If you are a creative person and would like to build a coffin, or buy and decorate a plain coffin for a recently-deceased loved one or relative, here are some ways that a funeral director could help you with this.
They can ensure it meets your state's legal requirements and is fully functional
If you live somewhere that has laws which stipulate that coffins must meet certain requirements or if you are simply not sure which exact features the coffin you want to design or decorating needs to have, then you should consult with the funeral director whose services you'll be using for the funeral. At the start of your design project, they can offer advice on how to ensure that it meets the aforementioned requirements. For example, they may explain that when making decorative carvings on the coffin, you cannot create openings that would allow insects to get inside it or which would allow parts of the remains to fall out of the coffin when it is buried in the cemetery. Having this initial consultation with this expert will mean you won't waste time making a feature that renders the coffin unusable.
The funeral director can also do a final assessment of the finished coffin, before bringing it to the funeral home. This will give you a chance to correct any errors you made whilst producing it. For example, if you attached the handles to the wrong parts of the coffin and the funeral director believes that this might make it harder for the pallbearers to hold it steady, you can quickly unscrew them and reattach them to the correct spots.
Let the funeral director take the coffin to the funeral home in one of their hearses
The funeral director may offer to take the coffin you've made or decorated to the funeral home in one of their hearses. If they do this, you should accept their offer. The reason for this is as follows; even if you have a van in which the coffin might fit, there is still a much greater chance that it will get damaged if it's taken in this vehicle, than if it's transported in a hearse by the funeral director.
This is because the hearses that funeral directors use have special platforms that coffins can be firmly secured to; this stops them from sliding towards and getting scratched by the doors when these vehicles are in motion. You may struggle to secure the coffin in the back of your own vehicle in the same manner and as such, this important item, that you worked so hard to create for your deceased friend or relative, could end up ruined before it arrives at the funeral home. Additionally, because the funeral director will have handled hundreds of coffins before, they will know how to lift it into their vehicle in a way that does not damage it.
To learn more, reach out to a local funeral director.
