At A Glance
The five packing mistakes that most often damage furniture during a move are:
- Using newspaper to wrap furniture: the ink transfers onto wood, fabric, leather and painted surfaces. Use clean packing paper, bubble wrap or moving blankets instead.
- Overloading boxes: heavy boxes split, collapse and crush what is inside. Keep boxes comfortably liftable and spread heavy items across several smaller boxes.
- Skipping furniture protection: bare furniture gets scratched and dented in doorways, stairwells and the van. Wrap it in blankets, foam and stretch film before loading.
- Leaving drawers full: full drawers add weight, slide open and make furniture unstable to carry. Empty them, especially of books, tools, cables and heavy items.
- Not labelling fragile items: unlabelled fragile boxes end up stacked under heavy ones. Mark them clearly on the top and at least one side.
1. Using Newspaper To Wrap Furniture
Old newspaper feels like the obvious free packing material, but it is one of the worst things to wrap furniture and household items in. Newsprint ink is not fixed in place, and once it is pressed against a surface, especially under the weight and warmth of a packed box, it transfers easily. The result is grey smudges and print marks on wood, leather, painted finishes, light fabrics and white crockery that often will not wash off.
Professional movers avoid plain newspaper for wrapping because the print can transfer onto your belongings, including glassware and other delicate surfaces. - British Association of Removers
Better option: Use clean, ink-free packing paper for crockery and ornaments, bubble wrap for fragile and high-value pieces, and moving blankets for larger furniture. These give you real cushioning as well as a clean, non-staining surface. If you would rather not buy materials in, our packing service arrives with everything ready and can wrap the breakables for you the day before.
Local Pro Tip: Buy Once, Reuse, Recycle
You do not need a cupboard full of new materials. We carry proper ink-free paper, bubble wrap and blankets on every job, and as part of our eco pledge we reuse and recycle clean boxes with a take-back option. Ask us what you actually need before buying a pallet of bubble wrap you will only use once.
2. Overloading Boxes
A box that is too heavy is a problem in three ways: it is hard to carry safely, the base can split open mid-lift, and the sheer weight can crush the items packed underneath. It is a classic mistake with books, tools, crockery and tinned food, where a standard box fills up long before it gets too heavy to safely move.
HSE guidance gives indicative figures of around 25 kg for men and 16 kg for women when a load is held close to the body at waist height, and stresses these are guidelines rather than legal limits. - Health and Safety Executive
Those figures assume an ideal lift on a flat floor. On moving day you are usually twisting through doorways, going down stairs or reaching into a van, so the safe weight in practice is lower. A good rule of thumb is to keep boxes to a weight you can lift comfortably and carry one-handed down a flight of stairs without straining.
Better option: Put heavy items such as books, records and tools into small boxes, and use larger boxes only for light, bulky things like bedding, cushions and lampshades. Heavy at the bottom, light on top, and never fill a big box with books, or it will come through the base on the first carry. If you have a lot of volume, choosing the right van also means fewer trips and less handling overall.
Local Pro Tip: Brighton Stairs Change The Maths
In Brighton and Hove conversions, period terraces and seafront flats, a lot of the move happens on tight, turning staircases. A box that is fine to lift in the kitchen can be genuinely unsafe halfway up a Hanover stairwell or a Kemptown basement flight. When in doubt, pack lighter and use one more box, your back and your banisters will thank you.
3. Skipping Furniture Protection
Furniture rarely gets damaged because it is dropped. It gets damaged because a sharp corner clips a doorframe, a sofa arm scrapes a wall on a stair turn, or two unprotected pieces rub together in the van. Wooden legs, glass tops, polished surfaces and upholstered corners are all vulnerable, and a single deep scratch can knock real value off a good piece.
Better option: Protect furniture before it leaves the room, not at the front door. Wrap polished and painted surfaces in moving blankets, use foam sheets or corner protectors on vulnerable edges, and finish with stretch film to hold padding in place without leaving residue on the surface itself. Glass tops should be removed where possible and carried separately. This is exactly the kind of careful handling we build into every house and room move and single item transport job, and it is fully backed by our £20,000 Goods in Transit and £5 million Public Liability insurance.
