14 Tips for Moving Furniture

Whether you're moving or just rearranging, moving heavy furniture is a big task. Utilize these basic strategies to move heavy, uncomfortable items without damageding your back, your house or the furniture. Ways to move heavy furniture by yourself-- use your head, not your back.

Bring Tall Products Low And High

A tall dresser, filing cabinet or shelving system is uncomfortable to deal with. Make it a two-person job. Suggestion the item backward at an angle and have a single person bring the top while the other brings the bottom. This focuses the weight and keeps the item from swinging out of control. Transporting the item up or down stairs is easier too, given that the bring angle will approximately match the slope of the stairs.

' Hook' Chairs Around Corners
A large lounge chair can be the reverse of simple to move. Follow the example of pro movers and "hook" large chairs around corners. Turn the chair on its side so it looks like an "L" and move it back-first through the entrance. Then curl it (hook it) around the door frame and slip it through.

Stand Sofas on End

If you ever have to navigate a couch down a corridor and through a door, you may discover it almost impossible to bring it horizontally and make the turn into the room. Prior to you enter the corridor, position the couch on its end and slide it to the entrance. You'll generally have the ability to hook it through the door. Begin the top away from the door and acquire several inches of clearance if it's a bit taller than the door opening.

Shoulder Dolly

Moving and raising straps (Shoulder Dolly, revealed here, is one type; available at amazon) take the weight off your back by counting on leverage and big muscle groups. They likewise leave your hands free to steer awkward products. Nevertheless, they can be tricky to use on stairs because the weight shifts totally to the downhill mover.

Raising Straps
Search for lifting straps that can be changed for different-length things in addition to for different-size movers. The Forearm Forklift Lifting and Moving Straps revealed here are terrific for proceeding flat surfaces. These and others hump straps are readily available in the house centers and online at the official Forearm Forklift shop.

Do not Carry or Drag-- Slide.
You can purchase furniture slides in many sizes and shapes in your home centers and online. It's likewise easy to make your own sliders from plastic container covers, Frisbees, bedspreads, moving blankets, towels and carpet residues. Use hard plastic sliders for carpets, and soft, cushioned sliders for hard flooring.

Secure Furniture With Blankets and Plastic.

Moving blankets are indispensable for protecting the products you're moving as well as your house. Sure, leasing them is inexpensive, but you can purchase a number of for just a couple of dollars more at home centers or uhaul.com and constantly have them on hand. To avoid damaging the surface and delicate edges of dressers, tables and other furnishings, cover the items entirely with moving blankets and protect the blanket with stretch film.

Make a Bed Mattress Sling.
Attempting to wrestle a heavy, floppy bed mattress anywhere is difficult. Lots of bed mattress have handles, however they're not meant for carrying. They're in fact made to help you position the bed mattress, so they're not extremely strong.

Here's an easier method to carry a bed mattress: Make an easy rope sling that will give you and your assistant a lot more control. Thread the rope through the mattress manages. Slip a 5-in. piece of 1-in. PVC pipe over the rope ends and then loop and connect each end to create a comfy sling grip. Flip the mattress over so the sling is on the bottom and you're on your method.

Cut and Fold a Box Spring.

Is your box spring too huge to fit in your stairs or around a tight corner? You could purchase a "split" box spring developed specifically for this (and pay a number of hundred bucks) or cut your existing box spring and fold it so it fits. There's actually a basic, ingenious method to cut and fold your box spring without damaging it.

Remove the fabric covering (the most laborious part of this whole procedure is eliminating the staples) and place package spring face down. Draw back the mattress cover along each side and cut through the frame simply to the left or right of the middle crosspiece (don't cut through the crosspiece itself). Do this on both sides and in the center. You can now fold package spring like a book as shown and move it. Protect it with a strap to prevent it from springing open.

To put it back together, screw a 1 × 2 along the center crosspiece cuts see this and against the within the outer frame to enhance them. Staple the fabric covering back in location.

Plan Where It Lands.

Before you move, sketch a flooring plan with the right measurements of each room, determine your furniture and produce your layout. As you move things in, you (or your assistants, if you're not there) can put your furnishings in the appropriate area and not have to touch it again.

Do It Right, Do It Yourself!

Take the Withdraw a Recliner chair.

Find the back brackets on the outdoors or inside of the back frame. Lift the locking levers on both sides (you might need to utilize long-nose pliers) and slide the back straight up to eliminate it from the recliner.

Take Apart Exactly What You Can.

When you're carrying a sofa through an entrance, remember: You can constantly make it a few inches smaller sized by removing the feet. The exact same concept applies to any furniture piece you require to make sleeker or lighter: Remove any and all knobs, drawers, racks, legs and racks.

Eliminate Your Door Stop Molding.

In some cases, an additional 1/2 in. If eliminating the door does not open up enough area, pry off the door stop molding.

Ramp It Up (and Down).

Usage lumber, scaffold planks and obstructs to create ramps to navigate products.

Use these basic techniques to move heavy, uncomfortable products without trashing your back, your house this page or the furnishings. How to move heavy furniture by yourself-- utilize your head, not your back.

The Forearm Forklift Lifting and Moving Straps revealed here are great for moving on flat surfaces. Moving blankets are vital for protecting the items you're moving as well as your home. To avoid damaging the surface and fragile edges of dressers, tables and other furnishings, wrap the products entirely with moving blankets and secure the blanket with stretch movie.