To continue our series of helpful tips for moving house, this month we’re looking at moving heavy furniture and objects. Even if you’re simply rearranging your furniture, moving heavy objects is a challenging task. It presents the risk of damage to the object, your house or injuring yourself if not done properly. Back and neck injuries from lifting heavy objects are quite unpleasant and can take some time to heal. You don’t need that on moving day!

Here are a few tips to make lighter work of moving heavy furniture.

1. Get prepared

You’re going to need more than muscle alone to move heavy objects. Prepare everything you need before you start. 

• Make strong, solid ramps for steps. Use thick, wide boards such as plywood and make sure they don’t move or slide when you walk over them.
• Get furniture sliders if possible. These are widely available from hardware stores and make moving heavy furniture much easier.
• Make sure you have lots of blankets on hand. More on using blankets below.
• See if you can get hold of moving straps. These help with lifting and gripping objects and disperse weight to more muscles in your body.
• Get gloves with good grips to protect your hands.

2. Many hands make light work

For large, heavy objects such as bookshelves, tables and cabinets, it’s best to have two people doing the lifting. As well as spreading the weight between two people, it’s much easier to balance large objects and to manoeuvre them through hallways and doors. Make sure both people have a firm grip before lifting and bend your knees to avoid back strain. Good communication helps too and take regular breaks.

3. Blankets are your friend

Wrapping the top and sides of furniture with blankets helps to protect them from being scratched or damaged while being moved. Secure the blanket with a strap or rope to make sure it remains in place. This will also help to protect you from damaging walls if knocks occur.

You can also use blankets as makeshift furniture sliders if you can’t get hold of any. Place the blanket on the floor and slide the object over it, laying out another blanket when you reach the end. Rinse and repeat until done. Alternatively, place the object on the blanket, grip one end and pull the object in the direction you want to go.

4. Disassemble to make the job easier

Take anything that comes apart to make items smaller and lighter. This includes removing drawers, shelves that aren’t fixed, taking the legs off couches and so on. While it adds time to moving, if you consider using this approach as much as possible, you’ll make the work easier.

5. Phone a friend

Don’t be proud about asking for help. The more people you have to help you move, the better. If you have particularly large or heavy objects, such as a piano, get the specialists to help you move. We know people like to save as much money as possible when moving, but saving yourself from a nasty injury is always the better option.