How do I transport furniture safely in a cargo van?

September 13, 2022 11:29 AM

I need to transport a large circular coffee table, a small lawnmower and a wooden desk 100 miles in a cargo van. How do I keep them from being damaged in transit? Do I need furniture pads? Rope to tie things down? Rachet straps? Do the furniture pads need to be taped onto the furniture, and should the table and desk be right-side-up or up-side-down? What would be your strategy for transporting these three items together?
posted by serathen to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

Remove the legs from the coffee table, plastic-wrap them together. Wrap the coffee table in a moving blanket; it'll probably end up on its side. You may be adding rope here as well; use rattan, and make sure there's always blanket between the rope and the table.

Drain what gas you can from the mower, and then run it until it dies. fold up the handles, or remove them, whichever is appropriate for that mower. Wrap it in a tarp or sheet to contain drips and loose grass and whatnot, which will also immobilize the wheels. It'll be on the floor of your van. If you use a moving blanket for this, be aware it might get stained with oil, so it should be something you can afford to damage.

The desk can go on its feet or on its back. If it has drawers, remove the drawers and stack them. It may be necessary to empty the drawers and box the contents, but probably not. Wrap the desk in a moving blanket that covers the interesting sides (top with edges, front face, possibly sides) of the desk. Face the back to the wall of the van. If you decide to rest the desk on its back, the top should go to the wall. Wrap/tape a rag around the legs to prevent scuffing.

The mower can either go under the desk where one's feet go, or elsewhere in the van. The tabletop can rest on one edge and lean against the desk (if the desk is on its feet); add padding in between. You'll have to figure out a way to "chock" the round table so it doesn't roll; I would actually get some rope on it and tie the tabletop to the van interior. It just has to prevent rolling; you aren't securing the Hope Diamond.

You don't need to tape the furniture pads in place if everything is sorta held in place by the items -- van walls, other furniture, rope. Contact between items will hold that just fine; you could check those areas on your stops and make a judgment call to tape them later. In fact, as a general rule, don't let my advice take the place of your judgment-- if it looks perilous or damage-prone once everything's in the van, ignore my advice and fix the problems.
posted by Sunburnt at 11:43 AM on September 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

The two things you need to be concerned about preventing are (i) scratches and (ii) damage from the items shifting around. To prevent scratches, wrap everything thoroughly in moving blankets. Tape the blankets up so they don't come undone or, better yet, wrap them up in stretch wrap. To prevent items from being shifting around in transit, it's important to fasten them down securely in the cargo van, which should have fastening points inside to do exactly this. They should be fastened to the interior of the van securely enough that you are unable to move them. Ratcheting tie-down straps are perfect for this. All these things can be had fairly inexpensively from podsboxes.com, although I'm sure there are plenty of other places they can be bought.
posted by slkinsey at 11:46 AM on September 13, 2022

You need to make sure everything is tied down well. The rubbing and abrasion from driving 100 miles can damage your items.
Apparently moving companies have specialists in repairing scrapes and dents, because even they don't always get it right!
posted by H21 at 12:11 PM on September 13, 2022

Cargo vans are big. Put the furniture upside down on blankets, they make meshy, rubbery pads to go between mattresses so they don't slide, about $10 at Home Depot. Put this non slide padding under the tops of the table and desk. If the desk has drawers that come out, use them along the van floor to wedge the bigger pieces, so they can't slide easily. Put the mower in last, empty of gas. Put the body of the mower in a couple of big, black garbage bags, and packing tape around the bag opening where the mower handle is.
A hundred miles is not a long way as long as it isn't the Outback, as they say. This easier than you think. You can use the blanket to pull the desk well into the van then rock it up a little to get the grip pad under. The table should be easy peasy.
posted by Oyéah at 2:00 PM on September 13, 2022

Unless the desk is some sort of brobdingnagian executive thing you should have lots of space to keep them separated.

Load the desk first. Place a moving pad or two over the desk such that it hangs equally over front and back. Move the desk so the back is up against the side walls then run a ratchet strap around it about 2/3 of the way up. You want moving pad between desk and the wall/strap.

Load the table. Place a pad over the table like the desk and then tip the table on its side against the wall of the truck trapping the pad inbetween with the bittom edge on the pad that was hanging down. Again apply ratchet strap keeping the loose pad between strap and table.

Drain the gas as detailed above from mower and then secure against wall of truck with strap.

A layer of packing saran around the desk will keep drawers in place during transport and while carrying it. For such a short move even regular old household saran wrap will work and you can buy it at dollar stores.

PS you don't need any sort of special pad for this, any sort of blanket or bath towel will work. Keeping in mind it might get dirty.
posted by Mitheral at 2:56 PM on September 13, 2022