Packing for Kochi's damp, salty air so your things arrive without mould or rust

What Kochi's air does to your belongings

Kochi sits on the coast, wrapped in backwaters, with two monsoons a year and humidity that stays high even in the drier months. Add the salt carried in on the sea breeze, strongest near Fort Kochi, Vypin and Marine Drive, and you have conditions that go after almost everything in a house.

The damage follows a pattern. Teak and rosewood furniture grows white or greenish spots when it's closed up damp. Leather shoes, bags and sofa covers go mouldy in cupboards. Steel almirahs, cycles, gym weights and tools rust at scratches and joints. Old photographs stick together, books smell musty and pages turn wavy, and electronics left in damp cartons can corrode at the contacts. None of it happens in a day, but a move shuts things inside boxes and trucks, which is exactly where moisture gets trapped.

How do you pack to prevent mould and rust?

The first rule is to pack dry. On most Kochi jobs our crew wipes down furniture and appliances before wrapping, and we ask you to set aside clothes that have been properly sun-dried, not just aired. Beyond that:

• Wood gets a soft cloth wipe, then our Fabric Sheet against scratches, with plastic over the top only while loading in rain.
• Leather is cleaned, wrapped in cloth or paper rather than plastic, and packed with silica gel.
• Steel and iron get a very light film of oil on bare metal, and bolts from dismantled beds go in a labelled bag with a silica gel sachet.
• Clothes and linen go into lined cartons, with naphthalene balls or camphor if you use them, and nothing even slightly damp.
• Books, documents and photographs are packed flat in small cartons with silica gel, and the most important papers travel with you.
• Electronics go into original boxes where possible, with sachets tucked in and every seam of the carton taped.

Glass and crockery don't mind the damp, but they still go into our Perfect Box cartons for the knocks of the road.

Storage in a humid city

If there's a gap between houses, storage in Kochi needs more thought than it would in a dry city. Goods going into storage should be completely dry, raised off the floor on pallets and not wrapped airtight for weeks on end. The plastic that protected a sofa from rain on moving day can trap moisture over a month, so for longer stays we prefer breathable covers and small gaps between pieces for air to move.

A few things we suggest to families storing for a while. Empty and dry the fridge and washing machine, and leave their doors slightly open. Don't store food, pickles or anything organic. Put silica gel or moisture absorbers in wardrobes and drawers. When the goods come out, open the cartons within a day or two instead of leaving them stacked in a closed room.

Moving from Kochi to a drier city

Humidity trouble also works in reverse. Furniture that has spent years in Kochi's damp air holds a fair bit of moisture, and when it lands somewhere much drier, like Bengaluru in the dry months, north India in winter or an air-conditioned flat in the Gulf, the wood slowly gives that moisture up. Solid wood can develop fine cracks, veneer can lift at the edges, and drawers that always stuck in Kochi suddenly rattle.

You can't stop that completely, but you can slow it down:

1. Keep solid wood away from direct sun, air-conditioner vents and heaters for the first few weeks.
2. Give polished pieces a light coat of furniture polish or wax, which slows how fast the surface dries.
3. Don't tighten loose joints straight away. Let the wood settle for a month, then fix whatever is still loose.
4. Tell the surveyor about instruments like a veena, violin or piano, since they react to humidity changes and need extra care when packed.

Leather and books usually do better in drier air, but check for any mould that travelled with them from Kochi and wipe it off before it spreads to other things in the cupboard.

Moves to Fort Kochi, Mattancherry and the islands

Kochi's geography adds its own layer to a move. Most apartment shifts happen on the Ernakulam mainland, around Kakkanad, Edappally, Kaloor and Vyttila. Fort Kochi and Mattancherry, across the harbour, have old houses on narrow streets, and a truck often can't stop outside. There we use a smaller vehicle to shuttle goods out to where the larger truck waits.

Vypin is a long, narrow island joined to the mainland by the Goshree bridges, and many homes there sit down lanes off the main road towards Njarakkal and Cherai. Mulavukad and Vallarpadam are on the same bridge route. Traffic around the bridges builds at office hours, and container lorries share the roads near the Vallarpadam terminal, so we time the truck around both. Moves to Willingdon Island and Thoppumpady depend on bridge and port traffic too. The ferries are handy for you, but we plan household goods by road.

Salt air is strongest in these seaside areas, so the rust precautions above matter most here. If you're moving into an old Fort Kochi house that's been locked for a while, open it up and check the walls for damp before the furniture goes in.

Families returning from the Gulf

Many Kochi households are families coming home after years in the Gulf, and their move looks different. Often the house in Kerala has been shut, sometimes for a long time. Before the goods arrive, open it up, get it cleaned, fix any roof leaks and let the rooms dry, because unpacking good furniture into a damp house undoes all the careful packing.

Goods shipped home by sea spend weeks in a steel container, travelling from hot, dry weather into Kerala's humidity. Condensation inside the container, sometimes called container rain, can dampen cartons that were packed perfectly well. So once your shipment reaches you, open the cartons within a day or two, air the mattresses and upholstery, wipe down metal and check wooden pieces for moisture. Customs rules for returning residents are set by the authorities and do change, so check the current position before shipping anything.

If you're packing up in Kochi to move abroad instead, our international moving service handles sea and air shipments. For moves within India, including Thiruvananthapuram about 210 km away or Bengaluru about 470 km, see the Kochi packers and movers page.