waste precious time on the day of the move, as this will make the process longer (keep in mind that movers work at an hourly rate, so may need to pay more in such a case).

3. Get the equipment 

Transportation of furniture and bulky items often requires additional equipment and supplies.

Get in advance tools that will be useful for disassembling and loading furniture, such as screwdrivers, furniture blankets, moving straps, furniture dollies, etc. Also, do not forget about special boxes, pads, packing tape, bubble wrap, and other materials you can use to protect your furniture during transportation.

Finally, it would be useful to hire professional movers for heavy equipment, as they already have everything you may need for such a purpose.

4. Disassemble your furniture

Once you've measured your furniture and sorted the items by priority, start disassembling the part of your furniture that's too big to be carried out of the house, step by step. Look at the instructions or find tips on the Internet on how to do it right.

It's also a good idea to ask friends for help or hire a crew, as disassembling furniture can sometimes be a difficult task, both because of the physical load and the lack of necessary skills.

5. Prepare a box for small parts

It is recommended to prepare boxes in which you can store all the small parts and details of your furniture such as screws, nuts, hinges, drawer rails, legs, etc. These parts can easily get lost, making it difficult or impossible to reassemble the furniture. Therefore, all these parts and details should be packed separately and marked.

6. Protect your floor and door frames

Since the process of carrying out your belongings often involves moving furniture across the floor, protect your flooring with moving blankets beforehand to avoid scratches and damage.

Also, for large and bulky items, make sure that your doorframes and those areas on the walls where there is a chance of damage when moving furniture out of the house are also protected.

7. Load heavy items first 

One of the most important tips when moving is to load heavy items and boxes first. The main reasons for this approach include:

• Loading heavy and oversized items is physically demanding, so the most difficult part of the job is best done at the very beginning when you or the movers are still full of energy.
• By loading bulky items like sofas, chests of drawers, appliances, countertops, etc. first, you make better use of the space inside the truck and avoid the risk of something not being able to fit.

In addition, this approach provides a more even distribution of weight on the truck, thereby contributing to better vehicle handling while driving.