If you have a lot of belongings to move, renting a van can be a good option. It’s often more cost-effective than hiring movers and gives you the freedom to move at your own pace. At Apothikes.eu the major storage company in Athens Greece we have seen an increasing trend to renting a van for transporting and moving house .
However, there is an art to efficiently packing your transortation van. It can be challenging to transport and move house without damaging your possessions during transportation of your household items
If you want to store some of your belongings in a storage unit or storage space Apothikes.eu is definitely the best solution .You can reassess at a later date without the pressure of moving all your belongings at the same time.
Moving vans are much bigger than cars, and they feel much larger on the road because of their width and height. You’ll want to practice driving it around before the big day arrives so that you’re comfortable with its size and handling.
Another thing that makes moving vans different from cars is their weight distribution: they’re heavier in the back. This means that full vans tend to feel less “stable” on the road than full cars. If this is your first time driving a van this size, try not to load it too heavily toward the back until you get used to its handling capabilities.
Choose the right size transportation van.
When choosing the right size van for your move, it’s essential to consider how much stuff you will be moving, how far you’re moving, and what type of items you are moving. If you’re on a strict budget or if your things aren’t too big or heavy, a smaller van may work fine for you. However, if your items are large and bulky or if you have a lot of things that need to be moved, then a bigger transportation van is better—it will save time and energy.
- If the vehicle is too small for all of your belongings, it may not fit into one load. This means that more trips will need to be made between the old residence and the new one, wasting time and gas while increasing the potential damage done to transported items.
- If the van is too big for all of your belongings (which can happen when someone uses their best guess rather than going off actual measurements), they may shift around during transport and get damaged. Additionally, some moving companies charge extra fees such as distance travelled with their vehicles or the amount of space used; a bigger van could incur additional charges above the original estimate.
Pack fragile items securely.
While it’s easy enough to pack heavy items, packing fragile items securely is a little more complicated. You’ll want to use plenty of cushioning materials. Such materials include:
- Bubble wrap
- Newspaper
- Old clothes or towels
- Packing peanuts (if you’re feeling adventurous)
- Plastic wrap (wrapping the item in plastic before wrapping more with bubble wrap can help protect against dust and dirt)
You can even improvise cushioning materials by using old blankets, quilts, cardboard, socks, and even bedding. Be creative! The goal is to keep your breakables safe and secure during the move.
Pack the transportation truck from back to front
The heaviest boxes should be packed first and placed on the floor against the wall of the moving van. The lighter boxes should then be stacked on top. If there are fragile items, they should be placed in the middle so they aren’t crushed underneath heavy boxes or damaged during transport. You don’t want your packages to slide around, so pack them tightly together. Also, make sure you don’t stack them too high; this could cause instability and dangerous situations when you make sharp turns.
Loading the heaviest items in first
When packing a van, the first thing to remember is that the heaviest items should go in first. This may seem like common sense, but it’s crucial to follow this rule: putting heavy objects on top of lighter ones can result in damaged goods due to crushing. It also ensures that your heavier stuff won’t roll around and damage other belongings while driving to your new home. After all, you don’t want your blender to become a blender smoothie halfway through the trip!
When the items are in the van, lay them out so they’re not all on one side of the van or stacked too high. Why? Although it might seem like you’re using up space by doing this, having weight dispersed evenly throughout will help prevent any boxes from rolling around and getting crushed during transport. It also helps create a sturdy platform for stacking lighter boxes later on. Consider lining up sofas and chairs along each vehicle wall to maximise space and support fragile items better before placing other objects inside. This provides extra support for less sturdy boxes. Still, it also creates an effective barrier between easily breakable kitchenware and appliances and the back door of your moving van—especially if said back door is open during transport (which we’ll talk about soon).
Use furniture and appliances to create a barrier between fragile items and the van’s back door.
Once your movers have placed the first piece of furniture in the van, it’s a good idea to use that item as an anchor point to which you can secure other items. If the article in question is heavy enough (it should be, since you should be using your heaviest items first), consider strapping it down or chaining it to a spot on the floor. Next, use smaller but still sturdy pieces of furniture to build a wall around it. Then use lighter and more fragile items like chairs and stools to fill in any gaps.
However, when doing this, leave a space between the wall and the back door of the moving van large enough for someone—usually one of your movers—to pass through. This is important for two reasons: one, it allows you to have someone in the van to help with the unloading process, and two, it gives you easier access to your belongings if you need to grab something while en route.