Best Strategies To Move Heavy Furniture - DIY Move

Is the thought of moving heavy furniture by yourself bothering you? Are you not able to focus on packing and preparing for your move due to this stress? While you move heavy furniture by yourself, you may face problems in finding out how you can manage this monotonous task all alone. An attempt to lift heavy furniture or move boxes by yourself can even be arduous for your back and joints. Moreover, trying to move heavy furniture by yourself can damage your furniture, which of course you may not want.

A DIY move is a good option if you want to save money on moving your belongings to a new house or at the time of house renovation. However, you may not want it to be more labor-extensive than it needs to be. Let's explore how to move heavy furniture correctly and ensure that your sofa doesn’t come striking down the stairs and cause damage to everything that comes in the way.

Plan measuring first

Before you start moving your furniture, we recommend you measure the doorways and hallways through which your furniture needs to pass through. This is important because if your hallway or doorway is too small and you force your furniture through it, you will damage your furniture. Unfortunately, if the pathway is too small, you even hold the risk of dropping a piece of furniture causing serious injuries.

Get rid of obstacles in your path

It would be extremely necessary for you to remove any obstacles that lie in your path of moving heavy furniture. If you don't remove it, there are chances that you may topple over and fall, causing injuries. Toys, cardboard boxes, bubble wraps, and shoes are a few such items that you must remove if you move your furniture safely to another room or load it into a moving truck. Moreover, we suggest you keep your kids and pets away from the pathway and make sure they don't hurt themselves.

Dress appropriately

Here’s how you can dress appropriately and move heavy furniture safely:

• You should wear the right kind of shoes to move heavy items easily.
• Avoid wearing high heels or flip-flops when moving a large piece of furniture.
• We advise you to put on closed-toed shoes with a non-slippery base as it would protect your feet if anything heavy falls on them.
• Ensure you wear loose and light outfits like a breathable top and bottom. Your clothes might tear apart if they’re too tight.

Take off any loose items from your furniture

We suggest you take out any loose items like your pillow or wall frame as they might fall when you are lifting the furniture. You must consider keeping them in a safe place and easily set them up after your furniture is moved.

Safeguard the premises and furniture

You may experience a few bumps on the pathway while moving heavy items. Here’s what you can do to protect your furniture:

• Make sure you wrap your furniture with plastic wrap or bubble wrap.
• If you are moving extravagant furniture like a sofa or chair, you can use a plastic cover specifically designed for them. However, if you want to save money, you can use old sheets or furniture to cover your furniture.
• To safeguard the walls and floors, we recommend you make use of furniture pads and position them at the bottom of the furniture. This will prevent scratches on the floor, or you may tape cardboard on the corners of the walls to minimize the chances of dents and scratches.

Arrange for the necessary moving equipment and supplies

Make sure you collect all relevant moving tools before the moving day that will help you move heavy furniture and protect your legs, back as well as arms from getting injured.

Here we will explore a few such types of equipment:

Furniture dolly

With a furniture dolly, you can move heavy furniture easily without needing to over-exert yourself. Here are a few tips and tricks for you:

• You must choose between a four-wheeled square platform and a two-wheeled truck.
• Simply, place the heavy item on the platform of the dolly and make use of its handle to move in the right direction. This will make moving heavy items from one place to another comparatively easier.

Moving straps

Also, known as lifting straps, a moving strap will help you to share the weight of heavy furniture across your body and avoid strains on your back and legs.

Ramps

With the use of ramps, you don’t have to exhaust yourself to move heavy items across the stairs or load them into the rental truck. Moreover, it would be safer and simpler to place bulky items on an elevated platform.

Furniture sliders

Here are a few things that you must consider for moving heavy items on hardwood floors or tiles:

• Place a furniture glider on the bottom of the furniture as this will protect your furniture from dings and scrapes.
• With the use of a furniture slider, you can easily glide and slide your items across the floor.
• Alternatively, you can buy carpet sliders if you want to move your items across the carpeted floor.

Moving blankets

You can wrap your furniture or appliances with a moving blanket and protect it from damage at the time of relocation or storage.

