6 Tips for Moving Heavy Items

When you enlist the help of a professional mover, you can choose to be as involved or uninvolved as you prefer—if part of your involvement means moving heavy items before the movers arrive, you’ll want to follow these simple tips for doing so easily and safely:

1. Empty out storage. This should be part of your packing stage—empty out media units, shelves, chests, bureaus and wardrobes before even trying to move them. This will at least take away the weight you can control.

2. Protect your furniture and your home. Even if the furniture is manageable for you and a friend to carry, heavy furniture with dark finishes can leave scuff marks (or get chipped itself) when it comes in contact with your floors and walls. Use furniture pads or blankets carefully taped to the furniture to cover corners and rough edges—this should also prevent you from hurting yourself while lifting!

3. Lift carefully. Instead of bending over the object you need to move, squat with your knees and pick up the object, keeping it close to your body—this will put less strain on your back. Never lift a heavy box or other item over shoulder level, to prevent risk of a fall.

4. Don’t over-pack. When it comes to putting your books and keepsakes away in boxes, it might be safer to use more boxes instead of trying to cram everything into one. While you may have to make more trips come moving day, you’ll be able to handle these boxes more comfortably.

5. Pack heavy and light together. This is more of a tip on convenience than anything, but it’s smart to add soft, light items to your heavier boxes, if possible. This will conserve the amount of boxes you go through without adding significant strain to any one lifter—you can also use soft sweaters or shirts to act as barriers between picture frames or other fragile items.

6. Mark your boxes accordingly. To make the job easier on the friends, family or movers that will be assisting you, mark “fragile” or “heavy” on those boxes. These boxes will be treated more carefully and only by those who are able enough to lift.