Tips to Loading a Moving Truck
When families pack up their belongings and venture to another city or state to start a new life, they almost always use a moving truck. Loading these moving trucks is not as easy as tossing your belongings into the back. In fact, there are ways to properly and efficiently load a moving truck. You must follow certain safety guidelines which are very important when moving, if the loads are not properly secured, it may shift dangerously while the truck is moving.
I would not consider myself an expert in moving or packing a moving truck, but I have moved 37 times in my life so far, so my personal preferences when loading a moving truck are:
- Load your household boxes in the truck first.
- Then block the boxes with mattresses, couch, entertainment center.
- At this point I fill in any empty spaces with cushions, pillows, or small lose items.
- Time for dressers, nightstands, end tables, dining room items.
- Now its time for the washer/dryer, refrigerator to block everything in.
- Always fill the space with small awkward items that don’t fit in boxes.
- I save the end of the truck for the garage items, tools, storage items etc.
In my opinion an important step is to strap your belongings in, for example after I put in the mattresses, I strap it in, it makes sure that all my boxes won’t push the load over at any point, I also strap in the heavier furniture and the washer/dryer, refrigerator, and after loading the whole truck I strap that in as well, it really helps to keep things in place for the long or short drive to the new home.
Safety is almost always thrown out the window when it comes to moving day, you have friends and family helping and their whole goal is to be done as fast as they can be, so they can get to the free pizza and beer. Here are a few things that should not be forgotten, to try to keep everyone from harm’s way.
- Always lift with your legs and wear proper safety gear.
- Wear the proper shoes, to avoid slipping, falling.
- Don’t try to over do it, ask for help with the heavy items.
- Carry boxes from the bottom, tape might not be strong enough.
- Use hand trucks and other moving tools to make it easier.
Organization is key to a successful move, I like to have someone in the truck organizing the loading, and someone inside the home organizing what is going to the truck next, it speeds things up and keeps the truck packed the best. I also like to create a moving checklist before my move, you can find a checklist from one of our earlier posts here.
I know that when you rent a moving truck, they walk around the truck with you to make sure there is no damage, I always check the tires, to make sure they look safe, plus I always walk around the truck after it is loaded as well, checking the tires again, making sure that they didn’t change with a fully loaded truck.
Don’t forget to take breaks, eating and keeping hydrated is just as important as any other part of the move. If you have tips that we could add here from your experience please comment below or send us an email: info@storagelookup.com
