Ikea furniture is usually the go-to brand for young people who are moving into their first apartment, home, or townhouse. It is much cheaper than going to a furniture retailer and all items from Ikea are supposed to be easy to assemble and disassemble. The only problem is that the instructions are not perfect when you are building the items you bought and by the time you are disassembling it, you lost the instructions and have to do it off of memory.
There are multiple items that you should have on hand while taking apart the furniture. These include:
- Labels
- Markers
- Rubber mallet and hammer
- Phillip’s head and regular screwdrivers
- Allen wrench set (it is always good to keep a bag with all of the different size allen wrenches that you get)
- Pliers
- Wrench
- Ziploc bags for storage purposes
- Blankets that you can work on to avoid damaging the floor or the furniture as it comes apart
- Blankets or padding to separate the furniture as it is dismantled
Downloading Ikea Instructions
By this point you have most likely lost or thrown away the instructions that come with the furniture that you bought at Ikea. You can go to Ikea’s assembly instructions page and find the instructions that match up with the products that you are taking apart. You can print out the instructions so that you have it when you need to reassemble it and they also provide a list of all of the pieces that are supposed to come with the set. This will help you make sure that no screws or small pieces go missing.
Give Yourself Time
Disassembling Ikea furniture is usually not going to be a quick task. You should allow yourself at least 30 minutes for larger items because there will be parts that take a few minutes to disassemble and rushing could cause fragile parts of the furniture to break. Most Ikea furniture is made from lightweight plywood and will not have the same durability as other types of furniture that are more expensive.
Take Photos
Before you start disassembling any furniture you should take pictures of the item from multiple angles so that you can reference them when you are putting it back together. You can use the labeling tip below taking the furniture apart so that reassembly is much easier. You will want to document all of the latches that are on the furniture and document any other challenging parts so that you can reference them later.
Labeling Your Pieces
Taking the time to label the pieces that you take apart is going to be the biggest time saver when it comes to putting the furniture back together. As you are reverse engineering the instructions you will want to make sure that all pieces get their proper labeling. We like to make the outer-facing sides so that we can get an idea of where each piece goes when we are putting it back together.
Make Room For Your Disassembly
You want to make sure that you have enough room to take apart your Ikea furniture without damaging anything. This includes other parts of the Ikea furniture or other items that you have in the room. This relieves a lot of the stress that comes with this process and allows you to move around freely.
Remove Everything From The Furniture
If you are disassembling a dresser, desk, nightstand, or anything else that has drawers, please make sure that everything has been removed and put in a different room or far enough away so that it does not cause issues. If you are taking apart a bed frame/headboard make sure that nothing has fallen in any opening.
You should clean all pieces of the furniture before dismantling and then clean it again once it is reassembled. Most of these pieces get used daily and it is good to get any dirt, dust, or other substances off the item before packing it away.
Storing The Furniture
You are going to want to use a blanket or padding in between each piece of the Ikea furniture to avoid scratches, dents, or cracking. You will want to have each piece layered in a way that makes sense for when you are putting it back together. You can put the cabinets on the bottom because they are the final pieces to be added on and can tape the hinges or screws in the Ziploc bags to the piece that it belongs to.
Keeping It All Together
If you are moving this furniture out of your house make sure that it all goes together. The worst thing that could happen is a separation of pieces that cause a lot more stress when you are unpacking.
If you have multiple pieces of furniture from Ikea you can use the labels to write what piece goes to what furniture. Moving is hectic and there is always a chance that things get messed up when you have others helping you move.
We hope this guide helped you safely and efficiently take apart your Ikea furniture and hope that it is ready to go to the next house or owner that will get tons of use out of it!
If you are moving to a new house, townhome, or apartment check out our Utility Setup Guide! We walk you through all of the steps that you need to take in order to move into your new home stress free!