The wrapping rules that actually matter
Two layers minimum, always. One layer of soft paper is a suggestion, two is a promise. For anything you would be upset to lose, use three.
Wrap on a soft surface, never on the floor or a table edge. A folded towel on the worktop costs nothing and saves the first drop before you even start.
Tape the wrap, not the item. Paper should hold itself together with masking tape, and nothing sticky should ever touch the plate, the glass or the frame.
Fill every void. A box is only as strong as its emptiest corner, so scrunch paper into the gaps until nothing moves when you shake the box.
Plates, bowls and glasses
Stack plates on their edges, never flat. A stack of flat plates carries the whole weight through the bottom plate, and that is the one that cracks. Edge on, they carry their own weight.
Put a folded tea towel or paper pad between each plate. It stops the rattle and spreads the pressure.
Glasses go upside down in a snug row, wrapped individually, with crumpled paper between the rows. Stemware gets its own layer of soft wrap around the bowl.
Cups and mugs: wrap each one, stack them in short towers of three or four, and put the tower at the bottom of the box with soft goods on top.
Mirrors, glass and picture frames
Mirrors and large glass move flat, never on their edge, and always with cardboard or a blanket over the face. We use mirror pads on every job.
Frames travel corner protected: wrap each corner with folded cardboard before the soft wrap goes on, corners take every bump.
Never lean a wrapped mirror against a wall for the move day. It stands flat against a padded surface or it rides flat in the van.
Art with glass fronts gets a cross of masking tape over the glass, tape on the glass not the artwork, so a flexing frame cannot send a shard through the print.
Electronics, lamps and china
Screens and TVs go in their original box whenever you still have it, it is genuinely the best packaging ever made. If not, a double walled box with soft wrap and no space to move.
Lamps: remove the shade, wrap the base, wrap the shade separately, and put them in the same box with paper between. They travel as two items that used to be one.
China and ceramics get the plate treatment, wrapped twice, packed on edge, never nested inside each other unless they have soft wrap between every surface.
Cutlery and kitchen knives travel rolled in a tea towel, not loose in a drawer. A loose knife in a moving box is a hazard to the team and a hole in the box.
The box test our drivers use
Pick the packed box up and shake it gently. If anything moves, open it and add paper. This one test catches ninety percent of packing failures before they happen.
Heavy items go in small boxes, light items in large ones. A big box of books is a back injury waiting for a victim, and we would rather say it than see it.
Label every fragile box on two sides with the room and the word FRAGILE, and tell us which boxes are the delicate ones when we load. We plan the load around them.