Organisation is most of the job
With a collection of any size, keeping track of what belongs to what matters as much as the removal itself. Each fitting is dismantled where necessary and its individual components kept together and packed to protect them in transit, so that nothing arrives as a box of unattributable glass. Where a piece will be re-dressed later, elements are marked and photographed component by component before removal so the original arrangement can be reproduced exactly.
Ceiling points do not look after themselves either: where a fitting is removed and the room remains in use, a temporary light fitting is installed in compliance with statutory requirements.
Large chandeliers
A big glass chandelier is not lifted down in one piece. It is dismantled and lowered progressively, so that the glass and frame components can be safely handled and packed at floor level rather than at height. Size and the sheer number of glass components are what dictate the time taken.
A whole collection on The Bishops Avenue
Ahead of a client's house move on The Bishops Avenue, London, we took down and packed approximately 15 chandeliers and 10 wall lights over two days with a two-person team, including a substantial 40-light glass chandelier that was progressively dismantled and lowered. The wall lights were removed and packed with their components kept together, ready for transportation and future reinstallation: taking down and packing chandeliers on The Bishops Avenue.
Where a cherished fitting is moving to a new address, removal, cleaning and reinstallation can be handled as one piece of work, as in our Knightsbridge to North Kensington family chandelier relocation.
What to tell your removal firm
General removal crews are not lighting specialists, and antique chandeliers are usually the item that suffers in a move. If lighting is going with you, arrange for it to be taken down and packed separately, before the general packing begins, and keep the packed fittings out of the main load where you can.
Disconnection is electrical work and, at height, work with a fragile object over a hard floor. It is worth having it done properly once.
Talk to us about a removal — we work from our Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire workshop, serving Hertfordshire, London, the Home Counties and beyond.