How to dismantle a wooden closet

When moving your home yourself one of the main challenges you will come across will be taking apart and moving large household items like furniture and appliances. This can be an overwhelming and time-consuming process if you don’t create a moving and packing plan in advance. In order to help you dismantle a wooden closet and other large household items, relocation experts from Master Moving Guide have prepared a few important guidelines for you to follow.

Before you dismantle a wooden closet, you first need to know how it is assembled

There are many different types of wooden closets. And, they are all constructed differently. The way a wooden closet is constructed depends on many factors. The design of the closet, the way that that particular manufacturer assembled it, and in which era was the closet produced. You will find that modern closets are much easier to disassemble than those produced in the early 20th century. In fact, you will find that antique furniture has nailed or even glued parts that will be very hard to take apart without damage. If you find that parts are glued, you will need a professional carpenter to disassemble your closet so you can prepare it for the moving day. Here are the most common types of wooden closets that can be found in American households:

• Walk-in Closet – these types of closets are usually built-in and designed for a specific room. These are rarely disassembled and moved since they usually cannot fit anywhere else.
• Reach-in Closet – a smaller version of Walk-in-Closets. These are also, often built-in in the specific area and cannot be moved easily
• Armoire or Wardrobe – a free-standing closet that comes in many different designs
• Linen Closet – also a built-in closet that can often be found in hallways between bedrooms and bathrooms
• Pantry – these types of closets are used for kitchenware. There are free-standing and built-in versions
• Utility Closet – these closets are used for storing tools, paints, and chemicals and can often be found in basements, garages, and workshops

Things that you need to do before you start disassembling your wooden closet

Dismantling a wooden closet might seem complicated at first. Especially if you do not have any experience with these types of tasks. Still, do not worry, you can actually do it fairly easily, only if you prepare right. Now, there are many different types of wooden closets. And they can be assembled in many different ways, depending on their size, shape, purpose, as well as manufacturers. So, our suggestion is to first, inspect your closets closely and identify the way they were assembled. This will help you determine the necessary tools and equipment that you will need for dismantling. If you find that taking apart your wooden closet is too complicated for your skills, you can call a professional carpenter or find reliable movers that will know how to handle it properly. So start by inspecting the closet.

Inspect your closet before you start dismantling it

The first thing that you need to do is to inspect the closet you plan to take apart. Look for the assembling spots in your closet. With large wooden closets, it can be challenging to find all the screws as they may have upholstery covers. Therefore, make sure you check each corner and point and find out what types of screws or nails were used in the assembling process, and evaluate which tools you might need to take everything apart. If your closet is attached to a wall, it is important to check how it was done. Most of the time, you will find that it was screwed to a wall. However, in some cases, if the closet is attached to a wooden surface, maybe you will find that it was nailed.

Plan the dismantling process in advance

When moving and packing large furniture like wooden closets, you need to plan and prepare in advance. Besides gathering proper tools, you will need to evaluate the best way to take apart your closets safely and damage-free. Here are a few important steps to follow:

• Take out all the closets and components
• Inspect the closet and look for screws, bolts, and nails
• Evaluate whether you need to dismantle a wooded closet unit completely
• Gather the proper tools
• Take apart the closet safely
• Pack and prepare your wardrobe for the move

Empty your closet and pack your clothes for the move

In order to dismantle a wooden closet safely and make a room for additional parts of the process, you will need to first pack all of your clothes and move it out of the way. Speed up the process by preparing quality moving boxes with labels a few days in advance. Moving is a great time to declutter your closet. Divide the items into a few separate packing lists. sell, recycle, or throw away the items you don’t need or use. Make sure your boxes are labeled properly in order to make the unpacking process much easier. Consider investing in a few high-quality wardrobe boxes. Therefore you will be able to ensure your coats, dresses and suit jackets avoid any damage during transportation.

Which tools do you need to dismantle a wooden closet?

