I can scratch my stuff on my own time, thanks.
March 27, 2009 11:04 AM   Subscribe

Where can I get cheap (or free!) furniture pads? Or what can I use instead?

We're moving across the country and will need at least a dozen furniture pads. The moving company (ABF U-Pack Relocubes) doesn't offer them to rent, so we need to find some elsewhere. The price of new pads is prohibitively expensive: about $10/each for something we won't have a place to store and will have to give away.

Uhaul won't rent them to us unless we're also renting a truck. I've thought about hitting up the thrift stores and buying old blankets - is this a good idea?

We're in the western Chicago suburbs; it seems like there should be stuff available in this area. The destination is in MiddleOfNowhere, Texas, so the chance of selling purchased pads on to someone else is pretty slim.

Googe and Craigslist haven't turned up much for me. Generally anything including the words "moving" or "furniture" is full of unhelpful results.
posted by WowLookStars to Home & Garden (5 answers total)
 
We've used old blankets to good effect when furniture pads weren't available. I would stick with cotton (quilts would be ideal) and stay away from scratchy wool. You can cut and fold to your heart's desire, too, since you're going to be buying them.
posted by cooker girl at 11:12 AM on March 27, 2009


Best answer: I've thought about hitting up the thrift stores and buying old blankets - is this a good idea?

It'll do if they aren't too thin and aren't scratchy. The purpose of a pad is to prevent a "rub" or worn/shiny spot where things are touching. As long as whatever is touching your furniture is softer than the furniture finish your ok. Thick cotton is best.

The "pads" that u-haul rents are at best barely marginal, you want something with more padding if you can find it.

As an alternative consider packing film and carboard. First completely wrap the furniture with a double layer of packing film. Then cover that with carboard. The film prevents rubs and the cardboard prevents damage to the film. This is best applied if you can pack boxes around the furniture so you don't have any concentrated forces on the cardboard.

PS: one of the advantages of actual furniture pads is packing tape will stick to it. This makes securing the pad to the furniture much easier. So bring a roll of tape with you and see if it'll stick to your old blankets.
posted by Mitheral at 11:19 AM on March 27, 2009


Buyer beware: Used stuff might have bedbugs.
posted by mudpuppie at 11:26 AM on March 27, 2009


Best answer: I see many on ebay.
posted by acorncup at 12:59 PM on March 27, 2009


Response by poster: Oh my goodness, bedbugs. Eek! Thanks for that heads up!

Ebay does have quite a few used one from furniture warehouses and the like - that's probably what we'll go with. :)

Many thanks for the informative comments!
posted by WowLookStars at 2:53 PM on March 27, 2009


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