FAQs and Moving Tips

Should you empty drawers before moving a dresser? Customers often ask us this question. The answer is most often no but there is exceptions.

You may need to consider – Will your dresser need to be flipped to move through a door or carried up stairs? Some moves are trickier than others.

As long as your dresser can be moved in an upright position, the drawers should be fine. If we need to take a dresser up a curving staircase or turn it on its side to fit through a doorway, then the drawers will need to be emptied.

When possible, leaving clothing and other soft items in a dresser is a smart way to save time and use fewer boxes. We encourage any techniques that make moving easier!

Before moving a dresser, we’ll evaluate the situation. We look at the type of dresser and what’s in the drawers. If it’s not safe to move the chest loaded, we’ll empty the drawers and pack the items in separate boxes.

is the dresser sturdy? You don’t need to empty the draws of a well-built dresser in good shape. What makes a dresser strong? The drawers and frame should be solid. The joints and corners of the piece should be stable. A sturdy dresser is often heavy and made of solid wood.

If you lift the dresser, and it feels flimsy, empty the drawers before moving it. If the dresser is fragile or old, full drawers will stress it. The wood might crack or the piece break apart when it’s in motion, empty it.

Remove heavy objects and pack them in separate boxes. Small, fragile or valuable items should also be packed separately.

Here’s a breakdown of things that need to be packed in boxes:

• Fragile items: Remove anything that could break if it shifts. Glass, art or porcelain should be removed. Wrap and pack these things separately.
• Jewelry: Jewelry can get lost or damaged during a move. Because it’s small, it can shift and get stuck in corners or slip through cracks. Secure and pack jewelry in a separate box.
• Money: Don’t move cash, checks, credit cards and the like in a dresser. You’ll want to keep money with you rather than loading it onto a moving van.
• Books, CDs, DVDs: These items are too heavy to stay in the drawers. They may shift during the move and damage your dresser.
• Valuable papers: Empty these from your dresser. Carry them with you rather than loading them in a van.
• Small, easily lost items: Anything that can shift, such as desk supplies, cosmetics or other small items should be packed securely in boxes.

Use the above guidelines to evaluate other types of furniture with drawers. Here’s a little more information:

• Desks: The small items typically stored in a desk tend to shift around. Securely pack papers, pens and supplies in a separate box.
• Filing cabinets: In many cases, you’ll need to pack files securely in boxes. If a filing cabinet is sturdy and can be locked, you may be able to leave the drawers as they are. Remove valuable documents and carry them with you.
• Beds with drawers: Empty drawers that are part of a bed’s frame. Beds are usually placed on end in the truck. Items left in the drawers will shift and could fall out.
• Tables, sideboards: These tend to have small drawers. Consult the above list to decide whether you should empty the drawers.

Special considerations: Regarding moving IKEA style furniture.
Furniture manufactured from pressboard and particle board furniture are designed to go into a box when it is moved from the manufacturer to the retailer then to the customer unassembled. Press boards and particle boards are not built to withstand the normal stresses of a move as an assembled unit. Sometimes if these items are disassembled, they do not always go back together as efficiently as they did the first time. Most are not designed with the extra wood structural pieces to adequately brace the unit for movement out of or into a residence or office, nor the normal moving truck vibration, even in air-ride moving trailers. Usually, chips or dents are not repairable. For all of these reasons, we do not insure particle board furniture for this reason.