The very first nightmare that everyone faces during relocation is the breakage of the fragile items. We have a lot of fragile items lying around in our house and it is impossible to leave them all behind. Be it from our living room, bedroom or kitchen, every room has some breakable item or the other.
You need to pay enough attention while packing these fragile items and with a few tips you will be good to preserve your fragile items safely till the time you unwrap them in your new house!
The right packing materials
Packing materials are everything for a foolproof packing. Without the right packing materials, how much ever you think you have wrapped and carefully packed your breakables, something is bound to break.
To start with moving house, it is important to choose those packing materials that don’t leave a scratch on these fragile items. Make sure that there wouldn’t be any sharp item or item that might transfer color to the other materials in some special occasion.
Some of the necessary packing materials to have are packing paper, bubble wraps, boxes of proper sizes and sturdiness, packing tapes and plastic wrapping. It is important to have a sufficient quantity of these packing materials to ensure that your packing isn’t interrupted because you have run out of boxes.
While collecting the boxes for your fragile items, keep in mind the sizes, weight and its quantity. If there are some bigger items like frames and such, then try to pack them in its original box. If you can’t find the original box, then try to get a box that is closer to the original one. It is best to have some boxes in extra instead of getting just the right amount of boxes.
Depending on the kind of fragile materials you are packing, you need to improvise and get the appropriate packing material for it. If you are unable to find packing materials, contact the removalists you hired and request them to arrange it for you.
How to pack fragile items
To help you start with, we will now see how to pack some of the basic fragile items that can be found in all households.
Plates
For plates pick a box that is just a bit taller than the plates. Wrap each of the plates individually with packing paper and place them vertically inside the box. This will help you store more plates in a single box easily without cluttering it. To be on the safer side, you can use bubble wrapping or any other cushioning material in between two plates. Don’t forget to pack the bottom and top of the box with bubble wraps and packing paper to bear any shocks.
Don’t try to add more plates in the box when it is already full. Leave a bit of breathing space in the box, add some bubble wraps on the top and seal the box.
Glasses
Like the plates, line the top and bottom with packing materials. Wrap each glass with packing paper on the outside from the bottom and stuff the excess packing paper into the mouth of the glass. If you are packing wine glasses, then wrap some packing paper separately on its stem before wrapping the whole piece in another packing paper.
If there is more space inside the glass, then stuff in more packing material. Line the glass orderly inside the box. For the gaps present in between the glasses, use more packing material to ensure that the glasses do not move during transportation.
Mirrors and pictures
When packing fragile, thin, square and rectangular objects like mirrors and framed pictures, you need to find the right sized box for it first.
Make an X mark with the tape from the corners of the mirror or the picture to ensure that the glass doesn’t move or even if it breaks, doesn’t harm the picture inside or scar you when you unpack it. Cover it entirely in packing paper all around and secure it with packing tapes. You can also wrap it once in bubble wrap and place it inside the box. Or, you can place it inside the box and stuff the empty gaps with bubble wraps all around. Make sure that there isn’t enough space for the mirror or the picture to move around inside the box. And then tape the box shut tightly with packing tape.
You can check our other article on packing hacks for the house move to help you get more clarity