There’s one thing that nobody looks forward to when moving house or going through an office relocation; furniture removal. Moving furniture is a tough task because of how heavy and bulky it is. Some pieces of furniture are easier to manoeuvre – like chairs or small coffee tables. But, larger items like sofas, armchairs, dining tables, cupboards, and beds are ridiculously hard to move.
It’s not just the size and weight that’s the issue – it’s the shape as well. Big armchairs are an awkward shape, which makes them difficult to fit through narrow hallways or doors. The shape also means you can’t use some other lifting methods as well. With heavy boxes, you can use box lifters to stack boxes on top of one another and wheel them out of your building. You can’t do this with a sofa or an armchair – let alone a bed!
So, what is the easiest way to move heavy furniture? There’s no one specific method that works best, but there are a few ideas that make life more straightforward:
Slide your furniture around
Sometimes, it’s possible to avoid lifting your heavy furniture. Plenty of removalists in Sydney will use furniture sliders to move items along the floor. These sliders fit under the legs of chairs or sofas, then slide them across your flooring. They’re specially made to protect the floor from scratches, and they help you glide everything along with minimal effort. The only lifting required is when you have to lift up the furniture to put the sliders underneath it.
While this method is useful, it’s not always possible. As we mentioned, a lot of Sydney removalists do use this when moving sofas and armchairs. However, it only really works if you have the right flooring underneath. Carpet isn’t going to let you slide things on, so it won’t be possible here. You might be able to get some movement, but you risk damaging the carpet fibres as you do it. Instead, this method works on hardwood or laminate flooring, as well as tiles or stone.
Be sure you use proper furniture sliders if you do choose this method. Don’t try a DIY option just in case it doesn’t provide adequate protection for your flooring. Similarly, you could use removal blankets to slide furniture along as well. These blankets are rugged, so they provide protection and can be pulled with a lot of force. Make sure one person stands on the opposite end and holds the blanket as you pull. Then, they walk forward to ensure the furniture slides along with ease. Again, only use proper removal blankets – don’t just use an old one from your bed! If you really want to, you could use a combination of both by putting the blanket under the sliders.
Also, if you’re moving things out of the ground floor of a building, then this is a good option. If you’re on a higher floor, then it can only really get your furniture out onto the landing – you’ll need another method to get it down the stairs, and then to get it up the stairs in your new building.
Measure your furniture before you move it
Another good tip is to measure your furniture before you attempt to move it. With house removals, you should measure the length and width of any sofas, chairs, beds, etc. Then, measure the width and height of your doorways. By measuring everything, you can see if it’s physically possible to move things through your doors. Sometimes, you may see that the furniture just doesn’t fit at all. It’s too wide or too long for your doorway, so you have to pursue a different tactic.
The same goes for corporate relocation as well. Go around your office and measure all the heavy furniture that you’re moving. Then, do the same with any entranceways that you’ll move them through. Again, the purpose is to figure out if the furniture can actually be moved, or if you’re stuck looking for a different method.
It’s much better to learn that your heavy furniture can’t fit through a door before you try and move it. Otherwise, you will expend so much time and effort getting the furniture ready for removal. Then, after you’re sweaty and sore, you realise it doesn’t fit through your doorway. So, you have to go through the effort of moving it all back. It’s not worth it, nip this problem in the bud by measuring things before attempting to move them.
Try taking your furniture apart
Sometimes, you measure a piece of furniture and wonder how on earth you ever managed to move it into your home. Often, the reason is that you didn’t actually move it in whole! A lot of heavy furniture comes pre-assembled, so you can quickly get it into your home, then build it. As such, if you want to move a heavy item with ease, then the best method is to take it apart.
This idea is mainly possible with things like beds, cupboards, chests of drawers, and tables. You can take them apart, or at least take a few pieces apart from them. For example, you can remove the sliding compartments from your drawers, which eliminates a lot of extra weight. By lightening the load, this could be enough to let you pick something up and carry it without any problems.
Of course, this idea won’t work for everything. Living room furniture – sofas and armchairs – can rarely be taken apart. In which case, you need to explore other methods to move them from your home.
Move the furniture in pairs
It sounds obvious, but one of the easiest ways to move heavy furniture is with a helping hand from someone else. In fact, the more hands, the better! Ideally, you’d have a handful of people lifting things up and moving them around. The problem is that it’s hard for multiple people to move something without someone getting in the way. So, this is why sticking to pairs is the preferred choice.
The best way to go about this is to have one person lift from the back, then one from the front. So, you have one lifter moving forwards and the other moving backward. The one that can see in front can give directions to the one that’s walking blind. With two people, you separate the weight of your heavy furniture across two sets of muscles. It will allow you to lift heavier items – but it also makes it easier to lift things that you might be able to pick up yourself. Some heavy furniture can be raised on its own, but you will be under so much strain. In turn, this means you move slowly and risk injuries. Thus, spreading the load with someone else is the best course of action.
Regardless of what you’re moving, both people need to lift using the proper technique. This is why many people look for removalists in Sydney because they know how to list things correctly. Don’t round your back and bend over to pick something up. Instead, you have to squat down, grasp the bottom of the bulky item, them lift with your legs. Use the strength of your legs to push yourself up, while keeping your back straight the whole time. This makes it easier to lift things – because your legs are stronger than your back – while preventing any back problems. Make sure your lifting partner does this as well!
