When you are moving house, one of the main concerns that you will have will revolve around the safety of your belongings as they are in transit. With the consideration that the road is bumpy and the van will be swinging around a lot, there are a few levels of protection that you can rely on to keep your things from being damaged, but one of the most important is the way in which the van is packed. You will likely have a removals team who are responsible for this, but if you know a little about all areas of the removal then you will be better placed to understand what is going on and react appropriately to it all. In this case, it is very likely that the removals team know their van rather well, and will be used to moving homes with it, so you don’t want to get in the way of them and their decision making, but knowing what’s going on can’t hurt!Considering that the van is going to put much more force on the load going forwards as it brakes, than it will going backwards as it accelerates, it is wise to load the van with the heaviest and largest items first. You need to load the largest pieces before anything else, as they will be the hardest to get on, and if the van is already part full of boxes and the like, it is not going to be easy to get a sofa in there. Be sure to keep the centre of gravity of everything in the van low, which means giving the largest floor coverage possible. If you have a tall skinny wardrobe in there, it is likely best lying on its back, where it is unable to fall over. If it is left standing up, then you will find that no amount of strapping and safety bars will keep it from wobbling around and causing havoc! In the sense that your will be taking up a loft of floor space in this way, you will need to stack lighter things on top of the heavier ones. However, this needs to be done sensibly, as otherwise these items can fall from the heights that they are placed, and break. To secure things that might move around, you can simply place other larger and heavier items that won’t be moving in a place that will keep them stuck where they are. Wedging things together is the best way to ensure that nothing is sliding about whilst the van is moving, and you will find that it saves on using straps and bars to do the work, which can be unreliable in many ways. When you are wedging things together however, there is a certain likelihood of these items rubbing together and causing damage in marking each other. In order to prevent this, you must place cardboard and blankets between things that are likely to get scratched or rubbed, so that their contact is cushioned. Packing lankest can be quite slippery, so you need to be careful of how you place them, especially if you are putting them underneath something. If the van moves suddenly and a blanket does not keep it’s friction, then the item is likely to slide about all over the place, which will no doubt cause carnage in the back of the van. Packing a van is all about common sense and solidity. Try treating it like tetras, where everything is locked in place by everything else, and you will be well on your way.