When getting ready to move out, one of the most important things you have to do is decide whether you will move any of your large and heavy furniture. Bear in mind that moving furniture is not only difficult and even dangerous due to the large dimensions and serious weight of most furniture items, but it’ll cost you extra money too – sometimes more than what the furniture is worth anyway.
One piece of bedroom furniture that you may wish to take with you is the dresser, especially if it is a high-quality unit or if it happens to be a lovely antique that you can’t just part with. Of course, the best way to move a dresser is to hire experienced furniture movers to do it for you – they will protect the unit well and transport it safely to wherever you want it to go.
Nevertheless, there are specific house moving scenarios where it’ll make more sense to try to move your dresser by yourself, particularly when you’re moving locally. In such cases, you will need to know how to pack and move a dresser by yourself – that is, without professional assistance of any kind.
So, how to move a dresser to a new home?
Follow these 12 steps to make sure the bedroom furniture reaches the new home perfectly intact.
Step 1. See if it makes sense to move your dresser
Being impulsive often proves to be counterproductive when moving house. Yes, you like the dresser and your first reaction is to want to move it with you so that you get to keep it in the bedroom of the new place.
However, you should also try to be as pragmatic as possible and assess the situation from both financial and practical points of view. Think about these points before you rush to pack and move your dresser:
What’s the current condition of the dresser? Is it too old, worn out, or damaged to be worth the effort of packing and moving it?
Does the chest of drawers hold any sentimental value for you?
Do the math – it’s possible that you’ll pay more money to transport the furniture unit than you purchase a brand new one after the move. This is especially true for long-distance moves.
Will the dresser fit the layout of the new bedroom and match its interior design?
If your dresser assessment says you’re good to go, then it’s time for Step 2 – preparing the required packing supplies.
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Step 2. Gather the necessary packing materials
The decision to move your dresser will set in motion a series of actions intended to guarantee the safety of the furniture piece. The truth is that you must make sure the bedroom furniture unit is protected well for the bumpy road ahead since a house move can hide plenty of risks for the dresser.
Naturally, you don’t want anything bad to happen to the furniture unit, so the secret to achieving the maximum level of protection for your household item is to have the proper packing supplies ready before the start of the packing process.
Here are the supplies you’ll need to pack a dresser for moving:
Some dressers are prettier than others.
Furniture blankets. These are thick protective blankets (pads) that will go around the dresser and will protect it against any harmful external forces. The soft padding layer will also absorb any shocks and vibrations during the entire haul.
Plastic wrap. Ideal for wrapping it around the drawers with the purpose of keeping whatever is inside without having to take it out. See below for more details.
Cardboard pieces. You’re going to need several sheets of thick cardboard for protecting the most fragile areas of your bedroom furniture.
Masking tape. Use it to keep the dresser drawers from opening – see below.
Packing tape. You’re going to need packing tape to secure the furniture blankets onto the dresser.
Step 3. Buy furniture sliders
Before you can pack a dresser for moving, you’re going to have to move the furniture piece away from the wall.
Now, even when you empty all dresser drawers, the chest of drawers will most likely still be rather heavy for you and your helper to just lift and move comfortably to the middle of the room. To facilitate this task, don’t hesitate to use furniture sliders.
Furniture sliders are pieces of hard rubber or durable plastic that decrease greatly the friction between a heavy object and the floor, thus allowing you to just slide the bulky thing across the room with minimum effort and zero damage.
Get the right type of furniture sliders – for hardwood floors and tiled floors, you’re going to need sliders that have felt on the bottom side. On the other hand, for carpeted floors, get furniture gliders with rubber or plastic on the bottom side.
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Step 4. Get a furniture dolly
Depending on the type of dresser you’re moving, the furniture piece can weigh anywhere between 100 and 150 pounds. The specific weight of each unit will depend on the material it’s made of – whether it’s solid wood or particleboard – and on its size – just how big the dresser is.
As you can see, carrying your dresser with your bare hands – without using the right type of moving equipment – is not the recommended way to go even when you’ve secured a helper on Moving day. So, you’d be better off using a furniture dolly to transport the heavy dresser to the moving truck.
A furniture dolly is a low flat platform – made of wood or steel – that has 4 swivel wheels on the bottom. The great thing about furniture dollies is that they can withstand loads up to a thousand pounds, and sometimes even more.
Rent a furniture dolly from a local moving company or simply purchase one from the nearest home improvement store.
Step 5. Ask a friend to help you move the dresser
If you fail to secure at least one reliable helper, then do the sensible thing and hire movers.
You should keep in mind that moving a dresser by yourself does not mean that you have to move the large and heavy furniture item entirely on your own. What it means is that instead of paying professional furniture movers, you’ve made up your mind to pack and move the household item together with a friend, or a few friends for that matter.
So, ask a good friend if they can come and help you move the heavy piece of bedroom furniture. The chances are that you will have a few other furniture items besides the dresser, so a trustworthy helper is a must. If you can gather up more than one assistant, then that’s even better for you.
But if it happens so that you just can’t find anybody to give you a hand, then be reasonable and don’t try to be a lone hero. Instead, get in touch with experienced movers to avoid strong headaches.
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Step 6. Remove any stuff from the dresser top
It’s time to start packing your dresser for the upcoming move.
