MOVERS CALGARY

 A free moving overseas checklist to download

 Make sure you're well prepared before you move

 The less you bring, the less you pay. Obviously there will be some pieces of furniture that you just won't be able to leave behind, but you'll probably find you can part with some of your stuff. Have a think about these questions before you prepare your final list of items to ship abroad. To find other ways to cut costs when moving furniture overseas, check out our guide to the cheapest ways to move abroad.

 Will it be cheaper just to buy it again in your new country? Some things are irreplaceable, but other things can easily be replaced (like an IKEA desk chair). Consider the cost of shipping something versus the cost of buying it new.

 What will the weather be like? Wooden furniture is actually very sensitive to the weather, and so is leather. If you’re going somewhere humid then your antique pieces might suffer, while very dry weather is not good for fine furniture. New, thick furniture is your best all-rounder here.

 Will it actually fit? Make sure there’s space in your new home for every item you want to bring. Checking the width of your new doorway is a must.

 Do you really need it? Has a bulky kitchen appliance been collecting dust in the back of a cupboard? If you can think of a friend who might make better use of something than you are, maybe it’s time to hand it over. Likewise, selling stuff on websites like Gumtree and eBay is super easy.

 Select the size of your move to get free quotes

 None of your furniture should be exposed or loosely packed. Give all your boxes a good shake and if anything rattles, then you’ve done it wrong. If you can see the leg of a chair or the corner of a table, start again. These tips should help you avoid all the common packing errors.

 Use space intelligently. If you’re bringing any cabinets or chests of drawers, you may as well make full use of them. While you’re packing, gather together all the smaller items that you’re taking with you and then put them inside the drawers. However, the drawers themselves must be removed before transit. Just shrink-wrap them so their contents stays in place.

 Disassemble everything you can. It might feel a bit sad pulling apart your favourite pieces of furniture, but they need to be as compact as possible. If something can be dismantled in any way then you should dismantle it. Bed frames, tables, chairs, wardrobes… You can use small, sealable plastic bags to put the screws and small parts in. Just make sure you take pictures or notes while you disassemble items so you know how to put them back together again.

 Look after your fragile items. When it comes to packing your delicate items, give it everything you’ve got. Corrugated cardboard sheets, bubble wrap, blankets, the whole lot. Remove any glass parts (if possible) from your pieces of furniture and wrap them separately. If they can’t be removed then put cardboard cutouts around them. Tape a big ‘X’ on any glass surfaces so, if they do break, they probably won’t shatter.

 Don’t overfill boxes. None of your boxes should weigh more than 30 pounds. Boxes heavier than this probably won’t withstand the weight and you could seriously hurt your back trying to lift them. To avoid putting too much in a box, pack light items in big boxes and heavy items in small boxes.

 Protect the corners. Of everything you’re bringing, the corners of your furniture will be most at risk of damage during the move day. You can buy special ‘furniture corner protectors’ that are perfect for the job, although pieces of thick cardboard are also very effective.

 Go easy on the shrink wrap. This industrial cling film is brilliant at holding your stuff in place and protecting it from dirt. However, it doesn’t get along with wooden furniture. It causes moisture stains and it can damage the varnish. For wooden items, you’ll need to find an alternative wrapping material such as cardboard and bubble wrap.

 Add wax. Speaking of delicate wooden furniture, you can go one step further when it comes to protecting your expensive surfaces. A layer of ‘finishing wax’, applied with a microfibre cloth, is a great way to prevent your wooden furniture from getting any scratches along the way.

 Label everything. Make a note of what’s in each box with a marker in big letters. Do this on the side of the box rather than the top or bottom, as it will be easier to identify each box when they’re stacked on top of each other. To make identifying them even easier, you could also colour code your boxes depending on what room they belong to. Blue for the kitchen, pink for the bathroom, green for the master bedroom…

 Start packing early. Packing will take longer than you think, so it’s good to get started early. A couple of months before the move date is best. Refer back to your list of furniture and highlight the items that you won’t need until after you’ve moved. You should pack these first, working down the list toward the items that you use most regularly.

 shipping furniture overseas

Movers Calgary

 If those tips weren’t detailed enough for you, we've also got some great tips on how to pack specific items for their move abroad. Sofas, mirrors, tables – we’ve got you covered.

 And if you're starting to feel overwhelmed, take a breath and download our handy moving abroad checklist to make sure you've got everything covered.

