Our crews pack thousands of TVs, dinner sets and mirrors every year, and the damage pattern is remarkably consistent. Items don't usually break from a dropped box — they break from vibration over hundreds of kilometres, grinding against each other inside a half-empty carton.
Whether you're packing yourself or just want to know what good packing looks like when professional packers do it, these are the techniques that matter.
The materials that actually matter
Newspaper and bedsheets are where breakage starts. The professional kit is short and cheap compared to what it protects:
- Bubble wrap — the workhorse; two layers minimum on anything glass
- Corrugated boxes in the right size — small boxes for heavy fragiles (plates, glasses), never large ones
- Packing paper — for wrapping individual pieces before bubble wrap; newspaper ink transfers onto dishes
- Foam sheets & corner guards — for TV screens, mirrors, glass table tops and furniture edges
- Stretch film — seals drawers shut and keeps moisture out (essential in monsoon moves)
- Tape and a marker — every fragile box labelled FRAGILE + contents + which side up
TVs and monitors: the original box rule
If you still have the original box with its moulded foam, use it — nothing protects a panel better. Without it, build the layers yourself. Start with a foam sheet over the screen — never bubble wrap directly on the panel, as the dimples can press into it under strain. Add corner guards, two layers of bubble wrap, and finally a flat-screen box or a sandwich of corrugated sheets.
Two rules our crews never break. TVs travel upright, never flat — a flat panel flexes with every bump and can crack under its own weight. And TVs load between soft, stable items (mattresses are perfect neighbours), never against loose furniture.
Before disconnecting, photograph the cable connections at the back. Future you, setting up at the new place, will be grateful.
Crockery and glassware: vertical, wrapped, packed tight
Three professional habits prevent nearly all dinner-set casualties:
- Plates stand vertically like vinyl records, never stacked flat — vertical plates flex with shocks instead of cracking under stacked weight
- Every piece gets wrapped individually in packing paper, then bundled in threes and fours with bubble wrap; glasses and cups get paper stuffed inside them first
- No empty space in the box — crumpled paper fills every gap until nothing shifts when shaken; a tightly packed box of glass survives what a loose one won't
- Line the box bottom with a thick crumpled-paper cushion, heaviest pieces at the bottom, and stop filling at 4/5 — the top layer is crushable padding, not one more bowl
Mirrors, frames and glass table tops
Tape a large X across the glass face with masking tape — it doesn't prevent cracking, but it holds fragments together and dampens vibration. Then foam sheet, bubble wrap, and a flat mirror carton or corrugated sandwich, transported standing on edge like the TV, never flat.
For large mirrors, glass table tops and anything over about a metre, honest advice: this is where professionals earn their fee. Crews carry timber-frame crating for exactly these items, and transit insurance covers what technique can't.
Appliances: the details people miss
The fridge needs defrosting 24–48 hours ahead and must travel upright — laid flat, compressor oil migrates into the cooling lines. After delivery, let it stand for 3–4 hours before switching on. The washing machine needs its drum secured (refit the transit bolts if you kept them; crews improvise bracing if not) and 30 minutes of draining before moving day.
Microwaves, mixers and small appliances go in boxes with their loose parts (turntable, jars) wrapped separately — loose parts rattling inside an appliance are their own demolition crew. If all this sounds like a full day's work, it is: packing a 2 BHK properly takes a trained two-person crew about 3–4 hours, and it's included in every full-service moving quote.
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