Are you planning to move home in the near future and considering how to move your valuables? One of the most difficult things to move for any homeowner is normally your breakables, and there is nothing more breakable in most houses than large mirrors, of which most people have quite a few.
Moving The Looking Glass
Moving a mirror doesn’t need to be a daunting task, though. If you follow the tips set out in this article, there is a good chance that you can move your mirror with ease and not risk breaking it.
As with all things moving, professional advice should be sought if your mirror is attached to antique furniture or if you are particularly worried about moving your mirror for any reason.
Most moving companies will be able to advise you on your specific furniture requirements and be able to ensure that your mirror and other breakables are moved in a safe and considerate way.
Remove The Mirror From Any Furniture
The first thing you must do if you are going to move your mirror, even if you are moving your mirror from your home to your storage unit or from one home to another, is to remove it from any furniture that it is attached to.
It may not be possible to move the whole mirror from a piece of furniture, but if your mirror is sitting in a frame, make sure you take the mirror off of the frame to ensure that there are no extra pieces of furniture to pack around it.
If you have a wardrobe that has a mirror attached to one of the doors, it might be worth taking the door off of the hinge. This will allow you to move the mirror as its own piece of furniture and keep the mirror safe.
When removing a mirror from a piece of furniture, it’s also worth exercising some common sense.
If you are likely to break the mirror just by removing it from the piece of furniture it’s attached to, then it really isn’t worth removing the mirror at all, but if the mirror is easier to detach, or you can take the door off for example, then it’s worth trying to get the mirror on its own to make it easier to pack.
Add Tape In a Cross Pattern
You’re going to want to tape your mirror to try to reduce the risk of it shattering should it get broken. Obviously, every homeowner is hoping that the mirror will make it to their new home in one piece, but with fragile items such as mirrors, this cannot always be guaranteed.
It is for this reason that we suggest taping your mirror in a cross pattern from corner to corner, as this will help to strengthen the mirror, and it will help to keep shards together should your mirror get broken.
You can use even more tape over the top to take over the entire mirror if you are really worried about shards going everywhere. It’s also recommended to tape up the edges of your mirror and the corners of your mirror if it has exposed edges and corners, as these can be prime targets for chips and brakes. This is actually a very good idea to do with antique mirrors that will not be made out of safety glass and are much more likely to shatter, leaving small sharp shards that can be dangerous.
Taping your mirror also gives it the benefit of an extra layer of strength and a layer that may help to reduce scratches. Use a low-tack tape such as painter’s tape or masking tape so that it is easy to take off when you get to the other side.
Wrap It In A Duvet or Blanket
Once you’ve removed your mirror from the furniture to which it is attached, and you have added your cross-section of tape and any more tape that you would like to add over the top and around the edges, it’s time to protect your mirror as best as possible.
For this, we suggest wrapping your mirror in blankets and duvets, creating a soft pillow-like barrier to stop your mirror from getting jolts and chips on the journey.
Tape Again
Once you’ve wrapped your mirror sufficiently so that it has enough padding around it, it’s time to make sure that padding isn’t going anywhere in your moving van. The best way to do this is to take more tape and wrap it around the duvets and blankets tightly so that your mirror is really well protected.
If you don’t want to put tape directly onto your duvets and blankets, you may wish to consider using trash bags to cover your mirror. Depending on the size of your mirror, you may need more than one trash bag over the top and at the bottom to cover all of the surfaces of the mirror and with the blanket around it.
Wrap tape around your trash bags to keep them secure so that your mirror won’t move, and don’t forget to mark your mirror parcel as ‘fragile,’ which will help your professional moving company to understand that extra care must be taken when moving this item.
Place It Behind The Couch Against The Wall
When it comes to packing your mirror into your moving van, you should always leave it up to the professionals to pack it correctly and ensure that there is less risk of it getting broken on the journey.
If you are moving on your own and need to pack your van by yourself, the best place to pack mirrors is actually up against a couch or other heavy piece of furniture and held against the wall. This will stop the mirror from vibrating too much and get in banged into should your van go over any bumps in the road.
Whether you are packing yourself or getting a professional removals company to do the van packing, everyone should be aware of where your mirror or mirrors are so that extra care can be taken when you arrive at your destination.