Local Pro Tip: Measure The Doorway, Not Just The Sofa
Before move day, check whether large items will actually fit through the tightest point on the route, usually a doorway, a stair turn or a landing. If they will not, it is far better to plan a dismantle and reassemble than to force a piece through and gouge both the furniture and the wall. Send us a photo of the access and we will tell you in advance.
4. Leaving Drawers Full
It is tempting to leave chests of drawers, desks and bedside cabinets packed as they are to save time. The problem is that full drawers add a lot of weight to an already-awkward item, they can slide open and trap fingers on the carry, and the shifting contents make the whole piece unstable and harder to control on stairs.
Better option: Empty the drawers before move day, especially if they hold books, cables, tools, paperwork or anything heavy. Pack those contents into properly weighted boxes (see mistake two), and the furniture becomes lighter, more stable and far safer to handle. Lightweight clothing or soft items can sometimes stay put for a short local move, but check with us first, as it depends on the piece and the access.
Local Pro Tip: Bag And Tape The Fixings
If a wardrobe, bed or unit is being dismantled, put the screws, bolts and fittings into a zip-lock bag and tape it to the item itself. Write what it belongs to. It is the single biggest time-saver at the other end and the easiest way to avoid a "where did that bracket go" moment when you are trying to rebuild the bed at 8pm.
5. Not Labelling Fragile Items
A sealed box gives no clue about what is inside. An unlabelled box of glassware looks exactly like a box of saucepans, which is how fragile items end up at the bottom of a stack with something heavy on top. Clear labelling is the cheapest insurance you can give your breakables, and it makes unpacking far quicker too.
The British Association of Removers recommends marking fragile boxes clearly and putting a label on the top and at least one side, so the contents and the room are easy to see. - British Association of Removers
Better option: Write "FRAGILE" and the destination room on the top and at least one side of every breakable box, ideally with a bold marker or coloured label so it stands out across a busy room. Add "This Way Up" where it matters. When boxes are labelled properly, our crew can load and stack them correctly the first time, with fragile boxes kept off the bottom and out from under the heavy ones.
Local Pro Tip: Pack A First-Night Box
Label one box (or two) as "Open First" and keep it with you rather than in the van. Kettle, mugs, chargers, medication, a towel, bedding and the tools to rebuild a bed turn a chaotic arrival into a calm first evening, especially if unloading runs late or you are moving into a flat after dark.
How Good Packing Saves You Time, Money And Stress
Avoiding these five mistakes does more than protect your furniture. Well-packed, properly labelled boxes load faster, stack more safely and unpack more easily, which keeps the whole day calmer and often keeps the cost down too. If you are not sure where to start, it is always worth asking your removals team before you commit to a plan, the right advice early is much cheaper than a repair later.
If you would rather hand the whole thing over, we offer a full packing service across Brighton and Sussex, and we can combine it with furniture dismantling and reassembly, storage if your dates do not line up, and the right van for your access. For more on keeping the day smooth, see our guide on how to avoid a stressful house move.
Need Help With Packing Or Moving In Brighton And Sussex?
Call Peter on 07552 555 820 or visit www.eastsussexvan.com for a clear, no-obligation quote. You deal directly with Peter from first message to the last box, and for real Brighton moves and packing tips you can follow us on Instagram.
Why should I not use newspaper to wrap furniture and crockery?
Newspaper ink is not fixed in place, so it transfers onto whatever it touches and leaves marks that often will not wash out.
Under the weight and warmth of a packed box that transfer gets worse, printing grey smudges onto wood, leather, painted finishes, light fabrics and white crockery. It feels like the obvious free option, but it is one of the worst things to wrap your belongings in.
We use clean, ink free packing paper for crockery and ornaments, bubble wrap for fragile and high value pieces, and moving blankets for larger furniture, all of which cushion properly without staining. If you would rather not buy materials in, our packing service arrives with everything ready and can wrap the breakables the day before.
How heavy should a moving box be?
Keep each box to a weight you can lift comfortably and carry one handed down a flight of stairs without straining.
