A Guide to Transferring Ashes Into an Urn | Trupoint Memorials Blog

A Guide to Transferring Ashes Into an Urn

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By Staff Writer
Romi Hector
Edited by Romi Hector

Published April 6, 2022.

Man in suit handing elderly lady a blue urn across a desk

With an increasing number of people deciding upon cremation as the final rites, many wonder what the best way to transfer ashes into burial urns is. While the process is painstakingly slow and sometimes difficult, you could transfer ashes into an urn without a mess with our guide.

Here is how you can transfer ashes into any urn, from small urns to pet urns, and beyond.

Using Funeral Home or Crematorium Services

Numerous funeral homes and crematorium services offer their urns for humans. If you have purchased an urn through them, they are likely to assist you with transferring the ashes of your loved one in that urn.

Nonetheless, it is possible that you did not purchase an urn from a funeral home. Instead, you chose another place’s keepsake urns. Despite that, you must ask the funeral home to assist you in putting the ashes in an urn you have bought from elsewhere.

Carrying Ashes from Funeral Home

Assuming the funeral home does not help transfer the ashes into an urn, the funeral home would place the ashes in a temporary container. While each funeral home offers different temporary containers, most offer a cardboard box or PVC snap lid canister.

If you are given a box that seems week, you must immediately ask for or replace the box with a sturdy one.

Transferring Ashes DIY Method

Ultimately, you are likely to bear the responsibility of transferring the cremated remains yourself.

Even though the process is daunting and anxiety-inducing for some, by the end of it, a person feels closer to their loved ones and establishes a deeper connection with urns for mom urns for dad.

Size of the Urn

Before transferring the ashes, one must decide which urn to choose: a small urn or a big urn. A large adult urn is ideal for a person up to 200 pounds, and for people over 360 pounds, extra-large urns are perfect.

Step 1: Setting a Workspace

The process of transferring ashes into an urn should be on a flat and stable surface. For instance, tabletops or kitchen counters make great surfaces.

Next, you must place newspapers to catch blown off or fallen ash.

Step 2: Opening the Temporary Urn

Urn or container provided by crematorium services usually has a simple lid or seal for opening. Putting the entire temporary ashes bag in a larger urn is relatively easy. Still, you might need to open the temporary bag to divide the ashes between family members or transfer some human ashes keepsakes in jewelry for small keepsakes that can be carried easily.

Step 3: Different Methods to Deposit Ashes Into an Urn

There are three ways to put ashes into an urn quickly:

  • If the urn has a large opening, you can put the entire bag containing ashes into an urn just like large and extra-large urns do.
  • If the temporary bag is too large for the final urn, place a smaller plastic bag inside the urn, and transfer the ashes into the plastic bag inside the urn.
  • Lastly, you could transfer the cremated ashes from one bag to another and then place the latter in an urn.

Step 4: Sealing the Container

You can seal the urn by using household caulk. Alternatively, you can seal the bag placed inside the urn without sealing the urn’s lid. One might wonder why household caulk is better than glue. It's because caulk is easy to remove compared to glue which would make opening the urn nearly impossible in the future.

The idea of using adhesives does not appeal to everyone. Therefore, in such a situation, one can choose a stone cremation urn that does not require any adhesive to seal the lid.

Conclusion

Transferring ashes is a challenging experience, but our guide might ease the process and pain for you. Choose the right urn from Trupoint Memorials, and follow the steps – it really is as simple as that.