How to Transport a Wardrobe in the UK

Moving wardrobes are awkward. They're heavy, bulky, oddly shaped and pretty much designed to not fit through your front door.

Solid wood wardrobes weigh between 60kg and 80kg or more. Flat-pack wardrobes fall apart at the worst possible moment. Even when they're small, transporting a wardrobe is always tricky.

We're not going to tell you to spend a fortune on professional movers just to avoid lifting a drawer. But taking your wardrobe apart, protecting it, and loading it safely into a vehicle is harder than it looks. Which is where this guide comes in.

Here's how to transport a wardrobe quickly and easily without spending a fortune.

Step one: empty it. Step two: work out how it's getting through the door.

Prepare to Move Your Wardrobe: Take It Apart or Keep It Together?

First thing — what type of wardrobe are you dealing with?

Solid wood freestanding wardrobe: The big burly boys of the wardrobe world. Built like bricks. Usually in one chunky piece.

Flat-pack wardrobe: IKEA PAX wardrobes, Argos bedroom suites, anything that came in a box needing DIY assembly.

The type of wardrobe you have affects how it's moved.

Solid wood wardrobes are heavy. They're designed to be heavy. But if you have enough people available to lift it and enough space to carry it, they can almost always be moved as-is.

Flat-pack wardrobes are held together with precarious little dowels and cam locks. Try wrestling a 6-section IKEA PAX wardrobe down your hallway without taking it apart and the panels will separate on their own. Ask us how we know.

How to Take Apart Your Wardrobe

Dismantling a wardrobe seems intimidating, but there's nothing complicated about it. Take it apart piece by piece like so:

Empty it. Get everything out of the wardrobe. Drawers, shelves, the lot. Clothes and shoes weigh a lot more than you'd think, and an empty wardrobe feels much easier to lift.

Remove the doors. Most wardrobe doors will either pop off their hinges or unscrew. Take them off. The frame instantly becomes lighter and narrower, and you won't catch them on walls while carrying it.

Take out shelves and rails. Adjustable shelves will lift straight out. Hanging rails usually need unscrewing. Pop these in separate bags or boxes for reassembly later.

Flat-pack only: unscrew the panels from the top down. As each panel comes off, label it with masking tape. "Left Side," "Back Panel," whatever you need to refer back to later. Otherwise you'll have five identical looking pieces of plywood and no idea which goes where.

Bag and label all fixings. Screws, cam locks, shelf pegs — put them all into their own zip-lock bags. Label each bag clearly with a marker pen, then tape it to the largest section of the wardrobe. Lose the screws and you'll never reassemble it properly.

How to Protect Your Wardrobe When Moving

Protecting your wardrobe from damage is half the battle. Here's how:

Wrap everything in blankets. Panels, shelves, doors. If it's wooden or has sharp edges, cover it with moving blankets or old duvets. Bubble wrap works in a pinch, but blankets give better protection from impacts.

Get paranoid about corners and edges. These are the bits most likely to suffer damage. Cardboard corner protectors are cheap and easy to use. Don't have any? Rip up some cardboard boxes and tape over any exposed edges.

Mirrored doors need extra care. Cover the whole door with cardboard first, then wrap it in a blanket. Never attempt to transport a mirrored wardrobe door with the glass exposed. If the mirror shatters you've got a dangerous mess to deal with.

Keep doors and drawers secure. If you're transporting the wardrobe whole, use cling film or packing tape to keep doors and drawers locked to the main body. Anything that can swing open during transit will swing open during transit.

Stack flat-pack panels properly. Lay them flat and separate each panel with blankets or cardboard. Don't lean them up inside the van — they'll slide around and damage the edges.

Measure Twice, Move Once

If you aren't taking your wardrobe apart before moving, there's one important question to answer first:

Will it actually fit through the door?

It made it into your room once, sure. But has the carpet been replaced since? Doors trimmed? Is there a shoe rack blocking the hallway now?

Get a tape measure. Measure the wardrobe — height, width, depth. Include the doors if you aren't taking them off.

Then measure every doorway, hallway, and staircase it needs to pass through. The front door. The path from the house to where the van will park.

Often you can save yourself a lot of stress by removing the door from its hinges. Takes five minutes and might give you that extra couple of centimetres you need.

Still won't fit? Take it apart.

Wrap every panel and door individually — corners and edges take the most damage

Transporting a Wardrobe: Your Options

Wardrobe emptied, protected, and ready to go. Here's how to get it where it needs to be:

Rent a Van and Do It Yourself

Best if it's a local move and you've got friends helping. Hiring a medium van will set you back £50 to £100 for 24 hours from somewhere like Enterprise or Europcar. Check the interior height is tall enough to fit your wardrobe upright first though.

Downsides: you need at least one other person to help load. Hire vans come with a £1,000+ insurance excess. And if you drop the wardrobe while loading it, tough luck.

