We use professional moving pads, cardboard, foam, paper and shrink wrap.
Protecting our customer’s furniture with high grade moving pads during a move is the first thing we do when we arrive at a job site. Every item you own will be protected in one manner or another before we remove it from your home.
Primarily, we use our professional grade moving pads to wrap furniture. We also use lower grade pads for small items. If a piece of furniture is built out of glass, then we will protect that glass with cardboard as well as utilizing moving pads. Sometimes we will pack smaller furniture (ie. antiques), and larger electronics into boxes and add Styrofoam or foam sheets and even packing peanuts.
What kind of moving pads do you use?
Our moving pads are made out of densely woven poly-cotton fabric. Each pad weights about 7 lbs. All of our pads have a chevron stitching which adds to the durability and life of the moving pad. Our pads come in all different sizes and colors. We usually stock our trucks with black and blue moving pads and the bulk of our pads are 72″ x 80″.
There are several different grades of moving pads available for moving furniture. We do stock a few lighter weight moving pads on our trucks as well. These lightweight moving pads are only used for extremely lightweight pieces of furniture. Believe it or not, a moving pad, being 7 lbs is heavy, and can cause damage to a piece of lightweight furniture. For that reason, we keep a few lower grade moving pads on every truck.
How do moving pads protect furniture?
Using professional grade moving pads adds a layer of protection that can withstand all kinds of bumping, scraping, banging, etc.. that could potentially occur during a move. Our moving pads are high grade and our movers are trained to use these pads with strategic folds that cover your furniture entirely.
Once your furniture is completely wrapped in moving pads, our movers can then safely transport your furniture with our dollies and hand trucks. Our equipment is made out of steel and aluminum so the pads protect the furniture from any potential scrapes and scratches from our equipment. This could easily occur when going over bumps, door jams, stairs, etc..
Moving pads also allow for furniture to be stacked in our trucks without causing damage to the furniture. To utilize the full capacity of our trucks cargo hold, we have to be able to stack your furniture and boxes from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, from the front to the back of the truck. We will use moving pads throughout the entire load to ensure all of your furniture remains in the condition it was when we arrived to do your move.
There are many other uses for moving pads that you may see us strategically employ during your move. Sometimes moving pads are used to protect railings, doors, counter tops, and other areas. Moving pads can be rolled up and used as a bumper to get up and down a curb more easily.
Moving pads can also be strategically used to move furniture as well. Moving longer or taller furniture through small turns can be dangerous. One technique is to stage the furniture on a moving pad and slide the furniture around the corner.
How do you use cardboard to protect furniture?
Cardboard is probably the most popular material used to protect your items during a move. Of course, cardboard is primarily used for boxing smaller items, but that is not the only purpose for using cardboard.
We will pack your furniture into boxes if you request it to be done. Remember, when your furniture arrived at the store where you purchased it, most likely it arrived in a box. Packing furniture is an extensive and expensive process, but necessary when the furniture is very fragile and expensive. Antique furniture, like telephone tables, are often packed to prevent the item from breaking during your move.
We box glass shelves on-site for almost every move. We can break apart a medium sized box and customize the cardboard to create a tightly packed box for your glass shelves. The same technique is used with all different sized boxes for different sized glass, marble, granite, slate and mirror. Larger glass tables are boxed with broken down cardboard from larger wardrobe boxes.
If you choose not to box your television, and release the liability of your item, we will still take many safety precautions to protect your television. We will wrap your television in a professional grade moving pad, and then we will protect the screen with cardboard.
Cardboard is also used as a plank or as an extra layer of padding when we stack furniture in the moving truck. Cardboard may be placed between furniture items or on the floor to protect your furniture even further.
How do you use foam to protect my items?
Lake City Mover uses three types of foam: Styrofoam, rolls of foam sheets and foam packing peanuts.
Styrofoam is used primarily on electronics. We add custom cut Styrofoam to the corners of your television before packing it into a box. Styrofoam cubes are also added to the front of your television screen away from the box surface; this will keep the screen from being damaged if the box is punctured.
Rolls of foam sheets are used to protect very intricately carved items and small personal effects. These sheets may be necessary during the packing process depending on your items and the budget you have set for us to work with. Foam sheets are very good protection for thin and nimble wood on furniture. If your furniture has fragile edges, parts or pieces, we find it necessary to wrap in foam before we wrap the item in a moving pad or box the item.