HSE guidance gives indicative figures of around 25 kg for men and 16 kg for women when a load is held close to the body at waist height, though it stresses these are guidelines rather than legal limits. Those assume an ideal lift on a flat floor, and on move day you are twisting through doorways, going down stairs or reaching into a van, so the safe weight in practice is lower.
Put heavy items like books, records and tools into small boxes, and save large boxes for light, bulky things such as bedding and cushions. In Brighton conversions and seafront flats with tight turning stairs, pack lighter still and use one more box.
What is the best way to protect furniture during a move?
Protect each piece before it leaves the room, not at the front door, because most damage comes from corners clipping frames and surfaces rubbing in the van rather than from drops.
We wrap polished and painted surfaces in moving blankets, add foam sheets or corner protectors to vulnerable edges, and finish with stretch film to hold the padding in place without leaving residue. Glass tops come off and travel separately wherever possible.
We also check that large items clear the tightest point on the route, usually a doorway, a stair turn or a landing, and plan a dismantle and reassemble rather than forcing a piece through and gouging both the furniture and the wall. Send us a photo of any piece you are worried about and we will tell you how we will handle it.
How should I label fragile boxes?
Write FRAGILE and the destination room clearly on the top and at least one side of every breakable box, using a bold marker or coloured label so it stands out.
The British Association of Removers recommends exactly this, marking fragile boxes clearly so the contents and the room are easy to see. A sealed, unlabelled box of glassware looks identical to a box of saucepans, which is how breakables end up at the bottom of a stack under something heavy.
When boxes are labelled properly, our crew can load and stack them correctly first time, keeping fragile boxes off the bottom and out from under the heavy ones. It is the cheapest insurance you can give your breakables and it makes unpacking far quicker too.
Which Brighton and Sussex postcodes do you cover for packing and removals?
We cover BN1 to BN3 as our Brighton and Hove home base, with the same packing and removals service across the wider BN, RH, TN and PO postcode families.
That means Haywards Heath, Uckfield, Lewes and Chichester are all standard ground for us. We also handle long distance work across the UK, including Scotland, so a move that starts in Brighton but finishes further afield travels with the same care.
Wherever the job lands, the packing standard travels with it. The same ink free paper, bubble wrap and moving blankets go on the van whether we are moving a flat in Hove or running a full house to another county. Send us both postcodes and we will confirm coverage straight away.
How should I plan access before packing and moving day?
The quickest way to plan access is to send us a photo of your frontage so we can identify the closest legal stopping point before the van arrives.
One picture tells us how far the carry is, whether the street is permit controlled, and whether a bay suspension is worth arranging. Brighton and Hove Council bay suspensions typically need about 7 working days notice, so parking is one of the first things to flag, not the last.
Access also shapes how we pack. A long carry or a tight stair turn means lighter boxes, more corner protection and glass tops travelling separately, so knowing the frontage early improves the whole plan.
How do you handle packing for Brighton flats and tight stairwells?
In Brighton conversions, period terraces and seafront flats, we pack lighter boxes and add more furniture protection because the stairs decide what is safe to carry.
A box that lifts easily in the kitchen can be genuinely unsafe halfway up a Hanover stairwell or out of a Kemptown basement flight, so we spread heavy items like books and tools across more small boxes and keep every box one hand carryable.
We also measure the tightest point on the route before forcing anything through. If a sofa or wardrobe will not clear a stair turn or a landing, we plan a dismantle and reassemble rather than gouging the piece and the wall, and we protect banisters and corners as we go.
Should my move use a Sprinter or a Luton van?
We match the van to your volume and your access, using the Mercedes Sprinter for tighter streets and smaller loads and the Luton for fuller houses.
For a packed one bedroom flat or a single room, the Sprinter slips into awkward Brighton stopping points and keeps the carry short. For a whole house of properly boxed and blanket wrapped furniture, the Luton moves far more in one load, which means less repeated handling on stairs and fewer chances for damage.
Van choice also decides the load plan. Heavy boxes at the bottom, fragile kept clear and furniture padded against rubbing only works when the vehicle suits the inventory, so tell us what is moving and we will pick the right one.