Remove everything from your furniture
It’s surprising how many people will forget to remove things from their furniture. Bookcases with books in, cabinets with plates and glasses in, closets with clothes in, they all add extra weight to your furniture. All you’re doing is making the task a lot harder than it needs to be!
So, before you move anything, make sure you check to see if there’s anything inside it. This is especially important for any sofas or chairs with hidden storage compartments. You may forget that there’s a lot of stuff in a sliding drawer under your sofa, so you try and move it with this weight added on. Be thorough, remove everything, then move it.
Use lifting straps
A range of different lifting straps are available for you to try out. But, the best ones are straps that connect to your shoulders. They look a bit funky, but the best house removalists use them for furniture removal in Sydney all the time. If you’ve never seen them, then they’re quite large and can be used by two people.
In essence, there’s a strap that goes around your back and over your shoulders – almost like a harness. Then, the strap material goes down and around your body in front of you. Here, there’s a large part of the strap where an item of furniture can be placed. Then, the rest of the strap goes back up and around the body/shoulders of your partner. You can both hold the furniture to keep it stable, but most of the weight is taken by the strap.
The benefit of this is that it removes so much pressure from your back. It also takes a lot of effort out of your arms. Most people have issues with their forearms aching after trying to hold up heavy objects for a long time. With these shoulder straps, the weight of the furniture settles in the bottom part of the strap. This won’t be ideal for every type of furniture, but it’s perfect for drawers, large closets, and bedside cabinets.
One word of warning; never use these lifting straps when moving things up and down stairs. Due to the way they’re created, all of the weight will shift onto the person at the bottom of the stairs. This can cause severe accidents, so don’t use shoulder lifting straps on the stairs!
Put your furniture on trolleys
It’s possible to get trolleys or rollers that let you place furniture on them and move out of your home or office. These trolleys are designed to withstand a lot of weight, and they should have little barriers or protective measures in place that stop furniture from falling off. The benefit of using this method is that it requires minimal effort. You have to lift the furniture up, then place it on the trolley. From here, it’s just a case of wheeling it where it needs to go.
You can use one trolley for a large piece – like a sofa – or you can put multiple heavy items on the same cart, if they’re small enough. The beauty of a trolley is that it’s effortless to move, and you can also take things downstairs. Use your trolley and roll the wheels down each step at a time, as slow as possible. It’s a good idea to have someone else manning the trolley with you, to keep the movement slow and prevent it from escaping your grip and flying downwards.
Furthermore, we recommend using straps to secure your furniture in place. These straps stop the items from jiggling around, which makes it harder to move them. Also, it prevents the issue of an object falling off the trolley, which could cause accidents.
Use the high-low lifting method
This next tip is another lifting technique for two people to try. Conventionally, you will lift a piece of furniture at a level angle. For example, you turn a bookcase on its side, then each person lifts from either end, so it’s carried in a flat angle straight across. There’s nothing technically wrong with this method, but it can be easier to use the high-low one instead.
The high-low lifting method is where one person lifts from the top, and the other from the bottom. With a bookcase, you tilt it so the person looking forwards holds the top of it, then the person walking backward holds the base. Essentially, you’ve created a diagonal angle here. The benefit of this is that the weight gets distributed better, and it’s much easier to move things downstairs. Because of the diagonal angle, you’re basically moving the furniture at the same angle as the stairs. This leads to fewer problems, and you can be done a lot quicker.
What’s more, the high-low method makes it easier to lift the furniture off the floor. Here, instead of squatting down and lifting at the same time, you tilt the furniture instead. With the bookcase example, you just slowly push it until you’ve reached the desired angle, then one person holds the top with the other squats down to lift from the bottom. The chances of injuring yourself decrease, and it’s also far easier to set the furniture down again.
That’s something a lot of people neglect; putting the furniture back on the floor. You need to maintain a straight back, but it causes lots of injuries. With the high-low method, you just gently tip the item back into its regular position!
Hire professional removalists
Of course, the easiest way to move heavy furniture is to trust the professionals to do it. If you’re moving furniture from your home, then seek out house removalists in Sydney. Likewise, if your business is changing locations, then search for professional office movers in Sydney as well. It’s vital that you choose a company that’s capable of handling the task at hand. Office removals differ from house removals as the furniture can be completely different. So, if a company has never moved office furniture before, then you can’t trust them to do it for you – and vice versa with furniture from your home.
The beauty of professional movers is that they know how to move heavy objects. They’ve got all the equipment and skills needed to handle heavy furniture with minimal risk. Plus, professional movers are often the only way you can get things down flights of stairs and back up them. So, unless you’re moving into a bungalow – or the ground floor of a flat – you’ll probably need professional movers.
Make sure you shop around to get estimates from different Sydney removal companies before you choose the one for you. Also, professional removalists can help with packing services too. So, they provide materials to help you pack everything else up along with your furniture!
In conclusion, moving heavy furniture is the hardest part of relocating. If you’re going to attempt it yourself, then follow the tips above to move your heavy items safely. However, we strongly advise that you let professional and experienced removalists take care of the heaviest and most awkward items – particularly when taking them up/down stairs. With that in mind, if you’re looking for the best removals and storage company in Sydney, then feel free to contact us today. We offer an extensive furniture removal service that ensures all of your heaviest items are taken from your home as safely as possible. You won’t have to lift a finger, and we offer a free call-out service to survey your home/office and provide a quote for the service.