How to Move Large Electronics: TVs, Computers, and Monitors

If you are one of those organized people who kept the original box and Styrofoam inserts in the attic – congratulations. You have won the moving lottery. This is the gold standard. The manufacturer spent thousands of dollars engineering that packaging to survive shipping. Use it.

If you’re like me and you threw the box away immediately because you live in a normal house without infinite storage, don’t panic. You need to buy a heavy-duty TV moving kit. If you threw yours out, you need to follow careful packing instructions to build a “box within a box.”

• Don’t cheap out here. I’ve seen people try to wrap a TV in a quilt and hope for the best. Please don’t do that.
• The Kit: Get a telescoping box (two boxes that slide together) and foam corner protectors.

1. Unplug and Photograph: Before you pull a single cord, take a picture of the back of the TV. You think you’ll remember where the HDMI goes. You won’t.
2. Remove the Base: Unscrew the stand or remove the wall mount brackets. Pack these separately.
3. Screen Protection: Wrap the screen in a soft, anti-static foam sheet. Tape it to the back of the TV, never to the screen itself.
4. Corner Guards: Slide the foam corner protectors on. This is where the impact usually happens.
5. Box It Up: Slide the TV into the box, keeping it upright. Fill any empty space with bubble wrap so the TV doesn’t wiggle.

Here is the most important rule of this entire article: Never, ever lay a flat-screen TV flat.

I don’t care what your uncle told you. Plasma, LED, and especially OLED screens are designed to support their weight vertically. When you lay them flat, gravity pulls down on the center of the thin glass, which has no support. Hitting a single pothole can cause the screen to snap or the internal layers to delaminate.

Always transport TVs upright, wedged between a mattress and a box spring or tied securely to the side of the truck.

Before you unplug anything, run a full backup. External hard drive, cloud, whatever. Hardware can be replaced; your family photos or work documents cannot.

If you have a standard office PC (like a Dell or HP), you can usually pack it as is. But if you have a custom gaming rig or a high-end workstation with a large dedicated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), listen up.

Remove the GPU. The GPU is a heavy brick sitting perpendicular to the motherboard, held in by a thin PCIe slot. When the moving truck bounces, that heavy card bounces too. It can rip the slot right off the motherboard. Take it out, wrap it in anti-static bubble wrap, and pack it in a separate small box.

1. Anti-Static is Key: Do not use standard packing peanuts or plastic wrap directly on the computer case if it has open vents. Static electricity is a PC killer. Use anti-static bubble wrap (it’s usually pink).
2. The Box: Treat it like the TV. Use plenty of padding on the bottom of the box to absorb shock.
3. Orientation: Transport the tower upright.

If you have a custom water-cooling loop, you need to drain it. I know, it’s a pain. but a leak during a move will destroy the entire system. If you have a massive air cooler on your CPU (like a Noctua), considering removing that too, as the weight can stress the motherboard.

Computer monitors don’t usually have the protective glass layer that TVs do. The panel is exposed and extremely sensitive to pressure. A thumb pressed too hard against the screen can kill pixels.

If you don’t have the box, use the “Pillow Sandwich” method:

1. Wrap the monitor in a soft towel.
2. Place a pillow on the screen side.
3. Wrap the whole bundle in bubble wrap and tape it tight.
4. Place it in a box where it cannot move.

Curved monitors are a nightmare to move without the original box because they don’t sit flat against anything.

• Do not force them flat.
• If you lost the box, your best bet is to wrap them in massive amounts of bubble wrap – I’m talking mummy-style – and place them in a box surrounded by packing peanuts. The goal is to “float” the monitor inside the box so nothing touches the curve.

Keep these items with you in your personal vehicle or carry-on bag. Invest in a hard-shell laptop case if you don’t have one. Soft sleeves offer zero protection against a crushed bag.

If you are moving in the summer (especially through the South), be careful about leaving electronics in the car during overnight stops. A car interior can hit 140°F easily. That kind of heat can warp screens and degrade lithium-ion batteries. Bring your tech into the hotel room with you.

If you are moving in the summer (especially through the South), be careful about leaving electronics in the car during overnight stops. A car interior can hit 140°F easily. That kind of heat can warp screens and degrade lithium-ion batteries. Bring your tech into the hotel room with you.

If you have loose lithium batteries (like for cameras or drones), tape over the contacts so they don’t short out. And keep them out of extreme heat.

If you have a home theater setup worth $10,000, or a server rack, or a 75-inch+ TV that you physically cannot lift, look into specialized furniture moving services to handle the bulk.

• Custom Crating: They can build wooden crates for oddly shaped or ultra-expensive items.
• Valuation Coverage: If you drop your TV, you buy a new TV. If they drop your TV (and you have full-value protection), they buy you a new TV.