A Positively Moving Experience
Effective and Safe Glassware Packing Techniques
Glassware is some of the most commonly broken items during the moving process. In this blog entry, the full-service NYC area packing and moving service experts here at Noah’s Ark Moving and Storage will detail the best ways to pack glassware or delicate mugs during move.
Choosing proper packing supplies
Make sure that you’re using high quality packing supplies. This is necessary for the safety of glassware or any other delicate objects that you might be packing . Utilize small or medium sized moving boxes as opposed to large boxes. Even though small boxes hold less stuff, they’re much lighter and much easier to carry, and of course much less likely to be dropped. We recommend looking for dish barrel type boxes, which are double corrugated cardboard boxes that provide a much higher level of protection for glassware. We also recommend putting glass cell divider inserts to use inside these boxes, as well as cardboard sheets to place in between layers of packed objects. Lastly, make sure to have a lot of packing paper on hand. You can use newspaper, but if you do so you’ll have to wash all glassware that’s adjacent to the newspaper during unpacking in order to remove any ink that may bleed through. You can also use bubble wrap but it’s much bulkier, it’s more expensive, and much less environmentally safe.
Preparing your dish box
First, make sure to tape the bottom of your dish box with packing tape several times. Tape the seam closed first with a few strips of packing tape. Then add another line of packing tape in the other direction to create to create a cross or a plus sign. Then run a line of packing tape along the whole lower edge of the box in order to hold the ends of the previously tape tape in place. Then crumble up a bunch of pieces of packing paper into balls ,and use them to create a cushion at the lower part of the box. Make this padding at least several inches.
As an alternative, you can also put towels or sheets on the bottom of the packing box, but we recommend crumpled paper balls as they provide the highest amount of protection,
Starting with the heaviest glassware
Always pack the largest and most heavy glasses or mugs in the bottom half of the box. Lighter and more fragile glassware should be put in the top half of the box on a flat surface. Put the packing box down, and lay down a few sheets of packing paper. Put a glass on the top corner of this packing paper and roll the glass into the packing paper, tucking the paper into the opening of the glass as you work. When the glass is fully wrapped, crumble up another piece of packing paper and put it inside the glass. Then carefully put the glass down on its side in the box. continue rolling up and stuffing glasses, laying them inside the box on their side, and a single layer of crumbled up packing paper between all the glasses – and on top of them. Then, move on to the next layer of glasses. Put a cardboard sheet on top of the already inserted glasses in order to create another layer, and continue wrapping stuffing and padding layers as you go – just as you did with the first one. Ensure that heavier glassware is placed on the bottom of the box, and lighter glassware is on the top of the box.
It’s essential that you take extra care to wrap up wine glasses or other glassware with stems. Wrap up a separate piece of paper around the stem before putting the glass itself into a different sheet of paper. Wine glasses or stemmed glassware should always be put on the very top of any sort of glassware moving box
Glassware box sealing
When you’ve reached the top of the box -or think that you’ve packed it to an adequate and safe amount – crumble a bunch of paper in order to create a final layer of padding at the top of the box. Then, try to shake the box in a gentle fashion. You don’t want to feel any movement of glasses inside the box or hear any movement from glasses inside the box. If either of these things happen. crumple up more paper and put it in empty spaces, then try again if you don’t hear or feel any movement, and THEN seal the box in a secure fashion with packing tape. Use a high quality marker to label the box and write fragile and every side of the box.
Remember, you can always rely on the expert packing technicians here at Noah’s Ark Moving and Storage to provide you with the most efficient high quality and safe glassware packing, and unpacking surfaces.
