If you are in tight spot by moving yourself Intermove can help you with our guidelines on how to relocate hevy furniture by yourself which can be the hardest part of your move. If you don,t know what you are doing the furniture items can crush you, so you should listen to Intermove advices as we have been crushed by heavy furniture several times so we have learn our lesson, survived and trying to teach others so that we can all survive..
1.Preparation and making plan
When it comes to moving heavy furniture, the main thing is to be as efficient as possible. Take an inventory of every heavy item that needs to get on to the moving truck and then figure out what needs to be loaded when, and where. From Intermove experience heavy items go on the back of the truck bed and around the sides to help balance the load and keep all of your belongings safe. That means you’ll likely be doing the heavy lifting right in the beginning, and then filling in gaps with lighter boxes and smaller items of furniture.
Prioritize the order that you’ll handle each piece of furniture. Although creating a plan of conducting your loading may seem like just one more step in an endless to do list, it will save you the time and effort it would take later on to rearrange all that heavy furniture on the truck.
2.Gather your supplies !
Important thing is to be prepared and for those purposes you need some equipment These items can be purchased or rented, so decide if you’re only going to use them once or if you might like them for future moves.
Here’s what you will need to move heavy furniture:
Moving straps. Also called “lifting straps” or “furniture straps,” these handy devices work to transfer some of the weight off of your back and arms when you’re lifting a heavy item so that it is significantly easier to manage. They’re adjustable, so be sure to tailor them for the size of the furniture you’ll be lifting and the size of your own body.
Furniture sliders. These are a must-have for moving heavy furniture on your own. Furniture sliders are usually made of single part or multi-part plastic, and are placed under each leg or corner of the piece of furniture that you are moving to help it easily glide across the floor, including on carpet. They work by creating an easily mobile barrier between the item and the floor, reducing the friction that can make it hard to move heavy furniture and mitigating the risk of damage to your hardwood, tile, or carpeting.
Furniture dollies. There are two types of furniture dollies that will be useful to you when moving furniture, though you can probably get away with just having one type on hand. The first is a four-wheeled square platform, with or without a handle to push. The other is a two-wheel hand truck, which has a smaller base than the four-wheeled square platform but helps distribute weight vertically making it a good fit for tall items. Secure items to the dolly with rope or additional straps before starting to push.
3.Dissasemble furniture!
The more you can disassemble each item of heavy furniture, the better. That means taking away all removable pieces, including cushions, knobs, legs, drawers, etc. to be moved separately, as well as breaking down things like sectionals and bed frames. If at any point you have to remove screws or other small pieces to accomplish this, be sure to store each item’s small materials in a baggie and label it so you know what all those pieces are for. Or you can tape small pieces on the big piece that they belong to.
4.Follow proper lifting techniques !
You are going to want to slide, push, and drag heavy furniture much more than you lift because this puts considerably less stress on your body and makes the entire task a whole lot easier. However, when you hit a staircase or it comes time to load the item into the truck, dragging and sliding isn’t going to cut it.
Before you lift make sure you’re apprised of how to do it right because you going to be safe if you doing it accordingly.
1.Bend at your needs, not your waist. The biggest thing that you want to remember when lifting heavy items is to carry the weight in your legs—not your back. To settle the weight correctly, squat down at your knees for the initial lift instead of bending over. This will place the majority of the bulk onto your arms and legs when you rise, and not onto your back.
2.Carry pieces near to your body. As much as you can, carry heavy furniture close to your body, not away from it. This accomplishes that your body maintain balance and getting your upper arms and shoulders involved in the task.
3.Don’t twist your body while you’re lifting or carrying. Keep your body as still as you can while you lift and walk with a heavy piece of furniture, as twisting or making other fast movements can lead to injury. For those times that you do need to twist or turn, let your hips lead and then follow with your feet instead of the other way around.
Another important tip is to be sure that you can always see where you’re going. It can be difficult when there’s an armoire blocking your view, but you should never be completely blinded to where you’re heading. And because your body tends to go where your eyes go, keep your head facing forward, not looking down.
5.Going up and down the stairs !
Having to carry heavy pieces up or down the stairs adds another layer of complexity to an already arduous task, but there’s not always going to be a way around it. To move heavy items up or down the stairs, you’re going to have to work with a partner—this isn’t something you want to do on your own. Carry the item high and low, meaning the person lower on the stairs carries the item from its bottom surface and the person higher on the stairs carries the item from its top surface. Go very slow, with the person at the bottom setting the pace.
Looks can be deceiving. If an item is heavy but small, you’ll still want to put two people on the job and work your way down the stairs both slowly and using the high to low method. As always, it’s not worth risking a serious injury just to get something done a few minutes faster. Take your time, and don’t rush with the job because you are more value than any piece of furniture that you owned.
6.Preparing to unload !
You’re not in the clear until every item is not just unpacked from the moving truck but also situated in its correct spot in your new home. For that reason, just like you made a plan and prioritized how you were going to get everything out of your old home, do the same for how you’re going to get everything unloaded. In that way, you save yourself the trouble of moving heavy furniture off of the truck and into your home only to have to move it again. To save time, you can wait until everything is unloaded before you start putting each piece of furniture back together.
Moving heavy items can not be difficult as you may think, but you should be prepared and make plan to be sure that you doing the job in the corrected way so that you can save youself from the injury, damage of the items and unnecessary fatigue.
Carry on!
