Today, more than 9 out of 10 households contain at least one piece of flat pack, chipboard or particle board furniture, and its popularity is ever-increasing. These materials can be covered with various finishes to make them look the part, but the fact is that these types of furniture won’t withstand many knocks or moves. They can even become bent and buckled over time, most often with large pieces like wardrobes, long TV units or bookcases. Weak fixings, i.e. the bits that attach the parts together, arguably lead this kind of furniture to an early grave.
In order to allow your average person or store to assemble them, flat pack components must be joined together through simple, impermanent means. This is where those little ridged wooden dowels come in. Fixings like these rely solely on friction, which means they can’t handle a lot of repeated stress or movement.
When you combine these fixings with crumbly, low-density chipboard or particle board, it makes the whole situation worse. Holes in this material are easily widened, so after just one round of reassembly, every joint gets weaker. Even fixings that are stronger, like screws, become less effective each time they are undone. The material just gets chewed up. Drawer fronts, and drawer runners for example, are a common failure point for dowel joints or screws.
While all care, caution and diligence it taken by The Marlin Transport team when moving furniture, it’s beneficial for clients to understand that every time this type of furniture is moved, it essentially loses of integrity to the state of construction and components.
You may not even notice, and then one day, the back panel comes away or a leg held in by a dowel drops off. A runner on a draw doesn’t slide as well due to coming loose or the draw is misaligned.
Marlin Transport does not cover loss of integrity that presents during or after moving the item from one location to another.
Draws and runners that don’t function properly after the item has been placed in the new home such as loose legs, item not standing straight, draw not sliding properly, draw runner coming loose, drawer front coming away are some examples of integrity degeneration.
Antique or timber furniture does not go without it’s set of issues either. We have found, hinges or legs can often come loose or drop off. Glass panels can slip out. Shelves can drop and aged glues can fail.
Moving furniture from a second floor, can also cause slight distortion of joins due to the confinements & restrictions within the property.
Our team will always try to notify a client if they notice an item that has loss of integrity or damage before or during the moving process.
To save our client’s money and our team time, it is requested that any items that have current damage, prior to our team arriving to commence the load up, are indicated to the team via email or visually on job so photos can be taken.
Integrity degeneration is not damage caused by our team moving the item. It is simply because the integrity of the connection or the product components have weakened during the moving process.
Ways to help reduce integrity degeneration
Lighten the load. Empty draws of contents, or disassemble flat packed furniture prior to it being moved. This reduces the risk of breaking the joints and makes it easier to transport. Our team can assist with disassembling furniture during the job, so please advise if you require this service to be carried out.
Know the limitations
Be realistic – particle board furniture doesn’t handle the wear and tear of a move as well as solid wood. If it’s too damaged, it may be time to let it go.
For more information on our furniture relocation services, please read our insurance or terms and conditions section/s.