When should packing happen, the day before or on move day?
For most moves we pack the day before, so move day starts with everything wrapped, boxed and labelled and the crew can go straight into the load.
Packing breakables in advance means crockery, glassware and high value pieces get cushioned properly rather than rushed while the van waits. Smaller jobs, such as a single room or a man and van booking, can often be packed and moved in one visit.
If your completion or key handover is tied to a fixed time, we set the packing window around it so nothing sits in the van waiting for keys. Tell us your dates and any timed slot when you enquire and we will build the schedule to match.
What insurance covers my furniture while ESV packs and moves it?
Every ESV booking is covered by £20,000 Goods in Transit and £5 million Public Liability insurance as standard.
Goods in Transit protects your belongings while they are in our care and on the road, and Public Liability covers the wider risks around the move itself, from doorframes to stairwells.
Insurance sits behind the packing, never in place of it. We still wrap polished surfaces in blankets, pad vulnerable corners, remove glass tops and keep fragile boxes off the bottom of the stack, because the goal is that nothing ever needs a claim. If you want to know exactly how the cover applies to a specific piece, ask before you book and we will talk it through plainly.
What should I do about high value items before packing starts?
If any single item is valued at £500+, tell us upfront so we can plan the right materials, handling and cover for it from the start.
Antique furniture, artwork, glass topped tables and delicate electronics need more than a standard wrap. Knowing about them early lets us bring extra bubble wrap, foam and corner protection, carry them separately where needed, and load them where nothing can shift against them.
Declaring valuables also makes sure the insurance matches what is actually on the van. It costs nothing to mention, so list anything precious or irreplaceable when you send your inventory and we will confirm how each piece will travel.
Can ESV store my packed belongings if my dates do not line up?
Yes, we can stage your move through Big Yellow Self Storage in Brighton when your collection and delivery dates do not match.
That suits a chain that slips, a gap between tenancies or a renovation that is not quite finished. Because we have already packed, wrapped and labelled everything to our own standard, the load goes into storage clean and comes out ready to place room by room at the other end.
Good packing matters even more with a storage stage, since boxes are handled twice and stacked for longer. Tell us the rough volume and how long you expect to need, and we will fold storage into one clear plan and price.
What do you need from me to quote a packing and removals job fast?
To quote quickly we need your collection and delivery postcodes, a rough inventory or a few photos, the floors at each end, the parking situation and a note of anything especially valuable.
Photos work brilliantly. A quick shot of each room and one of the frontage tells us the volume, the packing materials needed, the van choice and the closest legal stopping point in a couple of minutes.
Send it all in one message and we will come back with a clear, no obligation price rather than a vague range. If anything needs dismantling, storage or a timed slot around completion, mention it at this stage so the quote covers the whole job.
What makes the ESV way different for packing and moving?
With ESV you deal directly with Peter from the first message to the last box, so the person quoting your move is the one planning and handling it.
That owner run approach is why the packing advice in this guide is exactly what happens on our jobs. Clean materials instead of newspaper, sensible box weights, furniture wrapped before it leaves the room, drawers emptied and fragile boxes clearly labelled and stacked correctly. It is careful, calm and planned, and it is the reason we hold hundreds of five star Google reviews across Brighton and Sussex.
For a clear, no obligation quote call Peter on 07552 555 820 or visit www.eastsussexvan.com, and follow @esvremovals on Instagram for real Brighton moves and packing tips.
About the author...
Peter Hawes is the director of ESV Removals Ltd, a family run Brighton and Sussex removals team known for calm planning, careful handling and clear prices. He holds a 2:1 BA (Hons) in English Literature and Digital Media from the University of Brighton. Peter oversees every move from first message to the last box and brings local know how for permit zones, tight stairwells and seafront buildings. ESV is fully insured with £20,000 Goods in Transit and £5 million Public Liability, backed by hundreds of five star Google reviews and recognised with two SME Southern Enterprise Awards. The company follows an eco pledge that prioritises Esso Ethos fuel where available, reuses boxes and runs paperless bookings. Learn more at www.eastsussexvan.com