Get a Man and Van

A driver with a van who'll help lift the wardrobe too. Hourly rates start at about £40 to £70. Perfect if it's a short move and you need extra hands but don't want a full removals team.

Porta Delivery offers a man and van service covering the whole UK, solving one of the biggest limitations of most local man and van operators.

Hire a Large Item Courier

For wardrobe moves, this is almost always the best option. Porta Delivery connects you with independent drivers already heading your way who have space in their van. You get a fixed price, the driver collects from your door, and your wardrobe is delivered to its new destination. Completely stress-free.

Because you're booking onto a journey the driver is already making, prices are often similar to — if not cheaper than — hiring your own van. You don't need to pay for fuel, tolls, or use up an entire day of your life driving back empty.

Porta's drivers have moved everything from disassembled flat-pack panels to full-size solid wood wardrobes. For furniture specifically, Porta's furniture courier service handles wardrobes of all types and sizes. Need a two-person team to carry your wardrobe downstairs? Select that option at checkout and a two-person team will handle the collection.

Still not sure how to move your wardrobe without hiring a removals company? Our guide to moving large items without a removals company breaks down every option.

Hire a Removals Company

For one wardrobe? Don't bother. Removals companies specialise in entire house moves and you'll still be quoted minimums of several hundred pounds. A man and van or large item courier can do the same job for a fraction of the price.

How Much Does Moving a Wardrobe Cost?

Cost depends on where it's going, how far you're taking it, and whether the wardrobe is assembled or taken apart. Here are some ballpark figures:

DIY van hire for local moves: £50 to £100 for van hire only. Doesn't include fuel or insurance excess.

Man and van for local moves: Around £80 to £150 depending on distance.

Large item courier for any distance: Varies by route and item size, but often works out about the same as or cheaper than hiring a van yourself once you account for fuel, tolls, and your time.

Removals company: £300 or more minimum. Not worth considering for a single wardrobe.

Hiring a van can seem like the cheapest option. Until you add fuel, insurance excess, and an entire day of your life. A large item courier often ends up costing about the same — with none of the heavy lifting or driving.

Moving an IKEA Wardrobe? Might Be Better to Replace

Depends on the condition, honestly.

IKEA wardrobes like the PAX range are designed to be assembled once. Taking them down, moving them, and rebuilding loosens the cam-lock joints each time. Half the screw holes will strip if you're not careful. After two or three disassembles your IKEA wardrobe won't be nearly as sturdy as it was.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't move it. If it's still in good condition and you're careful — using the proper tools, not forcing anything, keeping all fixings labelled and bagged — moving it is absolutely doable.

But if it's already wobbling, the backing panel is drooping, or screws are starting to strip, it might be time to accept it's seen better days. Sell it, donate it, and buy a new one at the other end. PAX frames cost less than you'd think. Might end up cheaper than transporting the old one.

Buying a Wardrobe Online?

Bought a wardrobe on eBay that's listed as collection only? Found a bargain on Facebook Marketplace but the seller lives in Devon and you're in Glasgow? You don't have to take time off work to collect it.

Porta's eBay collection service sends a driver to wherever the seller is based. They load the wardrobe onto the van and deliver it straight to your door. Facebook Marketplace works exactly the same way through Porta's marketplace collection and delivery service.

Most people use Porta when they've bought furniture online and need it collecting from the seller and delivered safely to their door. No van hire. No awkward meetups. No struggling to fit a wardrobe in the back of your car.

FAQs

Can you courier a wardrobe?

Yes. Large item courier platforms like Porta Delivery transport wardrobes every day. Porta covers the entire UK and can collect wardrobes either assembled or taken apart.

How much does it cost to move a wardrobe?

Local moves with a man and van start at about £80 to £150. Transporting a wardrobe longer distances with a courier will often work out about the same as — if not cheaper than — hiring a van yourself. Get a quote on Porta by entering your postcodes.

Do I need to take a wardrobe apart to move it?

If it's flat-pack, yes. Get the allen key out and carefully take it down piece by piece. Flat-pack wardrobes will almost certainly fall apart if you try to transport them whole.

Solid wood wardrobes can be moved whole. You'll need enough people to lift it safely plus a clear route that it can fit through.

Should I empty my wardrobe before moving it?

Yes. Makes it lighter and far easier to move. Also gives the structure less chance of collapsing during transit — especially true on flat-pack wardrobes.

Can I move a wardrobe without dismantling it?

If it's solid wood and you have enough people to help lift it, yes. Flat-pack wardrobes will never survive being moved whole. Take them down carefully.

How do you protect wardrobe mirrors when moving?

Remove the mirrored door from the wardrobe and transport it separately. Cover any exposed glass with cardboard wrapped securely around the door, then wrap the whole thing in a moving blanket. Never move mirrored doors with the glass exposed.