We’ve been doing this long enough to know where things go wrong. And it’s rarely where people expect.
Most clients worry about the big stuff — will the sofa fit through the door, will the wardrobe survive the stairs. Fair questions. But the damage we see most often happens in smaller moments. A marble tabletop set down too fast. A wardrobe carried whole when it should have been taken apart. A lamp on the wall that nobody noticed until it was on the floor.
This is what we tell clients before moving day.
Disassemble before we arrive
Wardrobes are the main one. A wardrobe that’s been standing for five years looks solid. Pick it up and carry it through a doorway, and you’ll feel it flex. The joints aren’t built for that kind of movement. We’ve taken over jobs where a previous crew tried to force a loose wardrobe through a hallway — the wardrobe survived, the walls didn’t.
If a wardrobe is large or you’re not sure how solid it is, take it apart before moving day. Legs off the bed too. Anything that unscrews, unscrew it.
Wall lights and sconces — take them down. We’re focused on the furniture in our hands, not the fitting at head height behind us. They go fast and they’re fragile.
How we wrap furniture
Everything wooden gets thick blankets. Wardrobes, sideboards, dining tables — wrapped and taped before they leave the room. Foam corner guards go on first because corners are where furniture meets door frames.
Chairs and irregular pieces get grey blankets. There’s a practical reason for this: grey blankets are thinner and pick up small stones from the ground. Against a flat wooden surface those stones scratch. Thick blankets don’t trap debris the same way, so they’re safe for flat surfaces. Grey ones aren’t.
Sofas and upholstered furniture get furni-guard — a film that’s part plastic, part fabric. It protects the fabric from scuffs and keeps moisture out if the piece goes into storage.
Sofas travel on their side
Every sofa we move goes into the van vertically — on its edge, legs toward the wall, strapped to the side. Never flat.
We don’t know the internal construction of every sofa we handle. Flat, you can’t put weight on top without risking the frame cracking somewhere we can’t see. On its side, the piece is stable and we can strap it properly. All long furniture follows the same rule.
The straps matter as much as the blankets. A wardrobe that survived the carry and the wrap can still get damaged if it shifts in the van on a sharp corner.
Marble and stone
We handle marble tabletops fairly regularly. Some of them are over 100kg. The failure mode is always the same — chipping on impact. Marble doesn’t bend. Set it down hard onto a solid surface and the edge chips.
For anything like this we use a flat trolley and lifting straps. The trolley takes the weight; the straps control how fast it goes down. Four people for the heavy slabs, two for lighter ones. It goes onto a padded surface, not bare floor.
The same applies to stone shelving, granite worktops being moved to storage, anything in that category.
French furniture with mirror panels
This one catches people out. Wardrobes, dressing tables, bedside cabinets — if the panels are mirrored, the piece needs careful handling in the van.
The mirror is bonded to wood. Wood moves slightly with pressure and temperature changes. Glass doesn’t. Strap the piece too tight against the van wall, the wood compresses under the strap and the mirror cracks along the bond. We’ve seen it happen to other companies’ jobs when clients call us to help finish a move.
Correct tension on the straps — firm enough to stop movement, not so tight the frame flexes. If you’re hiring anyone, ask specifically whether they’ve handled mirrored furniture.
Plan the route before anyone lifts anything
Walk the route with the largest piece in mind before the move starts. The turn at the top of the stairs, the corridor with the radiator sticking out, the front door that opens the wrong way.
People grab large furniture and commit to a direction before checking if it fits. Then it’s stuck, someone’s pushing, and the door frame loses. Two minutes with a tape measure at the widest point of the biggest piece prevents that.
We do a free video survey before larger moves for this reason. Nothing on moving day should be a surprise.
Floors
Hardwood and engineered wood scratch under repeated foot traffic carrying heavy loads. We lay floor runners on the main route — front door to each room. If you’re moving out of a property, this protects your deposit. If you’re moving in, it protects the floors on day one.
Ask any company you hire whether they bring floor protection. If they don’t mention it, ask directly.
Great Moving covers South West London and Surrey — Wimbledon, Richmond, Kingston upon Thames, Putney, Streatham and surrounding areas. Free quotes and video surveys at great-moving.com or call 0800 208 8056.