If your home has a garage and you’re looking to relocate, all those years of accumulated items can feel overwhelming. However, if you go into your move with an organized, logical plan, you’re much more likely to have success when moving agarage. Keep these simple dos and don’ts and other helpful moving tips in mind, and moving your garage won’t feel nearly as daunting. It could even help you avoid unpleasant surprises from your local moving company come move day.
Important Garage Moving Tips
Do:
Drain all the gasoline and/or fluids out of everything in the garage.
This includes mowers and gas-powered weeding tools. Any liquid left inside could spill during transport and stain or damage other items in the moving truck.
Remember also that there is a list of items moving companies aren’t legally allowed to transport, and any flammable liquid is on that list. (This includes paints, solvents, paint thinners, and more.) One of the best moving tips is to search your garage for these items and make arrangements to move them yourself. This helps eliminate any unscheduled stoppages or delays on move day.
Defrost, clean, and dry your refrigerator and freezer before the move.
Forgetting to defrost a refrigerator could result in leakage, staining, and damage to other items in your moving truck. Leave yourself plenty of time to properly go through the process of defrosting and cleaning all refrigerators and freezers before the move.
Tape long-handled items together.
If you have a collection of shovels, rakes, and hoes in your garage, take two or three at a time and tape the handles together. These can go into the moving truck like that. Though, they should be saved until the end.
If you happen to have an extra wardrobe, these could be placed in there upright and strapped to the wall to prevent damage to other items during transport.
Clean house before the moving company even shows up.
When you’re paying by the hour for your movers, you certainly don’t want to waste time. However, many people pay for their movers to pack, transport, and unload a truck full of items they don’t even need or want anymore.
Do yourself a financial favor, and have a large garage sale (or make a sizable donation pile) before you move. That way, your moving crew doesn’t have to waste time and money moving items you’re just going to sell, donate, or forget on a shelf anyway.
Don’t:
Leave your garage pack to the last minute.
Garages are notorious for taking longer to pack than you expect. With shelves and stacked boxes and piles of items, packing is nearly guaranteed to be time consuming.
This is at least in part because items are often odd shaped and don’t fit neatly together—or into moving boxes that stack neatly. Even moving crews avoid packing garages if they can help it!
The best approach to moving a garage? Start early. Pack absolutely everything you can right away, and if the items are going to be problematic or time consuming for your moving company to transport, consider running those items to the new home yourself. When you’re on the hook for billable hours, the last thing you want is a task that’s going to take your movers hours to complete.
While cardboard is great for most everything in your home, opt for plastic moving boxes for your garage items. Plastic moving bins are much more durable and can withstand the pointed edges and heft of many spades, nails, hammers, and other miscellaneous items you’ll be packing from your garage.
Not only will this prevent the actual boxes from splitting, but it also safeguards you or your movers from getting stuck with anything pointy or sharp sticking out of the bottom of a packed box.
Helpful Tips for a Successful Garage Move
- Movers will often make a pile of items that they aren’t legally able to transport for you. Be prepared for this. Do what you can to minimize its size (drain gas from mowers, etc.), but be ready to make arrangements to transport those items yourself.
- Especially if it’s raining, the garage is a natural and effective staging area for your movers. To help expedite their job, make sure the garage is clean and clear when they arrive.
- Walk through with your mover and specify what is to stay and go. Otherwise, important items might get left behind.
For more information about how to pack and move a garage or other helpful moving tips, please feel free to contact a representative of All Star Movers, one of the most professional moving companies in Northern Virginia.
