Moving is always challenging and stressful, especially for book lovers. Books are among the heaviest items in the household for their size. True book lovers may have hundreds of books, and all of them need to be packed and moved. Professionals from Paradise Moving Storage can help you with this in the best way. But if you do it by yourself, you can try to decrease the number of books and weight of boxes. If you don’t need some of your books anymore, try to pare down your collection to move only the most needed books. There are services where you can sell books or present to different organizations.
Anyone who has books knows about damages such as ripped pages, bent or wrinkled covers. If you want to do everything in the best way and keep your books undamaged, this article will help you. We prepared instructions on how to pack books to avoid damage.
What You'll Need
When you decide to prepare and pack your books for moving, it is important to know some tips on how to do it and what you will need for it.
Let’s begin with materials and tools you’ll need to pack books:
- sturdy cardboard boxes;
- packing paper;
- cardboards;
- packing tape;
- scissors;
- cutting knife.
As books are really heavy to move them, use small or medium boxes to not get your back traumatized. You can buy new boxes or get used ones. If you work in the office, you can check there. Maybe, suppliers left some boxes or your colleagues received deliveries. You can also ask in nearby shops if they can share boxes. Another way to find boxes is social media. Facebook and Instagram are filled with local groups, ask and people may give you some boxes.
Instructions on How to Pack Books
The first step is to prepare boxes. If you buy new packing boxes, you have to put them together and don’t forget to seal the bottom with packing tape. It is better to do it two or three times to make sure that the box will not tear. If you have old and already used boxes, make sure they are in good condition and can contain all books you’re going to put there. Always put one more layer of tape on old boxes even though there already is one.
Once you prepared boxes, you can prepare and put books there. Don’t forget to organize your book by size and weight before packing: heavy ones go on the bottom and light ones on the top. Packing books with paperbacks and hardcover books differs a little bit.
Let’s start with books with paperbacks. You should put them on a flat side and form layers of books in boxes. When you put them into the box pack in flat stacks. You can try different combinations to get the most of your box, but be careful with angels. Pack books tight, but not too much because they could be damaged while unpacking. When you pack hardcover books, actions are pretty similar with one exception. You should put them in the box standing upright with a spine against the side of the box.
To protect the most valuable books you can wrap each of them in packing paper and then put them inside the box. Also cardboards or bubble paper could be used between books or between layers if a box contains books with paperbacks.
When all books you need to pack are in boxes, fill all empty spaces inside the box with wrapped packing paper. Books can easily shift during the moving and got damaged. Tightly packed boxes will provide more safety for books.
Put a couple of layers of the packing tape on the top of the box to close it properly. Professionals highly recommend label boxes, so you will know how fragile is the stuff inside while packing into the vehicle. Labeling also will help during unpacking.
Tips for Long-Term Book Storage
Books are quite fragile, especially if they are stored somewhere for a long time. Paper, letters and pictures can easily be affected by time and inappropriate conditions in storage. Ensure you have the right place to save books: it should be cool and dry in a storage facility. If you need to leave books in storage for a really long time, or you have high-valued editions, you can wrap books in acid-free paper. This paper will slow down deteriorating and turning yellow over time.
