How to Pack Your Books for a Move

Avid readers know that bent spines and ripped pages can totally ruin your moving experience, especially if you have a valuable book collection. That’s why we’ve prepared s simple guide to help you prepare books for moving and prevent them from getting damaged. Carry on reading to learn how to pack your books for a move.

Sorting out

Before you start packing books for moving, you should take a moment to sort them out. All books probably have a different kind of value to you but keep in mind that you’ll pay moving services based on the weight of your overall shipment. So, if some of the books in your collection are not too important, you may want to leave them behind since books can get really heavy and expensive to move. After you go through your entire collection of books and figure out what goes and what stays, it’s time to decide what to do with those that are not making the trip. There are several options for extra books, you can donate, gift, or sell them. If you have a friend that likes to read, that’s a simple solution, but if you don’t, just visit one of the local charities or public libraries – chances are they’ll be more than happy about your donation. Eventually, you can also make a yard sale or even post your books for sale online and make a few extra bucks for your trip.

Gather supplies

Now that you have your selection of books arranged by size, it’s time to get the necessary packing supplies. To avoid damage, you’ll want to pack books properly, so you’ll need appropriate size boxes, some packing paper or bubble wrap, and tape. The reason why it’s important to find the right size of a box is that if you get a box that’s way too big, you may end up hurting your back as well as damaging your books. Just think about a moving box with dozens of books inside – it will most certainly break because it’s too heavy and it will be a pain to lift it. So, the best thing to do is to get boxes that are medium or small-sized so you can pack several books inside and be able to carry each box. Besides size, you should also make sure that boxes are sturdy enough to withhold the weight of the books. Use tape to line the seams or just forget about cardboard boxes and use plastic ones instead. Plastic bins are a pretty convenient option because they’re sturdy enough to hold almost any weight without the risk of breaking. They’re also great for eco-friendly moves because they’re made of recycled plastic and you can rent them so others would reuse them again and again.

Group by size

Once you have selected books for moving, go ahead and group them by size. Having them arranged in this way will help you when you’re placing them in boxes and you’ll be able to figure out what size of boxes you need. In case you have high-value books, keep them separated from the rest of your collection because you’ll want to move them together with fragile items.

Line the box

Before placing books in a moving box, make sure to prepare the box. This step is very easy, just use some packing paper to line the box and make soft cushioning for some extra protection.

Use different packing methods

Depending on the material and type of book you’re packing for a move, you’ll want to use a few different packing methods. For example, paperback books should be placed flat, meaning that paper edges are facing forward or you risk bending pages if they’re facing down. Next, your hardcover books should be packed in the upright position but you’ll also want to use some sort of divider between them – packing paper or bubble wrap will do the trick. Also, if some of these books are in bad condition, wrap them entirely with bubble wrap to make sure they’re protected. If you’re moving books of high value, it’s a good idea to get moving insurance as well.

Label and direct

After you pack a box and use packing tape to seal it (always use double tape), go ahead and label it. When writing the label, make sure to include an arrow or write the right direction for placing the box, for example: ”This side up!”. This will help you and your movers work more efficiently.

Heavy boxes on the bottom

Whenever you’re packing boxes, you should always place the heaviest ones on the bottom. The same applies to moving books – the heaviest box with your books goes on the floor and lighter boxes go on top. If you try to do things differently, you risk heavy boxes crushing those lighter ones and damaging other items inside the moving truck.

A few extra tips on packing your books for a move:

If you’re still not completely sure how to pack books for a move and you’d rather let professional movers handle this task, Movit Movit is at your service! Contact us today to chat about your move and we’ll provide a completely free quote.