Packing Antiques for Moving

One of the dreaded tasks when relocating is packing antiques, especially if they are irreplaceable. The entire process can be nerve breaking and demands extra caution when handling these valuable items. If your antiques get not adequately wrapped, a minimal bumpy ride to your destination is the only thing required to damage them ultimately. Following the right packing steps when it comes to packing & more of your antiques is necessary to move your antique.

The journey to safely transporting valuable antiques begins before you start packing & wrapping. Preparing for any potential incident or accident that may have a damaging effect on your antiques is the first consideration you have to give careful thought. Most valuable antiques get to the next destination safely when using our moving services. It’s vital that before you start on the process of how to pack antiques for moving, you take the following precautionary measures.

Take inventory of your antiques

The initial step before packing antiques for moving or any other task is preparing a list of all your antiques that you want to get moved. Take your time and make sure that all the items get included in the list. Once, you get done preparing a list of antique, and it’s now time to take pictures which will act as collaborative evidence at the end of transport to ascertain their condition.

Get appraisals to ascertain the value of your items

You must understand the value of your antique before they get transported. You can do so by finding a state-approved appraiser to carry out the exercise for you. If damages occur during transportation, an appraiser will be in a position to verify the value and worth of every item.

Get an Insurance cover

In a normal situation where you are moving everyday items, insurance companies usually cover about 60 cents in every pound during relocation. When it comes to valuable items like antiques, be assured that those terms don’t hold. You need to conduct a comparison and fact-finding research from various insurance companies to get a tentative idea on what they charge for such kinds of items.

Having completed the necessary paperwork in readiness to move your antiques, it’s now time for the most critical part of the entire exercise, packing your antiques. It’s essential to take note that, no matter how profound or acceptable your antique insurance policy, take and exercise the best packing procedure as it minimizes breakage and damage risk on your antiques. Also, be open to the possibility of an accident happening even when you are using the best moving company to transport your antiques. To minimize or mitigate those risks, proper packing of your antiques comes in handy. The following steps are critical when it comes to packing antiques for moving.

Procure packing equipments in advance

Antiques are not just the ordinary items you can pack anyhow. You require to have proper packing equipment and materials to do a thorough job of packing antiques for moving. Equipment such as wrapping papers, bubble wrap, duct tape, boxes and microfiber cloth are some of the equipment and materials you will need. Also, to moving services some delicate items, you will get required to have air-filled plastic wrap, glassine which is resistant to grease, air and water. Some antiques need to be wrapped with a moving blanket to enhance their safety during transit.

Some people usually make a mistake of wrapping their antiques with pieces of clothes as one way of cutting down cost, but what they don’t realize is that by doing so they increase the risk of damage to their antiques. With typical everyday items, the risk of harm is understandable, but not when it comes to moving antiques. The entire point of doing this is to minimize the risk of damage as the items are irreplaceable and their value immeasurable.

Ensure your antiques gets handled with precaution & care

Your antiques are valuable as a whole, not in pieces. Hence, when packing your antique for moving, ensure they get handled with extra precaution, and if by any chance you can’t fill them yourself, you should supervise the packing yourself. Where situations may allow, it’s better to pack your antiques individually as its safer but slightly costly—your first step when it comes to wrapping your antique with bubble wrap quite nicely. Then, you can use either a non-abrasive piece of clothing. If your antique items are a bit heavier, it’s highly recommended that you use a non-abrasive cloth as it accommodates tremendous pressure and provides better padding as well.

It’s also critical that you make sure the boxes you will use to pack & transport your items are safe and sturdy. Pack And Ship Movers experts at times advise doubling or even triple your packages if need be to ensure safety.

Get everything labelled correctly

It would help if you had your boxes labelled correctly with writing that clearly say what gets packed inside that box. Labelling your boxes comes with some very significant benefits, especially when it comes to unpacking your antiques. Pack And Ship Movers handling your containers will have a better understanding of how they will exercise caution and safety during handling. Also, it’s essential to ensure that heavy and light objects are clearly labelled. Lastly, all highly fragile boxes need to get appropriately labelled so that the handlers of such containers will increase their attention.

Exercise caution when loading items on the truck

Professional Pack And Ship Movers companies come with a wide range of experience when handling fragile items with much greater value, but it won’t hurt to be safe and sure than sorry when your antiques get damaged. As protocols dictate when packing items, fragile and valuable items like antiques get packed the last and are the first to be unloaded. Similarly, while loading your antique, it’s essential to ensure that the place or location they will sit on is relatively safe and no falling objects will damage them. Also, these antiques mustn’t get placed in areas of high vibration during movement as they are highly fragile and can get damaged by truck vibrations. Avoiding as much risk as possible is always necessary while handling items like antiques.

Unloading your delivery

Upon reaching your new residence or destination, ensure that your fragile antiques get unloaded first. At this point, it’s good that you make sure of the inventory you made during preparation and check against all the items that have gotten delivered. Never sign the final receipt without satisfactorily confirming that all the things are as per your terms. Also, you will have to make sure that if any items have gotten disassembled, it has gotten assembled back to the original form. 

Check and confirm once again that there are no damages on your antiques. In case you find damages, it’s crucial that you contact your insurance agent and file a claim form for immediate compensation. While unpacking or unloading, take pictures as well to compare with your previously taken photos taken at the beginning of the whole exercise. You must make sure that when taking these pictures, taking pictures is part of the evidence that might get used in case there is a dispute on who should take the blame and fault for the damaged items.

Things can happen

In a situation where you find some few items were broken or damaged, your first reaction is significant. We advise to sit back and not react angrily towards the entire situation. Remember we left a window of risk when transporting such fragile items and some accidents might be beyond the mover’s control. You need to gather all the documented evidence in your possession and immediately contact us with any questions and explain the situation at hand.