Moving household appliances across the country

Ross Sapir

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Packing your home for the move can be a complicated process, especially if you are not very experienced. While you may be familiar with the image of people moving their belongings in carton boxes, there’s much more to it. There are various types of items that need to be handled each with appropriate care. When it comes to moving household appliances across the country, no single rule applies to them all. Are we talking about a coffee maker or a fridge? Obviously, the coffee maker can be easily packed in a backpack, while the fridge requires logistics and special equipment. When moving heavier items, you shouldn’t hesitate to hire a professional moving company, such as Roadway Moving NYC.

How to pack when moving household appliances across the country?

Same as with clothes and other household items, you can pack most of the smaller household appliances in carton boxes. You should only use specialized moving boxes that are more durable than ordinary ones. You can always consult with the company you hired about the adequate quality of the box. For example, a long distance moving company may recommend firmer boxes, although all moving boxes are standardized. Besides the boxes, you will need duct tape, scissors, and packing paper. It’s a good idea to have some kind of soft cloth, such as towels to help make the items more secure.

What makes packing household appliances different?

Most of your lighter household appliances will have curved or some other, innovative design that can present a certain kind of a problem. Placing curved items into the box will eventually create empty spaces in between. This shouldn’t be ignored because air pockets or empty spaces inside moving boxes can cause damage to your items. If anything inside can move, it may also break during transport. On the other hand, if everything is held firmly together, items will support each other and will arrive at their destination safely. This doesn’t apply just to long distance moving, as NYC local movers will advise you the same. Traffic jams can sometimes create unexpected motions so transporting through urban areas requires the same care as long distance relocation.

Things you should know before moving household appliances across the country

Heavier household appliances, such as the fridge or other chunky electronics are almost impossible to move on your own. Unless you have a moving truck and other gadgets, your best option is to hire a moving company. When you move just clothes and lighter kitchen appliances, for example, you might even do everything yourself. It can be cheaper, and if you have someone close to you to help you, it can even be fun. However, for most convenience, professional movers will always be the most effective while you can stay relaxed.

Packing light household appliances when moving across the country

Ideally, you should keep the original box that comes with every household appliance when you buy them. This will help you overcome the problem of curved appliances. The sharp-edged box shape of retail items is very convenient for packing for the move. Therefore, this is what you should do.

Carefully disconnect the power supply cable from the appliance and clean them both thoroughly. If there is no safe way to put your appliance under the sink, simply wipe them with a wet towel. This can sometimes be the case due to the exposed wires in the appliance. One such example is a toaster. Instead of rinsing it under the sink, there are other safer ways of cleaning it.

Use original retail boxes if you still have them

Once everything is cleaned up and the cables are separated, you should place the appliance in its original retail box. If you don’t have it for some reason, you should skip this step. Finally, put the smaller boxes inside the specialized moving box and you’re almost ready to go.

If you don’t have retail boxes, you should wrap every appliance in packing paper. For the most fragile appliances, you may also use towels. They are softer and will absorb any blow from unexpected motion in transport.

Fill the boxes until full to keep everything tight and firmly grouped

Whether you used retail boxes or improvised wraps, you will need to do one more thing. Check if there are any open spaces that you can’t fit anything into. Fill those holes with crushed paper or soft towels, to prevent items inside from moving.

Storing heavy household appliances

In some cases, it might be too complicated or unnecessary to move the heaviest household appliances. Many houses and apartments already come with the largest appliances for practical reasons. If you’re not ready to part with the old fridge, you might consider using NYC storage services. It’s a convenient way to keep any extra appliances safe and ready for when you need them.

Using one of the New York City storage facilities can also be handy for temporary use. If you don’t want to move everything in one go and want to explore layout options in your new home, take your time. Your stored items will be waiting for you in the same condition as you left them.

Preparing heavy household appliances for transport

This can be more complicated to pull off than packing light appliances and will require different kinds of equipment and materials. Since heavy appliances are usually large, they won’t fit into a box. This makes moving household appliances across the country considerably harder, especially if they’re heavy. Even if they did fit into a standard vox, they would be too heavy to carry and the carton would hardly support them. That’s why you’ll need to use an appliance dolly instead. It’s a simple two-wheeled system that you can load heavy appliances on. You will also need durable rope or straps to tie the appliance to the dolly. You should also use blankets before you tie the rope so you don’t damage your appliance. Once you do that, dolly goes straight to the truck.