Furniture Dismantling and Reassembly
Beds, wardrobes, benching and the wardrobe that went in before the bannister did. Taken apart properly and rebuilt at the other end.
- Rebuilt before we leave
- Part of the move, not an extra
- Honest about what will not survive it
Usually not optional
The short version. Tell us what the pieces are and what the staircase is like. For most moves dismantling is simply part of the day rather than something you have to ask for separately.
People often ask whether they need dismantling as though it were an upgrade. In most houses it is not a choice at all. The turn at the top of a staircase has a fixed geometry, and a double bed either fits through it or it does not, regardless of how anybody feels about the matter.
In the older housing across Greater Manchester, which is a great deal of it, more comes apart than people expect. Victorian and mill-era terraces have narrow doorways and turning stairs, and a wardrobe that walked into a 1930s semi will not come out of a Rochdale terrace whole. In newer housing considerably less needs it.
What we would rather do in every case is take the least destructive option available. If removing a door from its hinges gets a piece out intact, that is two minutes of work and far better than dismantling something that was built to stay together.
What we take apart
Six categories cover nearly all of it.
Beds and divans
The most common item by a distance. Almost no double or larger bed comes down a turning staircase assembled, and divan bases in two halves still need the headboard off. Rebuilt at the far end before we leave.
Wardrobes
Flat-pack wardrobes generally have to come apart. Solid wooden ones frequently do not, and where a door coming off its hinges solves the problem we would far rather do that than dismantle a piece that was built to stay together.
Flat-pack in general
Bookcases, chests, desks and units. These are the pieces most likely to need taking apart and the least tolerant of it, which is worth understanding before you decide what is coming.
Garden furniture and trampolines
Larger than people picture and awkward rather than heavy. Trampolines, swing sets and playhouses are genuine dismantling jobs and need to be in the quote rather than mentioned on the day.
Office benching and workstations
Desk systems, storage walls and screens. Commercial furniture is designed to be dismantled and reassembled, which makes it more predictable than domestic flat-pack.
Gym and exercise equipment
Multi-gyms, treadmills and racks. Heavy, frequently bolted together and occasionally assembled inside a room they cannot leave whole.
What we need to know
Six things, and the last one is the question people never think to answer.
- What the item is and roughly how big, since that decides whether it needs to come apart at all
- Whether the staircase turns, and how narrow it is at the tightest point
- The width of the doorways it has to pass through, including the frame rather than just the opening
- Which floor it is on at both ends, because a piece can come apart easily and still not fit the destination
- Whether you still have the original fittings and instructions, which helps more than people expect
- Whether it was assembled in the room it is currently in, which usually means it cannot leave whole
Tell us about the pieces
What they are, which floor they are on, and what the stairs are like. A photograph of the staircase is worth more than a description.
Where the screws go
The single most common reason a piece of furniture cannot be rebuilt is not damage. It is that the screws have gone missing between one house and the other.
What happens is entirely understandable. Something is taken apart in a hurry, the fittings go into a pocket or a mug or a general box of odds and ends, and by the time anybody looks for them the box has been unpacked into three different rooms. A wardrobe then sits in pieces for a fortnight while somebody works out what size the bolts were.
The way round it is dull and it works. Every piece gets its own labelled bag, and the bag is taped to the item itself rather than travelling separately. Bed bolts stay with the bed, wardrobe cams stay with the wardrobe. Nothing goes into a communal container of screws, because a communal container of screws is where reassembly goes to die.
Where an item uses anything unusual, a proprietary fixing or a bracket that clearly did not come from a standard range, it is worth photographing it before it comes off. Two seconds with a phone saves a genuinely tedious afternoon.
If you are dismantling anything yourself before we arrive, do the same. It is the one piece of advice that makes the biggest difference to how the far end of the day goes.
Being honest about flat-pack
This is the part of the job we would rather set expectations on beforehand than explain afterwards.
Chipboard and MDF furniture is designed to be assembled once. The fixings work by biting into the board, and every time a piece is taken apart and rebuilt, a little of that grip is lost. Cam locks loosen, dowel holes widen, and a bookcase that felt solid in its old room can feel noticeably less so in the new one.
That is not carelessness and it is not avoidable by being gentler. It is how the material behaves. A wardrobe that has been apart twice is genuinely weaker than one that has never moved, and there is a point at which a piece stops being worth transporting at all.
So we will tell you honestly which of your items are likely to be fine and which are marginal. Solid wood, plywood-backed and decent commercial furniture generally survive repeated dismantling without complaint. Budget flat-pack that is already a few years old and has moved once before is a different conversation, and sometimes the sensible answer is that it should not come.
Where a piece does come apart, the fittings go into a labelled bag attached to the item rather than into a general box, because the most common reason something cannot be rebuilt is not damage, it is missing screws.
Solid furniture is the opposite case. Older wooden wardrobes and chests were frequently built to be taken apart, with pegged or bolted joints designed for exactly that, and they go back together as solidly as they came apart.
What it costs
Five things decide it, and the first two do most of the work.