• Screwdrivers
• Allen wrench set
• Pliers
• Box cutters and knives
• A power screwdriver with different bits
• A pry bar
• Work gloves

Do you need to completely dismantle a wooden closet?

Before you start to dismantle your wooden wardrobe, you need to evaluate whether you need to take it apart completely. With smaller closets, there is a chance it will be much easier to just break it down into a few parts, pack, and move them to your new home. The best way to decide how to move your furniture is to hire professional furniture movers that can help you avoid injuries and damages. You can, also just ask for labor and their relocation specialists can prepare your household items for packing.

Dismantle your closet safely

Depending on the type of your closet, and its position against the wall, your dismantling process may be less or more challenging. However, there are a few important steps to follow when trying to dismantle a wooden closet:

• Remove closet drawers, compartments, shelves, and other components.
• Take down the wardrobe doors.
• Detach the closet from the wall by using a power drill. If your closet is screwed into the wall you might need to use a pry bar as well.
• Make sure you have someone to help you. Wooden closets can be heavy and detaching them by yourself can be dangerous.
• Pay attention to any screws that may be painted over. Scrape the paint away and remove any screws.
• If you decide to dismantle the whole closet make sure you label the pieces and create a reassembly plan.
• Also, ensure you don’t damage your closet by placing its parts on a clean large piece of linen or a quality moving blanket.

Packing your closet for moving or storage

After you dismantle a wooden closet you will need to prepare it for packing. Whether you want to relocate your furniture to your new home or have found a cheap storage solution and want to store household items you need to pay special attention to the packing process. Therefore make sure you gather quality packing supplies. Here are the packing supplies that you will need to pack your wooden closet properly:

• moving blankets
• moving straps
• plastic zip-lock bags
• rolls of bubble wrap
• cardboard edge protectors
• packing tape
• labels and markers

In order to pack your antique furniture safely as well as to ensure all of your belongings stay safe during transport, you will need quality packing materials. First, make sure that you prepare small zip-lock bags for the smallest parts, handles, screws, and bolts. Then, as you take one part of the closet off, wrap it in bubble wrap immediately and label it. Once you take all parts of the closet, add cardboard edge protectors to the body of the closet. Then, wrap the whole piece in bubble wrap and a moving blanket. Secure everything with packing tape. Finally, make sure that you wrap and protect all the parts properly.

Now, all that you have to do is load your wooden closet into a moving truck

Maneuvering a wooden closet, even if you disassemble it, is not easy. So make sure that you find someone to help you during the process. That can be a friend or you can hire movers. No matter what type of help you pick, it is important that you have someone around in order to avoid damage to your items and injuries. If you decide to call friends, you will also need to find a moving dolly and a loading ramp in order to safely get your closet into the truck. If decide to hire help to move your closet, you will not have to think about that part of the process.

Do you need any help when moving your furniture?

Moving can be a stressful process. With so many pre-move tasks to focus on you might have less time to plan your move than you anticipated. In order to avoid any common moving mistakes and damages to your belongings, you should consider hiring relocation experts that can offer you special moving services like the assembly and reassembly of your furniture and household appliances. Many movers will be happy to provide you with additional relocation services with just a slight increase in your moving cost.

Even though a DIY moving process may seem cheaper, having the help of reliable and BBB accredited furniture movers can save you more than just time. Professional relocation companies use specialized moving equipment that allows them to handle large and heavy items easily and damage-free. Therefore, they can pack, transport, and unpack your entire home in a short period of time and according to your requirements.

Make sure that movers you hired are reliable

When searching for the right mover to dismantle a wooden closet and safely relocate your home, make sure you compare a few reputable companies from your area. Pay attention to the services they include in their moving quotes. Check their rating and reputation. Don’t forget to ask detailed questions about their furniture moving process. With a clear image of the quality of multiple moving companies’ services, you will be able to make an informed decision and ensure your move is conducted safely and quickly.