Fragile things rarely break because a truck hit a bump. They break because something moved inside the box. Pack a carton properly and a crate of glassware will travel across Melbourne without a chip. Pack it loosely and the damage is done before the truck leaves the driveway.
Movers4Melbourne has been moving Melbourne households since 2014. We are removalists rather than packers, so our crews load, carry and transport, and we supply the furniture blankets, trolleys and straps on the day. Boxing up the small breakable things is the part you do yourself, so here is how to do it properly, in the order to do it.
What you need before you start
Most broken crockery comes down to the wrong materials rather than carelessness. For a typical kitchen and lounge room you will want:
- Book boxes for anything heavy. Plates, glassware and small appliances belong in a small, strong carton, never a large one.
- Tea chest boxes for bulky but light items such as lampshades, vases and stemware.
- Packing paper for wrapping. Newspaper works, but the ink transfers onto white china and you will be washing it at the other end.
- Bubble wrap for anything with a stem, a handle, a spout or a glass panel.
- Packing tape and a dispenser, and more of it than you expect. Every fragile carton needs a reinforced base.
- A marker for labelling as you go.
We sell all of these from our moving boxes and packing supplies page, including one, two and three bedroom packages if you would rather not work out the quantities yourself.
1. Build the box before you fill it
Tape the base of every fragile carton across the seam and then again in both directions, so the tape forms a cross. A book box full of plates can weigh twenty kilos, and the base is the only part of a carton holding that weight.
Then line the bottom with two or three centimetres of crushed paper. That layer is what absorbs the shock when the box is set down, which happens far more often than you would think on a moving day.
2. Wrap each item on its own
Lay a sheet of packing paper flat, put the item in a corner, and roll it diagonally across the sheet, tucking the sides in as you go. One item per sheet. Two plates wrapped together will rub against each other for the whole trip.
A few items need more than paper:
- Stemware and wine glasses: stuff crushed paper into the bowl first so the glass cannot flex, then wrap, then bubble wrap the stem.
- Framed pictures and mirrors: tape a large cross over the glass so that if it does break it holds together, then wrap in bubble wrap and stand them on edge.
- Lamps: take the shade off and pack it on its own in a tea chest box. Never pack a shade against anything.
- Televisions: the original box is best. Without it, bubble wrap the screen and carry it upright, never flat.
3. Load heavy at the bottom, and fill every gap
Plates go in on their edge, like records in a rack, not stacked flat. Stacked plates concentrate the whole weight of the pile on the bottom one. Standing on edge, each plate carries only itself.
Build upwards with the heaviest items at the bottom and the lightest on top, and fill every space as you go. When the box is full, press down gently on the contents. If anything shifts, there is a gap, and that gap is where the damage comes from. Add more crushed paper until nothing moves at all.
Keep fragile boxes under about sixteen kilos. If you cannot comfortably lift it yourself, it is too heavy for the carton, whoever is carrying it.
4. Label clearly, on the sides
Write FRAGILE and the room it belongs in on at least two sides of the box, not on the top. Once boxes are stacked in a truck or in a hallway, the tops are not visible. Add an arrow showing which way is up for anything that must stay upright.
One more label worth adding: OPEN FIRST, on the one or two boxes holding the kettle, a few mugs and the things you will want within an hour of arriving.
The things not to box at all
Some items travel better in the truck than in a carton. Large mirrors, glass table tops and artwork are safer wrapped in furniture blankets and stood upright against a wall of the truck, which is how our crews carry them. Leave those to us on the day rather than trying to build a box around them.
Pianos are their own category. A piano is both fragile and extremely heavy, and it needs the right equipment rather than the right packaging. That is a job for our piano removalists.
Keep passports, jewellery, medication, keys and documents with you in the car. Not because they are fragile, but because they are the things you least want to be looking for in a stack of cartons.
If something does break
Movers4Melbourne is fully insured, and what that covers is set out on our removals insurance page. It is worth reading before the day rather than after it. Photograph anything genuinely valuable before it is packed, so its condition beforehand is not a matter of memory.
Packing done, ready to move
Once the breakables are boxed, the rest is lifting and driving, and that is our part. We move houses, units and offices across Melbourne seven days a week, with upfront hourly rates confirmed before the job starts and furniture blankets, trolleys and straps supplied as standard.
Have a look at house removals or apartment removals for how a move runs, or request a free quote. You can also call us on 0452 490 078.