Thursday 17 October 2013

Moving Your Mattress Safely

Whilst moving your bed to a self storage facility is more than likely quite easy as it’s able to be separated into easy-to-manage pieces on moving day, you will have no such luck with your mattress. Mattresses are bulky and unwieldy, making them particularly difficult to maneuver and move from place to place if you don't have a large van or truck to accommodate them. This can mean that the only option available is to throw them up onto the roof rack of the car and, while it may not look pretty on the move, it is possible with most standard sized vehicles, as long as you don’t have  a small mini car or something similar in size you should be ok!

Start off by preparing for the move to the storage facility by getting hold of the right materials for the job, this includes a good length of rope or ratchet tie downs, tape, and a big piece of plastic or a waterproof bag large enough to fit your mattress. You could try asking around some of the local warehouses in the area to see if they have any spare heavy duty plastic lying around they might give you for free or for next to nothing. Get help too when moving the mattress especially if it’s a king size – it’s definitely not a 1 man job!

It’s best to wrap the mattress in plastic so that if it rains it will remain dry and clean. Even if the weather is fine, you still don't want to expose your mattress to dirt and exhaust fumes on the road. Leaving a mattress uncovered can attract dirt and gives the possibility of being torn during the moving process, and as they don’t come cheap you don’t want the extra expense of having to replace one.

Once it is wrapped up securely get some help from a friend to lift it up onto the roof rack, if you don’t have a rack and don’t want to buy one just for the sake of one trip then you can actually just strap it onto the roof of the car instead. An important point to mention again is that you need to really secure the plastic tightly with strong packing tape, normal sellotape just isn’t up to the job and if a corner gets loose then it’s very likely to tear and your mattress will be open to the elements and for all to see!

Throw the rope over the top of the mattress and then either under the roof rack, or if you don't have a roof rack, through the car windows. Make sure that you secure the rope going in both directions of your mattress, lengthwise and width ways, as this will prevent it from moving around, and then tie the end of the rope very firmly making sure it’s taut so it can’t come loose.

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