11 Guides for Moving Furnishings

Whether you're transferring or just rearranging, moving heavy furniture is a big task. Utilize these simple methods to move heavy, awkward items without damageding your back, your home or the furnishings. How to move heavy furniture on your own-- utilize your head, not your back.

Bring Tall Items Low and high

A tall cabinet, submitting cabinet or shelving unit is awkward to deal with. Make it a two-person task. Tip the item backward at an angle and have one person carry the top while the other brings the bottom. This focuses the weight and keeps the product from swinging out of control. Transporting the item up or down stairs is much easier too, since the carrying angle will roughly match the slope of the stairs.

' Hook' Chairs Around Corners
A big lounge chair can be the opposite of easy 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 doorway. Curl it (hook it) around the door frame and slip it through.

Stand Couches on End

If you ever need to maneuver a couch down a hallway and through a door, you may discover it nearly difficult to bring it horizontally and make the turn into the room. Before you go into the corridor, position the sofa on its end and slide it to the doorway. You'll generally be able to hook it through the door. Begin the top away from the door and gain several inches of clearance if it's a bit taller than the door opening.

Shoulder Dolly

Moving and raising straps (Shoulder Dolly, shown here, is one type; available at amazon.com) take the weight off your back by depending on take advantage of and big muscle groups. They likewise leave your hands complimentary to steer uncomfortable products. However, they can be tricky to use on stairs because the weight shifts completely to the downhill mover.

Lifting Straps
Try to find raising straps that can be changed for different-length items as well as for different-size movers. The Forearm Forklift Lifting and Moving Straps shown here are fantastic for moving on flat surface areas. These and others hump straps are readily available in the house centers and online at the main Lower arm Forklift shop.

Do not Drag or carry-- Slide.
You can buy furniture slides in many sizes and shapes in your home centers and online. It's also simple to make your very own sliders from plastic container covers, Frisbees, bedspreads, moving blankets, towels and carpet residues. Utilize hard plastic sliders for carpets, and soft, padded sliders for hard flooring.

Protect Furnishings With Blankets and Plastic.

Moving blankets are invaluable for protecting the products you're moving as well as your house. Sure, renting them is inexpensive, but you can buy a number of for just a few dollars more at home centers or uhaul.com and always have them on hand. To prevent damaging the finish and delicate edges of dressers, tables and other furniture, wrap the items totally with moving blankets and secure the blanket with stretch film.

Make a Mattress Sling.
Aiming to wrestle a heavy, floppy mattress anywhere is difficult. Many mattresses have handles, but they're not intended for carrying. They're in fact made to assist you place the mattress, so they're not very strong.

Here's a much easier method to bring a bed mattress: Make a basic rope sling that will give you and your helper a browse around these guys lot more control. Thread the rope through the mattress handles. Slip a 5-in. piece of 1-in. PVC pipeline over the rope ends then loop and connect each end to develop a comfy sling grip. Turn the bed 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 suit your stairs or around a tight corner? You might purchase a "split" box spring developed particularly 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, innovative method to cut and fold your box spring without damaging it.

Pull back the bed mattress cover along each side and cut through the frame simply to the left or right of the middle crosspiece (do not cut through the crosspiece itself). You can now fold the box spring like a book as shown and move it.

To put it back together, screw a 1 × 2 along the center crosspiece cuts and against the inside of the outer frame see this website to reinforce them. Staple the material covering back in location.

Strategy Where It Lands.

Prior to you move, sketch a floor plan with the correct measurements of each space, determine your furnishings and produce your layout. As you move things in, you (or your helpers, if you're not there) can place your furnishings in the proper area and not have to touch it once again.

Do It Right, Do It Yourself!

Take the Back Off a Recliner.

Find the back brackets on the outdoors or within the back frame. Lift the locking levers on both sides (you may need to use long-nose pliers) and move the back straight from the source directly to remove it from the recliner. Always raise a reclining chair from the sides, not by the back or footrest. Connect the footrest in place so it doesn't spring open.

Take Apart What You Can.

When you're carrying a couch through a doorway, remember: You can constantly make it a couple of inches smaller by removing the feet. The same concept uses to any furniture piece you require to make sleeker or lighter: Remove any and all knobs, drawers, shelves, legs and racks.

Remove Your Door Stop Molding.

Often, an additional 1/2 in. is all it takes to get through an entrance. If getting rid of the door doesn't open up adequate area, pry off the door stop molding. That will provide you another 3/4 in.

Ramp It Up (and Down).

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

Use these easy strategies to move heavy, uncomfortable items without damageding your back, your home or the furnishings. How to move heavy furniture by yourself-- use your head, not your back.

The Forearm Forklift Lifting and Moving Straps revealed here are terrific for moving on flat surfaces. Moving blankets are invaluable for securing the products you're moving as well as your home. To prevent 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 movie.