Moving is not easy. Properly transporting items takes skills and tools that few amateurs have. In this text, we will give you certain guidelines for high-value items transportation. But, you should be aware that, as a rookie, you are at a high risk of making a moving mistake. Moving is a serious project that requires experience in order to be executed without any issues. If you find yourself in trouble or are not sure on how to approach moving high-value items, worry not. Antique moving and handling specialists you can rely on are there to give you a helping hand. But, you should still be aware of what goes into high-value items transportation.
Packing
Packing is the first and one of the most important steps in high-value items transportation. The only thing that will prevent your high-value items from breaking or getting damaged is the quality in which you packed them. You need to be thorough and careful. If you pack yourself properly you can afford to make certain smaller mistakes. If you do not, your items probably won’t survive the transportation, even if you do everything else right.
Proper boxes
First off, you are going to need proper boxes for your high-value items. While you can get free moving boxes from stores and warehouses, we strongly recommend that you pay attention to their quality. If you cannot find good quality boxes, either go buy them yourself or talk to movers. What you definitely don’t want to do is to get cheap boxes and risk them opening or ripping. The boxes need to be big enough for your items to fit it along with the necessary padding and wrapping. If you want to extra safe, you can even get plastic boxes so that your items are safe from any weather.
Paintings can easily get damaged by moisture. Make sure to protect them.
Wrapping and padding
You cannot expect your items to remain intact if you do not wrap and pad them. While you do need quality boxes for packing, you might be able to get away with some cheap alternatives when it comes to wrapping and packing. Use your cotton clothes for wrapping. The purpose of wrapping is to protect your items from vibrations. Moving trucks vibrate a lot while driving, and the vibration can damage your items. Especially if they are made from glass or porcelain. No fragile item should directly touch any other item.
Padding is there to protect your high-value items for bigger movements. They are there as the final fail-safe. If a moving accident occurs, or a mover mishandles your box, the padding will the only thing saving your items from certain doom. You can use your thick clothes and blankets for padding, but make sure to get proper padding if this is not enough. Do not try to save money on wrapping and padding materials. The increased risk of damage is certainly not worth it.
Finishing touches
Once you have your properly sized, quality boxes and your wrapping and packing supplies, it’s time to finish up packing. Make sure that the items do not move around once you have placed them inside the box. Tape up your boxes and make sure to properly label them. It’s hard to underestimate how important this is. Even if you find someone who can handle your art collection with care, you need to let them know what is inside the boxes. If they are going to provide you with their top quality service, they need to have all the necessary information. Besides writing about what is inside, be sure to mark if the box is heavy. Also, mark for fragile items and, if necessary, which side of the box should be up. Do your best in making sure that your relocation goes without issues.
Insurance for high-value items transportation
If something happens during your high-value items transportation, what can you do? Is your standard moving insurance is going to be enough? Well, not really. If you want to be completely sure that you will get your items worth in insurance, you need to get separate high-value item insurance. You can do things by either talking to your movers about it or by getting separate insurance from an insurance company. We strongly recommend that you do so. Even if you find reliable movers, you can never be completely sure that nothing will go wrong. Good movers will always do their best to transport your items, but they are only human after all.
Your family heirloom will not be worth much if you only have standard moving insurance. Make sure that you have your high-value items covered.
Standard insurance
The problem with standard moving insurance is that it is calculated by the weight of the items. That means that your lighter, more expensive items will not be worth much if something happens to them. That is the main reason why you need to get separate moving insurance. You will need to find someone to officially value your items so that you will know how much your insurance will cost and how much you will get if something happens.
Loading
Properly loading a moving truck is a skill that most people don’t consider when thinking about moving. Well, they are wrong. A lot goes into properly loading a moving truck as the weight distribution and the placement of boxes can literally make or break your transportation. In a nutshell, the heaviest boxes go to the bottom, the lightest to the top. Make sure that there is no room in between for the boxes to move around. Dispresre the weight as much as you can. While you can try to do this on your own, we strongly recommend that you find reliable long distance movers in Brooklyn and let them deal with it. A good mover will know how to load the truck and drive so that your items survive.