Plastic wraps or bubble wraps are a few other supplies that you must buy or lend to move your furniture safely to another location, free from dents and scratches.

Stretch in advance

Of course, you will not run a marathon or do weightlifting without stretching. So, you should also do stretches before you lift or move heavy furniture. Moving or lifting heavy items is complete body exercise, hence you should be careful while doing it, otherwise, you will pull or strain your muscles or even have back injuries. It would be beneficial if you do back, side, leg, and arm stretch to relax your muscles in advance and avoid injuries.

Tips to relax

Don’t panic if your muscles pain or are tired at the end of the day. We suggest you do stretches again after lifting or moving heavy weights and ensure to take sufficient rest. You may take a warm bath or use heat pads if you want relief from extreme pain.

Disassemble the heavy items

Are you participating in a weightlifting contest? We recommend you disassemble your furniture before you move it as this would reduce its weight and make it easier for you to move. Here’s what you might need to do:

• You may consider detaching all the shelves if you need to move a desk or a dresser.
• If you need to move a couch, consider removing its wooden legs.
• Prepare a list of all heavy furniture in advance and check how much load you would be able to reduce.
• Make sure you put all the nuts and bolts safely in a plastic bag. With this, you will find them easily at the time of reassembling your furniture in your new home.

Top 4 heavy furniture lifting techniques

1. Avoid bending your waist while you move large furniture or carry a heavyweight on your back. Make sure you move it with the load of your legs and stoop at your knees for an indispensable lift, instead of bending. With this more weight would be distributed on your legs and arms rather than on your back.
2. You must avoid twisting your body while carrying or moving with a heavy load. Make sure your body is still as much as possible, or else a sudden twist of your body can lead to an injury. You must allow your hips to take the lead and then go with the feeling instead of going reverse. Ensure you do this each time you twist or turn your body.
3. Make sure you have a sharp vision regarding your pathway as it might cause you trouble when an armoire obstructs your view. Avoid closing your eyes while you are moving heavy furniture. You should always look ahead instead of looking down if you want to move in the right direction.
4. Moving large furniture by yourself doesn’t mean you must move it alone. However, it means you don’t have quality movers by your side to assist you. In short, never feel reluctant to seek the assistance of professional movers, if you want to move quickly and safely.

Tips to move a fridge

• Make sure you empty and clean your refrigerator.
• Remove the power cord from the fridge.
• Clear away all the obstacles from the pathway.
• Tie the fridge on the furniture dolly.
• Push or tilt on the dolly.
• Allow the fridge to settle for 24-72 hours before you plug them back into the power supply.

Tips to move a wardrobe

• Take everything out of the wardrobe.
• Tie an adjustable belt around the wardrobe and make sure the doors are closed while you are moving them.
• Consider applying the high-low technique with the assistance of another person while moving a wardrobe.

Tips to move a mattress and bed

• Make sure you remove the pillows, duvets, and sheets.
• Ensure you wrap the mattress with a plastic cover to keep it clean.
• Detach the bed making use of easily available tools.
• You can seek the assistance of a friend to move the bed frame, mattress, and other disassembled parts separately as well as securely.

Tips to move a sofa

• Ensure you detach the sofa before you lift or move it.
• In case it’s not possible to disassemble a sofa, we suggest you tilt and rotate it around the corners of your house.

Steps to move an oven

• Remove the power cord from the oven and turn off the gas.
• Ensure you clean the oven and then completely dry it.
• Take off the grates and burner pans.
• Make sure you wrap all the removable parts in a newspaper or bubble wrap and place them in a strong bag.
• Finally, you can place the oven on a dolly and consider moving it to a safe place.

This is all you need to know about moving heavy furniture to another room or another location safely and securely without causing an injury to yourself. Of course, it's challenging to move large furniture by yourself, however, the techniques we have discussed can help you make the task easier to a great extent. But if you aren't sure about it, we suggest you hire professional movers who will help you move heavy furniture safely to your new destination. You may take quotes from different moving companies and choose the one that is best for your budget.