5 Little-Known Tips for Moving Specialty Items (Pianos, Artwork & Fragile Antiques)
Some moves are about square boxes and old blankets. Others involve priceless oil paintings, delicate porcelain clocks, or grand pianos that have been in your family for three generations. When you’re relocating specialty items, the rules change completely. These pieces are more than belongings. They hold history, sentiment, and often serious financial value.
If you’re facing a move and wondering how to protect those irreplaceable valuables, you’re not alone. Many homeowners overlook the unique care these items require. At Louderback Moving, we’ve built our reputation around handling the jobs that most moving companies won’t touch. Whether you’re relocating across town or across the country, here are five lesser-known but crucial tips to make sure your most fragile, valuable items arrive safely and intact.
Custom Crating Is Not Optional
You may think custom crating is only for museum pieces or high-end gallery art, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that any irregularly shaped or highly fragile item benefits from a crate built just for it. Pianos, oversized framed art, glass-top furniture, and vintage mirrors often fall into this category.
A proper crate is constructed from solid wood, often with internal braces, padding, and shock-absorbing material to keep the item suspended and protected from vibrations. At Louderback Moving, our team measures your item precisely and builds a crate that fits like a glove. This eliminates shifting during transit and allows the item to be transported upright when needed. We also mark each crate clearly to prevent any confusion during loading and unloading.
This is not a DIY project. The quality of your crate can make the difference between a smooth delivery and a heartbreaking disaster.
Smart Packing Goes Beyond Blankets and Bubble Wrap
Many people think that bubble wrap is the ultimate solution for packing delicate items, but that’s just the beginning. Specialty items demand layers of protection that vary depending on the material, shape, and vulnerability of each piece.
For example, artwork that’s painted on canvas should never be wrapped directly in plastic. This can cause condensation, which may lead to mold or surface damage. Instead, relocation services in the Lehigh Valley like Louderback Moving start with an acid-free tissue or archival paper, wrap the piece loosely to prevent abrasion, then add foam protectors at the corners. After this, the piece is wrapped in a soft fabric, followed by a thicker layer of foam or bubble wrap.
We also practice “nesting”, which is a method of placing the wrapped object in a small box, then placing that box inside a larger padded container. This double-boxing technique is excellent for small but valuable items like antique glassware or porcelain figurines.
When done right, the packing process becomes an invisible shield. You won’t see it, but you’ll feel the peace of mind that comes with it.
Replace Insurance Section with: Climate Control Is a Game Changer
Climate control often sounds like a luxury, but when you’re moving highly sensitive items, it becomes a necessity. Whether it’s a violin with a hundred-year-old varnish or an oil painting with natural pigments, environmental changes during a move can wreak havoc on fragile pieces.
Wooden instruments can warp or crack in dry heat. Canvas can stretch or tighten when humidity spikes. Even porcelain and glass can expand and contract in ways that make them more vulnerable to breakage. Specialty trucks with climate control technology offer consistent temperature and humidity levels throughout the journey, which dramatically lowers the risk of damage from environmental stress.
At Louderback Moving, we assess your items before moving day and help determine whether climate-controlled transport is necessary. For long-distance moves or those involving temporary storage, this type of protection is often the smartest investment you can make. We don’t just think about how to move your items safely. We think about how to preserve their integrity every step of the way.
Disassembly Is Your Friend
Here’s something few people realize: the safest way to move a piano, antique armoire, or fragile mirror is to take it apart carefully and selectively. It’s not about breaking it down completely. It’s about removing the parts most likely to cause instability or damage in transit.
With upright pianos, we remove music stands and pedal assemblies when necessary and protect keys with a soft cover. For baby grand pianos, we detach the legs and wrap the body vertically, carefully balancing it inside a padded piano board. For larger mirrors, we often remove them from their frames and pack the glass separately. Antique furniture with protruding parts, such as claw feet or decorative scrollwork, may need partial disassembly with exact labeling for easy reassembly.
Disassembling does two things: it reduces the risk of stress fractures from vibration and it makes the piece more manageable in tight doorways and stairwells. Every disassembled item is carefully labeled, wrapped, and grouped with its hardware in a clearly marked pouch or box. Nothing is left to chance.
Communication Prevents Accidents
The best protection is proactive planning. Before your move, it helps tremendously to communicate every detail about your specialty items. Tell your movers which pieces are most fragile, what their monetary or sentimental value is, and whether certain items require climate control.
Pianos, for example, don’t like sudden temperature changes. They go out of tune when exposed to cold trucks or humid basements. Vintage oil paintings may warp in high heat or mold in damp air. If you share these concerns in advance, we can prepare climate-safe trucks or alter timing to protect your belongings.
