How to Disassemble Furniture for Moving: IKEA & Beyond
What to Disassemble and What to Leave Intact
Disassemble anything that won't fit through your doorways or staircase in one piece. Bed frames are the obvious candidate — most queen and king frames must come apart. IKEA pieces like the KALLAX, MALM dresser, and HEMNES bookcase are designed to be disassembled, but older IKEA furniture with wooden dowels can be fragile on reassembly. Dining tables with removable legs, sectional sofas, and large desks should all come apart.
Leave solid wood dressers, nightstands, and small bookshelves intact if they fit through doors — disassembling solid furniture risks stripping screws and weakening joints. When in doubt, measure the piece against your narrowest doorway or staircase turn.
Tools You Need and a Labelling System That Works
Keep these on hand: a Phillips and flat-head screwdriver, Allen keys (IKEA furniture almost always uses 4mm and 5mm), a socket wrench set, pliers, and a rubber mallet for stubborn joints. A cordless drill with a screwdriver bit speeds up bed frames enormously.
The most important step: label everything. Put all hardware (screws, bolts, cam locks, dowels) in a labelled Ziploc bag taped to the furniture piece it belongs to. Take a photo of each assembly step on your phone — you'll thank yourself during reassembly. For IKEA items, find the original assembly instructions on ikea.com by searching the product name. Follow them in reverse.
Reassembly Tips to Avoid Frustration
Reassemble in the room where the furniture will live — don't build a KALLAX in the living room and try to carry it to the bedroom. Lay out all hardware bags before you start. If a cam lock or dowel is damaged, IKEA stores in Montreal (the one on Cavendish in Saint-Laurent is closest for most islanders) sell replacement parts at the returns desk for pennies.
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Go slow with particle board furniture — over-tightening screws into existing holes strips them easily. If a screw hole is stripped, insert a wooden toothpick with wood glue, let it dry for 30 minutes, then re-screw. This old trick works surprisingly well and saves you from buying a replacement piece.
