For a true bibliophile, who has owned and earned several books, the true frustration comes in the form of ripped pages, bent covers and a smashed book jacket. Unsurprisingly, moving house is quite a stressful time for the book lovers who along with moving household items need to take care of moving books which inherently carry a risk of damage. For book lovers, the heaviest item in accordance with the size is the box of packed books and the movers charge a little higher for moving it. The box contains not 10, not 100, but 1000 books. For them, it is a very hard thought to spare down books on the basis of not using or not reading.
Tips to aid bookworms to pack books for moving truck
Instead of struggling through the heavy trips to and from the truck, bent pages, and the whole chaos of keeping everything safe, bookamover have prepared a step-by-step guide that will make the moving of valuable books much easier.
1. Sort the shelves
Before packing all your books, spare some time to sort the bookshelves. If you are pondering over how to move so many books over a long distance, it is important to keep a note of the fact that packed books weigh considerably and moving companies charge according to the weight of the packed box. The heavyweight will cost heavily. Thus, before moving, it is worth determining what should be kept and what note:
Sort the books based on categories or groups, such as classics, favourites, antique books, paperback books, thrillers etc. Also, keep a list of heavy books that you may not ever read again.
Then decide which one’s you can donate to brighten someone’s day. You can book donations to thrift stores, local charities, schools, friends and family or even used book stores.
2. Never go wrong with the packing boxes
Once a careful selection of books is done and you are sure how many books need to be moved from the home library, it is the right time to buy some sturdy and small boxes or medium-sized cardboard boxes. Check every single box to ensure that they can hold the weight and are free from any sort of dampness. Also, carry other packing materials such as sturdy packing tape to seal the top and bottom of the book box and a marker to mark the label for contents in the book boxes.
3. Pack your book boxes a little early
The books are your most loved items, so it will take a longer time to pack books for moving. Also, it involves multiple quality moving boxes, so careful placement of the book collection is required. This task is not one of those tasks that can be left for the last minute. When drawing the plan for the packing process, it is highly recommended to make packing books a top priority.
4. Don’t pack them the way they are placed on the shelves
The common mistake yet the common method of packing books opted by many booklovers out there is to pack the entire library the way it is on the shelf. Instead lay them flat and build columns with bigger books at the bottom of the box for extra protection. One of the important packing tips here include to packing binding to binding to prevent bending and breaking of books of the same size.
5. Group the books by size
Once you have decided which books are travelling with you to the new home, it makes sense to check their sizes. The more books you own, the great realization you will have about the different sizes, the books come in. The sizes do add a visual appeal to the home library, but packing these becomes a painful task. Hence, we recommend checking the size of the box and organising the books by size. By bunching them together, you can gain a better idea of whether or not they will fit in a particular size box.
6. Packing paperback books
You have the option to pack the paperback editions either flat or packed them lined up with their spine first. Ensure to check that the valuable editions of books with soft paper edges are not packed spine down. This causes the pages to face up which further leads to bending of books and tearing up of pages. You can even try the spine up methods and stacking methods alternatively. It is recommended to wrap each of the rare edition books in separate packing paper before the books can be placed in the box.
7. Packing of hardcover books
To pack efficiently the hardcover books, the first thing to do is to sort the books in size the way you want them to line up in the bookcases. Always wrap each of the books including the heavier books in individual packing to prevent damage. Once the books are placed in the box, use bubble wrap or paper layers to fill in the extra space.
8. Make use of rolling suitcases
Till now you must have used rolling suitcases to hold clothes, but do you have an idea it can be used as a great transport vessel for store books? Being sturdy with lots of space and wheels for easy moving, and odd angles it can be easily used for carrying books.
9. Fill gaps with packing paper and other packing materials
Often space is leftover in the box as the books are placed inside. The space left must be covered with packing materials or even clothes to give the needed cushion for quite some time.
Packaging Materials required to pack books for moving
Packing books is similar to packing any other household item. But, since they are very dear to the heart of the book lover, careful packing becomes essential. The following materials can ease your task of packing books:
1. Strong cardboard boxes
A decent number of high-quality cardboard boxes will be required. Look for the best places or some local stores to buy small and medium-sized corrugated boxes that offer the best protection to all the books present in the box. Of all the tips for packing books for moving, the most intelligent one is to make use of small boxes that can keep the weight low and even make carrying boxes and even paperbacks safely and easily.
2. Packing paper and bubble wrap
Pack books flat using bubble wrap and soft packing paper or acid-free paper before arranging them into the boxes. Before you pack your books ensure to place a few sheets of packing paper on the inner side of the bottom to create a layer of insulation to protect your reads till they reach your new home.
3. Packing tape
Tape is one of the essentials that is required to seal the boxes. Consider getting the wide brown packing tape for this purpose. It is prudent to also carry some extra tape for any emergency like situation where the box breaks or the already present tape gets ripped while moving boxes.
Conclusion
The biggest problem book lovers face in moving is losing some of the books of sentimental attachment and lots of effort required for relocating the new library. You will need not just one box but several boxes to carry all that weight of books inside. The above tips can surely make the cumbersome task of moving books relatively easier.