Also, let us know about site access. If a spiral staircase or narrow hallway is involved, we can plan equipment and personnel accordingly. A tight corner might mean your antique curio cabinet needs to be hoisted through a window or partially disassembled.
Here’s what we recommend sharing before the move:
- Items with high monetary or sentimental value
- Concerns about environmental conditions (heat, cold, humidity)
- Building or layout constraints that affect access
- Items requiring custom reassembly or special setup
Clear information helps your movers make informed decisions that protect your investments.
When the Move Is Over, the Work Isn’t Done
Even after everything arrives, specialty items need time to settle. Grand pianos, for example, will require tuning a few weeks after the move. Moving them can cause shifts in tension that change sound and performance. Artwork should remain in its crate or flat on the floor for 24 to 48 hours to allow materials to adjust before hanging. Wood antiques may benefit from a few days of rest before applying polish or treatments. This allows small cracks caused by pressure or temperature shifts to appear and be addressed.
Louderback Moving also offers optional follow-up services, including condition reports and post-move walkthroughs to ensure your valuables made it through in perfect shape.
Documentation Is Part of Protection
When moving something irreplaceable, it’s smart to act like a curator, not just a homeowner. That means creating a detailed inventory and visual record of your most fragile or valuable pieces before the move begins. This isn’t just for peace of mind. It helps movers handle items correctly and allows everyone to spot if anything changes during transit.
Start by taking clear, high-resolution photos of each specialty item from multiple angles. For pianos, include close-ups of the pedals and keys. For artwork, photograph both the front and back of the canvas or frame. Include measurements, and if you know the item’s appraised or estimated value, note that too.
A well-organized inventory list should include:
- Item name or brief description
- Dimensions and weight (if known)
- Any existing damage or wear (scratches, fading, chips)
- Notes on disassembly or fragility
- Corresponding photo numbers or file names
Once the inventory is complete, share a copy with your moving team. At Louderback, our crews review these records before packing begins, ensuring everyone is aligned on the condition, handling instructions, and final delivery expectations.
This process is especially helpful if your items will go into temporary storage. Whether you’re holding things in a warehouse for a few weeks or shipping cross-country, your documentation serves as a reference point, a quiet but powerful form of protection.
Why Experience Matters
At Louderback, we don’t treat specialty moves as a checklist. We treat them like a craft. Our team is trained to identify the weak points in every object, to think several steps ahead, and to understand the emotional value behind every piece. That oil painting you bought on your honeymoon? We know it’s priceless. The grandfather clock that chimed every hour in your childhood home? We’ll treat it with the respect it deserves.
From custom-built crates to white-glove handling, we bring a level of care you won’t find in standard moving services. And if you’re unsure how to prepare for the move, we’ll walk you through it, calmly, carefully, and with the knowledge that every item tells a story.
Let Your Movers Guide the Setup Process
Once specialty items arrive safely, it’s tempting to unwrap them and dive straight into decorating your new space. But moving them into place, assembling pieces properly, and setting them up in a safe, stable spot is just as important as packing them correctly in the first place.
Our reputable movers in Blue Bell, PA and beyond don’t just drop things off and disappear. We can help you place your piano where it’s least vulnerable to temperature shifts or humidity. We’ll recommend safe wall options for heavy framed art and mirror hanging. We can even help secure glass cabinets or grandfather clocks so that they’re less likely to tip in a high-traffic area.
The goal is not just safe delivery, but smart installation. That last mile of care matters more than most people realize.
When in Doubt, Leave It to the Pros
There’s a reason people hire professionals for moves involving irreplaceable items. No amount of internet research or packing tape can replace the experience of a seasoned crew who knows what could go wrong and how to prevent it.
At Louderback, we’ve spent decades moving the items that matter most. From priceless sculptures to hand-built harpsichords, we’ve seen it all and handled it all with respect. If you’re unsure whether to move something yourself, the answer is almost always no. Let us do the heavy lifting. You’ll gain peace of mind and preserve your heirlooms for years to come.
Approaching Your Move With Delicacy
Specialty items deserve specialty care. From your family piano to a sculpture you picked up on your travels, every valuable has a story, and it should arrive at your new home ready to continue that story without damage or stress.
By prioritizing techniques like custom crating, smart packing, careful timing, and proper documentation, you give your irreplaceable pieces the respect they’ve earned. These steps take a bit more time and effort, but they’re well worth it. After all, some things just can’t be replaced.
If you’re preparing for a move and you want the peace of mind that comes with real expertise, Louderback Moving is ready to help. We bring the tools, training, and deep respect required to move the items that matter most. Get in touch with us today to discover how to bring a stress-free sheen to your next relocation.