Flat-pack furniture makes sense from a retailer's point of view. Masses of bulky furniture items are sold disassembled, packed flat in boxes, which can then be stacked—maximising warehouse space. It's not so bad for the consumer either. You can often get your items immediately, and their flat-pack nature makes them easy enough to transport. Assembling them at home isn't always as easy as you might hope, but it's not that challenging. What can be challenging is moving to a new home. When it comes to your furniture, is it a good idea to flat pack it again for moving day?

Don't Move It Whole

It's definitely going to be helpful to disassemble flat pack furniture, if only because this is how it's intended to be transported. It's at its most protected when disassembled and is far harder to damage. Flat-pack furniture can be at risk of breakage if moved whole. Being moved whole can place excessive and uneven pressure on the screws and bolts holding the item together, and there's a risk that it won't even survive the move. If you don't disassemble furniture, you're creating a lot of extra and unnecessary effort for your chosen furniture removalists.

Assembly Instructions

Chances are that you no longer have the boxes that your furniture came in, and you might have also discarded the assembly instructions. Despite these hurdles, you can still disassemble flat-pack furniture without too much difficulty. It's much easier if you bought the item from a larger retailer, but you should be able to find the assembly instructions online. Just reverse these instructions to disassemble the item. Be sure to keep screws, bolts, and pieces of wooden dowel in a sealed (and labelled) container for later reassembly. 

Flat Packing With Alternative Packaging

You've probably long since thrown out the packaging for the item, but you won't need it. Flattening other cardboard boxes and using gaffer tape to wrap them around the larger components will be fine, basically creating a DIY flat pack. If any individual components need protective padding, you don't need to source bubble wrap. Instead wrap these pieces in fabrics you also need to move, such as towels, bedsheets or even clothing. 

If this all sounds like it's too much effort for moving day (which involves a lot of effort anyway), you might want to have a chat with your removal company. Many furniture removalists offer a disassembly and reassembly service—so the furniture will be taken apart for transport, and then put back together again at the other end.