Tips for Moving

With more than 100 years of experience, Galbraith Van and Storage has helped move more families and businesses than we can possibly count. With this experience we have developed a number of key tips we find to be most useful during the moving process. Feel free to use these tips to help make your next move a stress-free event.

1. Use the right size boxes - Put heavy items, like books, in small boxes; light items, like linens and pillows, in bigger ones (large boxes packed with heavy items are a common complaint of professional movers. They not only make the job harder but also have a better chance of breaking).

2. Put heavier items on the bottoms of boxes, lighter items on top - If you’re loading the truck yourself, pack heavier boxes first, toward the front of the truck, for balance.

3. Don’t leave empty spaces in the boxes - Fill in gaps with clothing, towels, or packing paper. Movers often won’t move boxes that feel loosely packed or unbalanced.

4. Avoid mixing items from different rooms in the same box - It will make packing quicker and unpacking a lot easier, too.

5. Label each box with the room it’s destined for and a description of its contents - This will help you and your movers know where every box belongs in your new place. Numbering each box and keeping an inventory list in a small notebook is a good way to keep track of what you’ve packed―and to make sure you still have everything when you unpack. Label the box with your name, the room where it will be going, and the contents on the side of the box.

6. Tape boxes securely - Use more than one piece of tape to close the top and bottom seams of the box.

7. If you’re moving expensive art, ask your mover about special crating - Never wrap oil paintings in regular paper; it will stick. For pictures framed behind glass, make an X with masking tape across the glass to strengthen it and to hold it together if it shatters. Then wrap the pictures in paper or bubble wrap and put them in a frame box, with a piece of cardboard between each framed piece for protection.

8. Bundle breakables - As you pack your dishes, put packing paper around each one then wrap bundles of five or six together with more paper. Pack dishes on their sides, never flat. And use plenty of bunched-up paper as padding above and below. Cups and bowls can be placed inside one another, with paper in between, and wrapped three or four in a bundle. Pack them all in dish-barrel boxes.

9. Consider other items that will need special treatment - LCD and plasma televisions require a special shipping box specified just for televisions or they can be created prior to shipping if you don't have the original box Without the television box or crate they can be damaged if laid flat. If you’re packing yourself, double-box your television, setting the box containing the television into another box that you’ve padded with packing paper.

Galbraith Van and Storage can provide you with other great tips to help your moving experience go off without a hitch. Contact Us to learn more about our services. We are committed to providing you with superior customer service and a move that’s free of stress and worry.