Now, the very first step in the dresser packing process is to remove any items that are located on the top of the dresser – candles, perfumes, make-up, jewelry pieces, framed photos, vases, lamps, or any other miscellaneous items that have served well as decorations.
Depending on the nature of those various things, use packing paper or bubble wrap (for the easily breakable ones) and pack them into separate boxes. There shouldn’t be anything on the top of the dresser in the end, just the large mirror that remains to be removed safely and packed separately a bit later.
Step 7. Empty the dresser drawers… or not
The big question that you must be asking yourself is whether you can leave clothes in the dresser when moving house.
It’s an excellent question – after all, leaving your clothes inside the drawers will speed up the packing and moving process considerably. And it’s a fact that clothes can’t get damaged while the chest of drawers is being moved around, so do you need to empty the drawers or not?
Individual pieces of clothing may not weigh much, but when too many clothes are stuffed into multiple drawers, the weight will add up. Remember that any extra weight will make the job of moving a dresser to a new home much harder.
Therefore, the recommended approach is to empty the dresser drawers in order to make the furniture unit lighter and easier to handle. Remove any clothes, bed sheets, towels, blankets, and whatever else is inside those drawers and pack them separately in medium to large cardboard boxes.
Although not recommended, you can still choose to keep clothes in the dresser drawers when moving, especially if the furniture piece itself is not very heavy, you only keep lightweight clothes in it (such as underwear), and you’ve got enough helpers to make the job lighter.
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Step 8. Secure the dresser drawers
Make sure the dresser drawers cannot open during transport.
Regardless of whether you choose to keep any clothes in the dresser drawers or not (emptying the drawers is the recommended approach), the next step is to ensure that the drawers will not accidentally open during transport.
So, how to keep drawers from falling out when moving? One way is to use small pieces of painter’s tape (masking tape) on each edge so that the drawer stays firmly attached to the main structure of the furniture unit. Do NOT use regular packing tape for this purpose because it is likely to damage the delicate surface of the dresser.
The other method of securing the drawers when moving the dresser is to use stretch wrap over the drawers and around the whole unit. Similar to painter’s tape, stretch wrap will not leave any nasty marks on the dresser surface.
Step 9. Remove and pack the dresser mirror separately
One of the most critical steps when moving a dresser to a new home is to detach the mirror from the bedroom furniture and to pack it safely for transport.
Here’s how to pack a dresser mirror for moving:
Place a furniture slider under each leg and slide the dresser away from the wall.
Remove the screws that hold the mirror or the mirror frame. Do this slowly with the help of an appropriate screwdriver and get your helper to support the mirror at all times.
Position the mirror on the ground, then place a large sheet of cardboard over the mirror surface, covering the entire area of the mirror. Use pieces of masking tape to secure the cardboard cut-out over the mirror.
Cover the mirror in thick furniture blankets, then secure the blankets with tape.
Add one final layer of bubble wrap over the padding one to provide the best protection for the super-fragile mirror.
Keep all screws and other fastening elements in a labeled plastic bag.
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Step 10. Wrap the dresser in blankets
The best way to pack a dresser for moving is to wrap it up in several furniture blankets to pad it well against any hits, bumps, or vibrations during the haul.
In most cases, you’re going to need 4-5 moving blankets to cover the entire surface of the dressing table. Don’t rush this step – instead, make sure no area of the furniture item is left exposed. When done, use regular packing tape to secure the blankets so that they don’t get unwrapped during the move.
The final step to packing a dresser for moving is to shrink-wrap it. This way, you’ll keep the entire unit from getting dusty and dirty and the blankets will stay perfectly clean as well. As a bonus, no amount of moisture will be able to get inside it either.
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Step 11. Load the dresser onto the dolly
This is what your dresser should look like before you take it out of the home.
It’s time to load the dresser onto the dolly. Get your helper or helpers to tilt the furniture unit slightly from one of its sides while you position the dolly underneath it. Then, have your friends push the dresser toward you until the heavy item gets perfectly balanced onto the low 4-wheel platform.
Use straps or a long piece of rope to secure the heavy load onto the dolly, then start wheeling the dresser toward the front door in order to get it safely out of the home.
The only problem when using a furniture dolly to move your dresser to the moving vehicle is that those types of dollies are not designed to handle stairs. In order to overcome stairs, you’re going to need an appliance dolly – the two-wheel L-shaped lever that’s also known as a hand truck. However, going down the stairs with a loaded appliance dolly is too risky for non-professionals, especially when the load is too bulky to handle safely.
If you have to go through flights of stairs to reach the moving truck, then you’d better get in touch with experienced furniture movers.
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Step 12. Load the dresser into the truck
When you reach the rental truck, use the loading ramp to get the dresser up into the back of the vehicle. While wheeling the heavy furniture along the ramp, use all the manpower you’ve got available on Moving day, go very slowly, and plan each step before you take it.
If the rental truck is equipped with a liftgate, then use that instead for a much safer loading experience.
Once inside the truck, secure the bedroom furniture to the back of the vehicle using straps. It’s essential that the dresser does not shift around during the relocation trip.
Moving a dresser to a new home is not an easy task by any means. The entire furniture moving process involves certain risks such as personal injuries and property damage for inexperienced non-professionals.
Do consider hiring top-rated furniture movers to keep out of harm’s way.
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The post How to Pack and Move a Dresser in 12 Steps appeared first on The Moving Blog.
