The worst damage I have ever seen to a finished piece happened in a stairwell, four feet from its final position, when a corner met a handrail. The crate had done its job across two states. The last ten minutes undid it. Getting a finished object from a bench to a room intact is a design problem with three separate stages — packing, transport and the final carry — and the stage that fails is almost always the one nobody planned, which is the last one.
Plan the route before the piece is built
The measurement that matters is not the room, it is the tightest point on the path to the room: the diagonal of a doorway, the width of a stair between handrail and wall, the headroom at a half landing, the turn at the top. A 7 ft tall cabinet that is 24 in deep will not go up a stair with a 36 in landing turn, and that arithmetic has to be done at drawing stage, because the answer is often to build the piece in two sections with a concealed joint. Elevator dimensions, door frames that can be removed, and whether a window can be taken out are all legitimate parts of the design brief. Nobody wants to discover this with a finished piece on the sidewalk.
Packing for what actually damages things
Three mechanisms cause nearly all transit damage: point impact on an arris, abrasion from a surface moving against the piece, and moisture. The counter to the first is to protect the corners specifically, with foam or cardboard corner sections rather than relying on an overall wrap. The counter to the second is a soft inner layer directly against the finish — a non-woven blanket or foam sheet, never plastic film directly on a fresh finish, because film can print into a finish that is dry but not cured. The counter to the third is to avoid unheated storage and to let the piece equalise before unwrapping. Standards work by bodies such as the International Safe Transit Association exists precisely because drop, vibration and compression are testable events rather than bad luck, and packaging designed against those events performs very differently from packaging built out of whatever was in the shop.
Crate, blanket wrap, or both
A full crate — a plywood box with internal bracing that suspends the piece away from the walls — is the right answer for freight, for anything travelling on a shared load, and for anything irreplaceable. It costs real money and material, often several hundred dollars for a large piece, and it needs a way in at the far end. Blanket wrap on a dedicated vehicle with two people who handle furniture for a living is frequently better than a crate on a general carrier, because the handling is gentler and the piece is never stacked. For short local deliveries, blanket wrap plus corner protection plus straps in a padded van is standard and appropriate.
The last ten metres
Protect the building as well as the piece. Door jamb protectors, a floor runner, and a handrail wrapped in pipe insulation cost almost nothing and prevent both damage to the house and the panic manoeuvre that damages the piece. Carry with the piece upright where its structure is strongest, and never by an applied component — a plinth, a cornice or a drawer front is not a handle. Two people and a set of lifting straps beat three people improvising. Unwrap only after the piece is in position, because a wrapped corner survives a knock that a bare one does not, and leave the packing on site until the client has inspected, since it is the only sensible container if something has to go back.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a finish cure before a piece is wrapped? Depends on the system, but a week is a safe minimum for most film finishes and longer for oils. Wrapping too early is the single most common cause of print marks in an otherwise perfect surface.
Who insures a piece in transit? It should be stated in the commission agreement. Standard carrier liability is usually far below the value of a made-to-measure piece, so specific cover is worth arranging for anything valuable.
What should be inspected at delivery? Arrises and corners first, then flat surfaces in raking light, then function — doors, drawers and any moving part, since racking in transit shows up in fit before it shows up as damage. Delivery is also the last checkpoint of the programme, and the commission timeline should have the install window written into it from the start.