How to Prepare Large Furniture for a Move

The big pieces are what hold a moving day up. A wardrobe that will not turn on the landing, a sofa that will not clear the door frame, a bed frame with the bolts in a drawer nobody can find. Boxes can be carried out in any order, but the furniture has to be measured, taken apart, wrapped and carried in a particular sequence, and almost all of that work can be done before anyone arrives. This guide covers what to measure, what comes apart, how to protect it, and which pieces to name before you are quoted.

Measure the route out, not just the room

Measure each piece at its widest point, including feet, handles and anything that sticks out, then measure everything it has to pass through. Furniture that gets stuck is rarely too big for the new room. It is too big for a door frame, a turn on the stairs or a low ceiling above a staircase.

• The piece itself: height, width and depth at the widest points, not the flat panel.
• Every door opening on the route, measured inside the frame with the door open.
• The diagonal of each doorway, because a tall wardrobe often goes through on the angle when it will not go through square.
• Stair turns and half landings, where the usable space is the narrowest point of the turn rather than the width of the treads.
• The ceiling height above the stairs, which is what stops long sofas and tall headboards.
• Lift car and lift door dimensions, if there is a lift at either end.

Write the numbers down and keep them with your inventory. If a piece has only a couple of centimetres to spare, plan on it coming apart rather than hoping. Period properties are where this matters most, and the cottage staircases and low door heads around Bruton and the older streets of Shaftesbury were never built with a three seat sofa in mind.

Decide what comes apart, and what is better left whole

Anything that can be safely reduced in size should be, because a dismantled piece is lighter to carry, easier to protect and far less likely to be damaged on a turn.

• Beds: almost always come apart, and the frame then travels flat against the side of the van.
• Dining tables: legs off, top wrapped on its own, fixings bagged.
• Freestanding wardrobes: solid timber ones usually separate at the cornice, doors and back panel.
• Corner and modular sofas: feet off and sections split, which is often the whole difference between fitting through a door and not.
• Desks and bookcases: tops and loose shelves off, back panels left in place unless they are the only thing holding the frame square.

Flat-pack furniture is the exception worth thinking about. Chipboard panels held with cam locks and dowels lose their grip a little each time they are taken apart and rebuilt, so a wardrobe that has stood in the same corner for a decade may not go back together square. If the piece will fit through the doors whole, move it whole. If it will not, decide now whether rebuilding it is worth the effort, because that is a much easier decision to make in advance than on a landing at four in the afternoon.

Furniture dismantling is one of the options you can add to a Marley Moves booking, and reassembly at the other end is part of a standard house removal: beds rebuilt, sofas in position and dining tables back together before we leave.

Keep the fixings with the furniture they came from

Bag the bolts, cam locks, dowels and allen key for each piece separately, label the bag with the item name, and tape it to an inside surface of that piece rather than to a polished face. One tub of mixed screws is among the slowest problems to unpick at the other end, and it always happens when everyone is tired.

Photograph each joint before you undo it. Two minutes with a phone saves a long argument with an instruction sheet you threw away years ago. Keep the fixings bags together in a box you carry in your own car, so they cannot end up buried under everything else in the van.

Empty what you can, and ask about the rest

Empty drawers, wardrobes and cupboards unless you have been told otherwise for a particular piece. Loaded furniture is much heavier than it looks, and the weight shifts as the piece is tilted on a stair turn, which is what strains drawer runners and carcass joints.

• Take glass shelves and glass tops out and wrap them separately rather than leaving them sitting in the piece.
• Remove mirrors from dressing tables and wardrobe doors wherever they unscrew.
• Secure doors and drawers that swing, taping to the frame rather than to a finished surface.
• Take off push-in castors, which drop out on a threshold and then roll under the van.
• Empty and defrost anything that holds water or food, well before the day rather than on the morning.

If you are not sure whether something should travel loaded or empty, ask at the survey. There is a fuller list of what a crew can and cannot take in what removal companies won't move.

Wrap for the journey, not just for the doorway

Hard furniture wants blankets, upholstery wants film. Blankets absorb the knocks that happen in transit as a load settles, and stretch film keeps fabric clean and stops cushions and doors moving about. The common mistake is wrapping only the piece that has to squeeze through a tight door and leaving everything else bare in the van.

• Blanket-wrap wood, veneer and painted surfaces, then hold the blanket on with film or a band rather than tape.
• Never put tape directly on polished wood, leather, veneer or paint. It lifts the surface when it comes off, and warm weather makes that worse.
• Protect corners and feet first. Corners take the impact and feet snap.
• Film mattresses and upholstery to keep them clean, but do not seal leather or anything damp airtight for a long journey.
• Wrap mirrors and glass in blankets with a card layer, mark them clearly, and keep them upright.

On a Marley Moves job the wrapping is done by the crew and included rather than sold as an extra: furniture blanket-wrapped, sofas in stretch film, door guards at both ends and floor protection down before anything is carried. If you would rather hand the preparation over entirely, our packing service covers it, and the room by room packing guide deals with the boxes side of the same job.

Clear the route before the van arrives

The carry route deserves as much attention as the furniture. Lift pictures off the walls along it, move the hall table, clear the coat hooks and open every internal door back against its stop. Outside, keep the path clear and think about where a heavy piece can be rested if the crew needs to change grip halfway.

If parking is tight, or the lane will not take a full size van, say so before the day rather than on it. It changes how the day is planned, and it is far better known in advance than discovered on the morning.

Name the heavy and the valuable pieces early

Some items need a different plan rather than more effort. Pianos, safes, large marble tops, American style fridge freezers, gun cabinets, workshop machinery and genuine antiques all change the crew size, the kit and sometimes the vehicle, so they should be named at the quote stage. That is what specialist removals is for.

High value pieces are worth declaring for cover as well. Marley Moves carries goods in transit cover of up to £50,000 per load and up to £2.5 million public liability, and the crew who survey your move are the crew who load it, so nothing about an awkward piece gets lost in a handover to a subcontractor.

A short check the day before

1. Fixings bagged, labelled and taped to the piece they belong to.
2. Glass, mirrors and loose shelves out and wrapped separately.
3. Drawers and wardrobes empty, swinging doors secured.
4. Measurements written down for anything that looked tight.
5. Carry route clear at both ends, parking sorted.
6. Every heavy, fragile or valuable item already on the inventory.

Do that much and the furniture stops being the part of the day that runs late.

Tell us about the big pieces before you book

The more we know about what has to come out and how, the more accurate your price and your plan will be, with no surprises on the morning. Tell us what the awkward items are and we will build them into both. Get a fixed written quote within the hour.