 Broken mirrors are bad luck, so you don’t want to be sending one to your new home! Firstly, it’s important that you tape a big ‘X’ on the surface of your mirror. This way, if the mirror cracks then it’s much less likely to shatter and send shards of glass everywhere. Cover your mirror in bubble wrap, lay a sheet of corrugated cardboard on either side and then secure everything with tape. You can then wrap it in a big blanket for extra protection. Don’t forget to put separate pieces of thick cardboard around each corner of the mirror.

 There’s nothing nicer than a really beautiful lamp to light up your living room, so you don't want to go damaging it. Remove the bulb and the lampshade first and pack them separately. You’ll be left with a headless lamp and a long wire. Wrap the wire around the body of the lamp and secure everything with masking tape. Cover the lamp with bubble wrap and place it in a suitably sized box. You’ll want to cushion the lamp with some crumpled newspaper, too.

 Most of us spend a fairly large part of our lives sitting on couches and watching television, so it’s important that they do the job properly. If you’re bringing your sofa, the first thing you need to do is try to remove its legs if possible. It sounds gruesome but it will help you get it through all the doorways. Take off all the covers and cushions and pack them separately along with the legs. After that, things get a bit fiddly, but it’s all necessary.

 You need to disassemble the frame. Turn the sofa on its back and remove the staples at the base with a Flathead screwdriver. This should allow you to take off (or at least roll back) the upholstery, exposing most of the sofa’s frame. Using a screwdriver or an Allen wrench, remove the screws and bolts that hold the arms, the seat and the back of the sofa together. You should be left with a pile of upholstery, pieces of wooden frame and screws. Make sure everything is wrapped thoroughly and safely – a dismantled sofa is still prone to damage if it isn’t packed properly. We recommend taking photos while you work, too, so you know how to reassemble the sofa again once it's in its new home.

 If you work from home (and your work involves a desk) then a quality desk chair is a big priority. Fortunately, most desk chairs are really easy to disassemble. Start by pulling off the wheels – most desk chairs have wheels that pop off pretty easily. After that, there should be a knob on the bottom of the seat that you can turn until the seat is loose enough to remove. Do the same with the back of the chair. You’ll then be left with just the chair's central structure. Cover each part in bubble wrap and box it all up. If your chair looks difficult to disassemble then simply refer to the original instruction manual (if you still have it).

 This is quite easy. Turn the table upside down and remove all the legs. This should be pretty easy to unscrew but it may take a bit of elbow grease. Most table legs are attached by something called a ‘leg assembly’, which is a combination of screws and braces. Go at it with a decent screwdriver and you should be done in no time. Once the legs are off, wrap them in a combination of cardboard and bubble wrap. The table itself should be protected by a thick blanket and a few sheets of corrugated cardboard. Make sure you’ve done everything properly; if your table gets damaged on the way then you might be eating your first meal in your new home off the floor.

 You’ll have other belongings that don’t classify as furniture but are still worth a quick mention. It’s fairly simple; if the item is small enough, just put it in a box. Dishes, glasses and crockery should go in robust cardboard boxes, although you shouldn’t put too many things in one box. Use blankets and newspaper to make sure small delicate items won’t hit each other during their time in transit. Dish towels and kitchen roll are also useful ways to create buffers without adding too much weight to your cargo. Similarly, books should go in boxes but never too many in the same box as it will become too heavy to carry.

 Select the size of your move to get free quotes

 Cleaning your furniture

 When you hear the word ‘quarantine’, you probably think about people and pets. Well, you should think about furniture too. Some countries , such as Australia, have some serious restrictions on the cargo that people import, and they can get really fussy about items of furniture that appear unclean. Small things like bits of dust, dirt and mold can have a damaging effect on local ecosystems, so you need to arrive with your cargo looking pretty spotless.

 If a customs official finds one dirty item of furniture then they might end up unpacking everything, and you don’t want that. Obviously gardening items such as tools and outdoor furniture are the main culprits for bringing dirt into other countries, but all your indoor furniture needs a proper inspection too.

 It sounds a bit gross but wood is a popular place for tiny insects, so you need to check it for signs of infestation (eg. tiny holes). The other incentive to dust and clean your belongings is that is reduces the chances of stains and scratches during transit. Spend a bit of time sprucing up your furniture and you’ll be doing everyone a favour.

 How much does it cost to move furniture abroad?

 The cost of moving furniture abroad depends on a number of factors including how much furniture you’re moving, where you’re moving it to and from, and whether you move it by air, sea or land. In general, you should expect to pay anywhere between £1,000 and £5,000 to move your furniture overseas. Additional services such as hiring a professional company to pack your furniture will drive up the cost.