Fragile packing is where DIY moves usually go wrong. Most damage we see when a customer brings a job to us mid-move is from under-packed china or improperly wrapped art. Here is what forty years of pad-wrapping has taught us about packing fragile items safely.
Stack vertically, not flat. Plates take far more impact load on their edges than their faces. Wrap each plate in archival tissue, then bundle three or four together, then bubble-wrap the bundle, then place on its edge (not flat) in a sturdy carton with crumpled paper in the bottom.
Bowls and cups nest inside each other separated by tissue — but never stack more than three. Teapots and serving dishes go individually wrapped with the spout / handle separately padded.
Stemware (wine glasses, champagne flutes) is the easiest thing to break and the easiest to pack well. Stuff the bowl loosely with tissue (do not compress — it acts as a shock absorber), wrap the entire glass in bubble wrap, then stand upright in a divided wine box. Never lay stemware on its side.
Cut crystal and antique glass needs an extra layer — wrap in tissue, then bubble wrap, then individually box, then place in a larger box with padding around each individual box.
Original packaging is best where you have it. If not, use anti-static bubble wrap (the pink stuff) for anything with circuitry. Photograph the back of each device before disconnecting cables — saves an hour of head-scratching at the other end.
TVs need a corner-padded carton. Computers travel best in their original or equivalent-spec boxes. Loose cables go in zip-lock bags labelled with the device they belong to.
Anything framed and over A3 size needs a custom timber crate or, at minimum, two layers of bubble wrap then a flat cardboard slip-cover taped shut. Mirrors and glass-fronted art need an X of masking tape across the face — it does not prevent breakage, but it holds the shards together if the worst happens.
For valuable art, our advice is to insure it specifically (your contents policy may exclude it during transit) and to use a specialist art shipper if the value is high.
Take the shade off, wrap separately, then box the shade with crumpled paper to hold its shape. The base — wrap the bulb area in bubble wrap, secure the cable to the base with tape, then stand upright in a box of similar lamps with padding between them.
This is what makes the biggest difference, and it is the thing DIY movers most often skip. Every piece of furniture should be wrapped in a quilted blanket before it leaves the room. Not the lorry. The room. The reason: it is the corners and edges of furniture that get chipped, and they get chipped on doorways, banisters, walls and other furniture during the carry to the vehicle — not in the lorry.
If you cannot get pad-wrap blankets (or "removal blankets" / "moving pads" as they are sometimes called), use heavy duvets or old curtains as a substitute. Tape them on with painter's tape (which does not damage the furniture finish).
Honestly, the maths is simple. For a 3-bedroom Eastbourne house with a significant fragile inventory, full packing typically adds £350-£600 to a removal quote — and you get triple-wall cartons, anti-static bubble, archival tissue, custom crates for awkward items, BAR-trained packers and a couple of days back in your life. For most customers that maths works.
If you would rather pack yourself, you can buy all the materials from our Lower Dicker packaging shop — and you can ask the crew on the day for advice on anything you are unsure about.
Beyond the general principles, here is item-by-item guidance for the things that most often arrive damaged in self-packed moves.
The pendulum and weights are removed first, wrapped separately and packed in a clearly labelled box. The clock case is pad-wrapped. If the case is glass-fronted, an X of masking tape across the glass holds shards together if the worst happens. Never lay a grandfather clock on its side — always upright in transit, even if it makes loading harder.
Vertical only, never flat. Marble can crack under its own weight if laid flat across a gap. We wrap in pad-blanket plus corrugated cardboard, then transport standing on a long edge in a custom crate.
This is one to leave to specialists — including us. Pianos have specific pivot points, fragile internal components and weight distributions that are unforgiving of amateur lifting. Even moving a piano 10 metres within a house can damage it if done wrong. Always book a piano move (whether part of a removal or stand-alone) with a firm that has done it before.
Heat and humidity cycling causes veneer to lift. Pad-wrap thoroughly to maintain a stable micro-climate during transit. For long-term storage, our Prestige steel rooms are climate-stable, which is why they suit antiques better than communal warehouse storage.
Recap: vertical, on edge, in dish-pack cartons with internal dividers. Wrap each plate in archival tissue first (newspaper transfers ink). Bundle three or four together with bubble wrap, then stand on edge in the carton. Pack crumpled paper around the bundles to fill voids. Mark the box FRAGILE and THIS WAY UP.
Often heavier than they look. Padded blankets plus straps, lifted with the legs not the back, transported in a position that minimises stress on narrow points. Some stone (sandstone particularly) is genuinely fragile and we recommend professional handling.
Standard goods-in-transit insurance covers most household contents up to typical limits. But certain items need separate consideration:
If you have any high-value or unusual items, mention them at survey stage — we can advise on packing, transport and insurance. The cost of getting this right is small; the cost of getting it wrong can be life-changing.
The choice isn’t a binary one between “pack everything yourself” and “pay for a full pack”. The majority of our customers fall somewhere in between, and the most cost-effective split is usually the same: the customer packs the easy categories — books, clothing, linen, bedding, garage and shed contents — and the crew handles fragile, breakable and awkward items the day before the move.
This split works because the categories are completely different jobs. Packing twenty boxes of books is a Sunday afternoon with a podcast on; packing a glass-fronted dresser, a set of cut crystal and a wall of framed prints is a skilled task that takes a trained packer half a day. Charging professional rates for the first is wasteful; trying to do the second yourself is the single most common cause of move-day damage.
What to keep on your side of the line: books, paperbacks, hardbacks, magazines, files, paperwork (in archive boxes), clothing on hangers (wardrobe cartons we supply), folded clothing in drawers, bedding and linen, soft toys, shoes, towels, sports kit, garage tools, garden tools, shed contents, plant pots without plants, BBQ accessories.
What to leave to a fragile-pack crew: kitchen china and glass, display-cabinet contents, vases, decanters, framed art, mirrors, lamps with paper or fabric shades, computers and monitors, televisions, hi-fi separates and turntables, musical instruments, marble or stone-topped furniture, taxidermy, anything in a glass dome.
A fragile-only pack on a typical 3-bedroom Sussex move is usually four to six hours of crew time, charged at a flat rate (typically £220–£340 inclusive of materials). It is by some margin the best-value packing option we offer because it concentrates skilled work on the items that benefit most from it. The exception is if you’re moving an executor sale, a deceased estate, or a probate clearance — in those cases the family rarely has time or appetite to pack anything, and a full pack the day before the move is invariably the cleaner option.
One scheduling point worth knowing: the fragile-only pack happens the day before the move, not the morning of. That is the only way to allow time for proper labelling, an inventory check, and a written room-by-room contents list. Moves where the packing is rushed into the same morning as the load almost always finish late, and almost always result in at least one box of fragile items travelling without enough internal padding.
Call us today for a free, no-obligation quote — or use our online form. Whether it's a one-room move or a full international relocation, we've handled it before.