If you’re planning to move soon, you’ll need to make a plan to pack your belongings and move your furniture. Often, furniture and appliances are such heavy objects that they can pose big challenges as you move from apartment to apartment or home to home.
In addition to planning on how to move heavy objects, you also need to think of the logistics. Heavy equipment doesn’t just involve heavy lifting, it also requires thought and coordination since you don’t want to pick up heavy items and move them across the room only for them to get jammed in the door frame.
Moving heavy objects is a task that a moving company and its professional movers do every day. They make lifting heavy objects easy, which is why you may want to consider professional movers for the job. However, if you’re thinking of doing it yourself with the help of someone, these tips can help you to move heavy objects.
Large items and heavy items like furniture and appliances can add to the stressful struggle of moving to a new place. If you have a big move across the country, you really shouldn’t risk getting an injury and should instead rely on professional movers for the job of heavy lifting.
Be sure to take care when moving heavy objects yourself, especially when it comes to a large piece of furniture such as an entertainment center, desk, dresser, hutch, or wardrobe. These tips can help you avoid a dangerous situation when moving heavy and large items.
Bulky and heavy objects will be much easier to move if you can take them apart. If an item has drawers, remove them and pack them separately. When moving heavy objects that have cabinets rather than drawers, make sure you empty the compartments. You’d be surprised how much weight they can add.
Additionally, removing all personal items from a heavy object will ensure they don’t spill out while you’re carrying it across the room, to a moving truck, and a new place. That’s just an accident waiting to happen!
Finally, before you move this big object, don’t forget to remove any legs, knobs, or other protruding pieces. This will help you get it out of your home without damaging the door frame.
One of the best ways to move heavy objects is to skip the lifting and push or pull it across the floor instead. When pulling, you’ll reduce the friction between the object and the floor, making it a lot easier than trying to carry it.
It’s best to grab an old sheet or towel and then position your heavy objects on top. Pulling it is much easier this way as it will slide across your floor with ease. However, if you have carpeted flooring, pulling the item may be more difficult.
Pulling heavy objects can be a struggle and may leave you out of breath due to the excess weight. You may find that pushing the object is a lot easier for you compared to pulling. Simply set the object in question on an old blanket or some flat cardboard to minimize the friction and start pushing it across the room. Pushing heavy objects on top of cardboard sections is less strenuous on the body, even with carpeted floors.
Even with the help of a friend or two, you may still struggle to move heavy objects. What can you do to lift them when they won’t budge? If you’ve tried the previously mentioned tactics for moving heavy objects, you may need to employ a few simple tools to finish the job.
Here are some useful tools that can help any person move heavy objects and furniture with ease:
Some of the items you have to move from your home can not only be too heavy to lift and carry, but they may also be too cumbersome. Rollers make the task simple, allowing you to roll it on out. As long as it isn’t too big for your door frame, rollers are a smart tool that can smoothly move heavy objects.
The only issue you may find with using rollers is that the ground may make it difficult for them to roll across. Friction can keep you from getting the smoothness that rollers provide. You may need to be creative and use a pipe, such as a durable PVC pipe, to allow the rollers to glide out to the truck.
You can use your body and moving straps to carry your furniture to your new home. It will keep you from damaging wood surfaces, though of course, it does require you to have a decent level of strength. You may need help from someone else when carrying items with moving straps.
If you need to move heavy objects that are bulky, such as a couch or another large piece of furniture, a dolly is a useful tool. You can rent a dolly if you don’t have one. Dollies have flat platforms set on four wheels, and they make it possible to move heavy objects without a struggle. You will need to position your large object onto the dolly first, which will likely require the assistance of another person. Once you have the furniture on top of the dolly platform, you can begin pushing or pulling it in any direction to move those heavy objects.
A hand truck can also come in handy when you need to move heavy objects. It is best for furniture that isn’t too cumbersome, such as a tall chest of drawers. You can simply slide the low-loading platform under the object to move heavy things vertically into place. From there, you can wheel it just about anywhere it needs to go.
Things can quickly get complicated if you have to lift or move heavy things up or down a flight of stairs. Legs and other pieces can easily get caught in the banister, making it a difficult situation. You don’t have to yell, “Pivot!” to every person that happens to walk by. Instead, try these tips to move a heavy object like a couch up or down stairs.
If you’re moving things down flights of stairs, don’t lift. Instead, use a ramp to move your furniture. Be careful as you lift it off the floor and set it onto the ramp. You’ll want assistance from someone else to help guide it along to keep it from slipping and crashing down the stairs.
Wood planks are another solution if you don’t have a ramp. You can set these up as a guide by pushing or pulling the items down the stairs.
These dollies make the process of getting an object like a chest of drawers or bulky furniture down the stairs a breeze. You still need to be careful as the weight will be a factor that will likely require the assistance of another person.
Never try to move furniture up or down stairs on your own. No matter how strong you are, accidents can happen and you could be pinned on the floor by this heavy item if you slip in the process. It doesn’t matter if you only have a few stairs that lead up to your front entry or you have a massive set of stairs inside your home. Moving can be very dangerous if you don’t take the right precautions, whether stairs are involved or not.
Perhaps you rent and don’t want to damage the floor and lose your security deposit. Maybe your new home has a beautiful hardwood floor that you don’t want to ruin the first day you move in. You may have an apartment at the top of the stairs in an old building with no elevator, or a home with a spiral staircase that presents unique challenges.
Whether you pull furniture or try pushing it, it may be too much for you to handle. Not to mention that one slip or fall could put you out of commission for weeks. When you need to make your move, one of the best ways to do it, especially when you have many heavy items, is to hire movers.
A professional moving company can take on this burden, relieving your stress. Since moving is already one of the most stressful actions anyone can take in their life, it pays to hire professionals who can get the job done right.
There are plenty of benefits to hiring professional movers:
The professionals at moving companies do this job every day for a living. They have strategies and every tool and piece of equipment needed to get the job done quickly and efficiently, plus they know how to avoid common problems like getting a sofa stuck in a doorway or stairwell.
Experienced moving companies know how to protect themselves when they perform a move. They know the right techniques for lifting, plus they often send a team that can make short work of your move much faster than you and your friends.
When you hire professionals, you won’t have to worry about renting a moving truck and loading and unloading it yourself. They’ll have trucks with lifts and moving blankets to easily get your things stowed safely inside. If you do it yourself, you not only need to load and unload the truck, but you also need to return it when you finish the job.
Ultimately, hiring a professional moving company is the best way to move heavy things from one place to another. Whether you need to move cross country or locally, contact Jackson Moving & Storage to get a free move quote.