If you’re wondering what the best packaging to use when it’s time to pack boxes ahead of your move, read on, we have the answers!
When it comes to moving home or office, packing away your belongings is a major part of the moving process. The last thing you want is for crates to arrive at your destination with damaged contents, so putting some thought into your packaging and ensuring you’re prepared will help you to get it right.
Picture the scene if you will. You’ve been lugging boxes around all day and after some frantic last-minute packing of the kettle, you arrive at your destination and start carrying boxes into your new home ready to unpack, dreaming of that first refreshing cup of tea. The last thing you want, is to open up those boxes and find all your crockery smashed.
Of course crockery can often be replaced, but what if it’s an expensive set, or an ornament or even a family heirloom that gets smashed instead?
In order to keep any damage to your belongings down to an absolute minimum, you’ll need to pay careful attention to the packaging materials that you use and as a general rule, this is an area that you really shouldn’t try to scrimp on.
If you choose to pack your belongings into plastic crates, you will be offered a greater degree of protection over cardboard boxes, however, once inside a plastic crate, your items can still get damaged if you don’t use adequate packaging to pad and protect your belongings.
Common Causes Of Damaged Belongings When Moving
Crates are handled roughly
Rough handling can be due to simple carelessness or the result of a crate dropping or being knocked against something. Once in the removals van, your crates may slide around and clatter against each other or even fall over. When this happens your contents will become easily damaged if they are not sufficiently protected with packaging materials.
Insufficient packaging
Even if you handle your crates carefully, damage can still occur in transit and this is a highly likely outcome when it comes to delicate items like crockery, glassware, monitor screens and ornaments.
Whilst inside the crate the contents can shift and slide into each other, making it critical that delicate items are protected and padding with at least a layer or bubble wrap, newspaper, or in the sake of monitors and TV special screen protectors.
The wrong packaging
You might have heard that wrapping plates in simple newspaper will help protect them when moving, but if a crate is dropped, damage will still occur. Newspaper will help to stop things rubbing against each other and will help avoid scratches, but extra padding will also be needed to guard against even small impacts that can cause chipping to occur.
Effective Packaging Tips
- Pack things closely together so there isn’t much free space for items inside to shift around whilst in transit
- Always double up on outer layers of bubble wrap; it’s better to be safe than sorry!
- With crockery, wrap each plate in a few sheets of newspaper and stack plates on on top of the other into small piles. Once you have a pile a few plates high, wrap the whole thing in more newspaper and finish off with a double layer of bubble wrap.
- Never pack anything delicate at the bottom of a box with heavier items on top. Always place heavy, less delicate items on the bottom and more delicate items at the top.
- For delicate glassware and ornaments, using a combination of shredded paper and bubble wrap will help you to protect them whilst in transit.
Take a look at our range of packaging for moving home or office here.
When it comes to choosing plastic crates or cardboard boxes, check out our article here. If you’d like more tips on choosing packaging, check out our article 10 Tips For A Smooth Office Move.
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