A list of the items is what lets us quote accurately. Three beds and two wardrobes is a very different job from one bed, and we would rather know up front than adjust afterwards.
Most things do, and it is the second half of the job. Anything going into storage or being sold may not, which changes the figure.
Commercial furniture and modern flat-pack come apart predictably. Older solid pieces and anything with hidden fixings are less predictable, and that goes into the quote rather than into a surprise.
An item that comes apart in a bedroom and has to be rebuilt in a loft room is two jobs with a staircase in between.
Dismantling within a removal is normally part of the day rather than a separate charge. Booked on its own it is quoted as its own visit.
Office benching and commercial furniture
Commercial furniture is a different proposition from domestic, and generally an easier one, which is worth knowing if you are pricing an office move.
Benching systems, storage walls, screens and workstations are built on the assumption that they will be reconfigured. Offices change shape constantly, so the manufacturers use fixings meant to be undone and redone, and the components are usually modular rather than glued or pressed together. A desk system that has been apart three times is generally as solid as it was new, which is rarely true of a domestic flat-pack unit.
The complication is elsewhere. Commercial furniture is heavy, it comes in many more pieces than it appears to, and the pieces look alike. A run of benching for twelve people produces a considerable pile of near-identical legs, beams and tops, and getting it back up quickly depends on it having been taken down in an order somebody recorded.
Cable management is the other thing that catches businesses out. Modern desks have trays, spines and covers that all have to come off before anything else does, and they are the parts most often lost because they look like packaging rather than furniture.
Where a business is moving to a different layout, it is worth deciding the new configuration before anything is dismantled rather than after. Benching can usually be rebuilt in a different arrangement, but only if the right components come out and the counts are known in advance.
When something will not come out
Occasionally a piece of furniture cannot leave the room it is in, and it is worth knowing that this happens rather than being told on the morning.
The usual cause is straightforward. The item was assembled in that room, frequently before a bannister was fitted or a doorway was narrowed by later work. It has never been through the door because it never had to be, and there is no arrangement of angles that changes the arithmetic.
Before concluding that, there are several things worth trying and we will try all of them. Doors come off hinges, which gains a couple of inches and solves more cases than anything else. Handles and feet come off. Occasionally a bannister rail can be removed and refitted. And a piece that will not go down a staircase will sometimes go out through a window opening, though that is a decision rather than a default.
Where none of that works, we will say so plainly and leave the item rather than forcing it and damaging the piece, the doorway or both. What you do then is your decision. Some people sell it, some leave it for the incoming owner by agreement, and some decide the room it is in was always its home.
The way to avoid discovering this on moving day is to mention the item when you first get in touch. If you already suspect a particular wardrobe is a problem, you are almost certainly right, and a photograph of it alongside a photograph of the staircase usually settles the question in advance.
Where we work
Across Greater Manchester and the surrounding areas. Dismantling is normally part of a home removal or a business move, and it can be booked on its own where you need furniture taken apart without a move attached.
You might also need
Home removals
Where dismantling is normally part of the day rather than a separate job.
Business removals
Benching, storage walls and workstations for commercial moves.
Storage
Furniture taken apart to store compactly and rebuilt on the way out.
Piano moving
For the one item that does not come apart at all.
Common questions
Is dismantling included in a removal?
For the things that genuinely have to come apart, yes, it is part of the job rather than an extra. Beds are the obvious example. Where you want additional pieces taken apart or rebuilt that do not strictly need it, tell us at the quote stage and it goes into the figure.
Will you put everything back together?
Yes, before we leave. Beds go up first at the new house so it is sleepable that night, and other furniture is rebuilt and put where you want it rather than left in pieces against a wall.
Will my flat-pack survive being taken apart?
Sometimes, and we would rather be straight with you about it. Chipboard furniture is designed to be assembled once. The fixings pull through the board, and a piece that has been apart twice is rarely as solid as it was. We will tell you honestly which of your items are likely to be fine and which are not.
Can you dismantle without doing the move?
Yes, though it is priced as its own visit rather than as part of a day. It comes up most often for people selling furniture, clearing a room, or getting something out of a house that will not fit through the door.
What if something will not come apart?
There is usually another answer, and taking a door off its hinges solves a surprising number of problems in two minutes. Where a piece genuinely cannot leave a room, we will say so rather than forcing it, and you can decide what you want to do.
Do you need the original instructions?
It helps but it is rarely essential. What helps more is having the fittings, if you still have them. Where you do not, we carry a reasonable range, but an unusual proprietary fixing is worth mentioning in advance.
Do you do office furniture?
Yes, and commercial furniture is generally more straightforward because it is built to be taken apart and put back. Benching, storage walls, screens and workstations are all normal work.
What about a trampoline or a shed?
Trampolines and playhouses yes, with notice, because they take longer than people expect. Sheds are a different matter and depend entirely on how they were built, so ask before assuming.
Get it sorted
Send a list of the pieces and a photograph of the staircase and we will tell you what needs to come apart and what does not.