How to Pack a Flat Screen TV Safely Without the Original Box

What you need before you start

Gathering everything first means the television is never left half wrapped while you hunt for tape. All of this is available from our packing supplies range or any good builders merchant.

• A flat TV carton sized for your screen or two large double wall cartons
• A soft moving blanket or a clean bedsheet for the screen face
• Foam sheets or polystyrene corner blocks
• Bubble wrap for the frame and stand only
• Strong packing tape and a marker pen
• A resealable bag for screws the stand bolts and the remote

Step by step packing method

Work on a carpeted floor or a bed rather than a hard worktop. Most screens are cracked by a corner knock during handling rather than by anything that happens in the van.

• Photograph the back of the set so every cable goes back into the right port
• Unplug everything and coil each cable with its own tie then bag them together
• Unscrew the stand or the wall bracket and bag the fixings taped to the bag
• Lay the soft blanket over the screen face and tape it to itself at the back never to the panel
• Add foam or card to all four corners which is where the pressure lands
• Slide the set into the carton or build a sleeve from two cartons and tape the seam
• Mark the carton FRAGILE TV THIS WAY UP with an arrow on both faces

Why bubble wrap should not touch the screen

Bubble wrap pressed against a panel can leave permanent circular marks on some LED and OLED coatings especially when a van warms up in summer. Keep a soft cloth layer between the plastic and the glass and use the bubble wrap around the frame instead.

Carrying and loading it into the van

Carry the set vertically with one person at each end and hands on the frame rather than the panel. In the vehicle it travels standing on its long edge strapped flat against a side wall with a blanket behind it.

Never lay a flat screen face up under other items. The panel flexes and a single pothole is enough to crack it. Our crews load televisions last and unload them first for exactly that reason.

Setting it up in the new house

Let the television reach room temperature for a couple of hours before switching it on if it has travelled in cold weather. Condensation inside the panel is a genuine risk in winter moves.

Then use the photograph you took to rebuild the connections and keep the fixings bag taped to the back of the set until the wall bracket is up.