How to avoid mistakes when packing antiques
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You’ve packed all of your items or at least have an idea, but you’re not sure about antiques? Don’t worry we as experienced movers in Texas would like to help you. We’ll help you avoid mistakes when packing antiques. Antiques need extra attention and care, unlike packing and having other things. So if you want to pack antiques without a lot of stress and you want to be secure and safe, here are two things you can do: hire professionals and buy insurance. If you want to DIY and move it into your own hands, you’ll save money but if something goes wrong – “yikes!” So, let’s dive and see how we can help you!
Preparing and planning is the key to avoiding mistakes when packing antiques
You should bear in your mind how rare and fragile these items are. On the other hand, you shouldn’t throw than randomly with the rest of your items. We as antique furniture movers Austin would like to give you some recommendations on how to pack antiques.
- Pack all of your antiques separately
- Use tools, wrapping material, and boxes
- This will take some time, so if you don’t have it, hire professionals
- Create an inventory
To preserve the collection of something in its pristine form, you have to be extremely meticulous. These are fragile items and if a tiny part of it is damaged, the whole collection or an antique will lose most of its value. Therefore, reducing the likelihood of you making a mistake when packaging antiques is critical.
To avoid mistakes when packing antiques, buy proper boxes and materials
If you want to use typical cardboard boxes that is okay, but there are many other types of containers. So let’s keep it simple and stick with cardboard, but before that, you’ll need measuring tape to see if they can fit in. When you’re picking the right size of boxes, you should always pick a bit bigger but not too big so that items that are inside don’t tumble around. If you want to have no stress and be sure that everything will go smoothly, then at least consider talking with professionals.
But if you want a completely stress-free move, you should just hire professionals, since they have trained specialists and most of all, they have the necessary experience. Don’t forget the importance of labeling boxes, so after you’ve tightly packed your antique, it’s time to label the box with a marker, and it’s time to move it.
Now, after you’ve chosen a box, you should choose other materials. So don’t forget about bubble wrap, packing peanuts, moving blankets, furniture pads, microfiber cloth, and duck tapes (and other tapes). We didn’t include markers and boxes since we mentioned them already. Try to get them all, or at least ones that can’t do without. If you don’t, you’ll probably regret it if something gets damaged. It’ll save you a couple of bucks, but you’ll lose a lot more.
Packing antiques takes time
We as apartment movers Austin would like to advise you about the time needed to do this. It’ll require a lot of time, because you have to worry about many details. Also, you have to use the right tools and materials to clean the items. So don’t leave this for the final hour, you have to do it when you have the most time. Now, if you’re in a hurry, please consider hiring professional movers to assist you.
How to properly pack antiques
As we’ve already mentioned, you need cardboard boxes that are tightly sealed. You’ll also need bubble wrap and packing peanuts to fill the gap between the item and the box. Mirrors should be covered on all sides with cardboard, with the edges taped shut. Mirrors should be sealed with tape (duck tape is the best) in the shape of the letter “X”. Also, use extra styrofoam or plastic to protect the corners of paintings or mirrors. If you want to save money, styrofoam is a cheap and reasonable solution. You can use glassine for extra protection, especially if the item is really valuable. It’s a special kind of glossy paper that can protect glass and ceramics and is resistant to air, water, and grease. Most importantly, ceramics and glass items won’t get any stains or smears.
Now, if you’re moving furniture, you have other problems, like size and weight. Especially older furniture made from dense, heavy wood weighs a lot. Image damaging Chippendale furniture, it would fall in price dramatically. So you have to be extra careful and protect it at any cost.
Now for this part, we would highly recommend talking with a professional. You might damage not only the chair or bed but also the walls and maybe other valuables. So the safest way to preserve the newly painted walls of your new and old house and the item itself is to hire professionally trained movers. If you don’t know where to put your items, storage service Austin TX can help you with their climate-controlled storage solutions.
The conclusion
Packing, labeling, and moving isn’t an easy task to do. It requires extended hours of work and good planning. If you have to pack something valuable for the move, that even adds to the pile. We hope that you liked our advice on how to avoid mistakes when packing antiques. Have a nice and careful move!