Whenever you have to plan to move to a new house, it can become a stressful situation. You need to pack all your prized possessions and make sure your belongings stay in mint condition. But you can alleviate some of that stress by staying organized by planning and renting a Mississauga shipping container to assist you in your big move.
To get you started with your moving journey, let’s take a closer look at ten ways how to pack a shipping container for a move.
1. Make a moving checklist
By creating a moving checklist, you’ll stay organized throughout the moving process and be able to stay on top of your game when dealing with the shipping container company when it comes time to transport it by your movers. The following list should include the following information:
- Which items need to be loaded in a specific order
- How many heavy items do you have
- How much space do you need
- What are the largest items of furniture
- Which rooms in the house need to be moved first?
During the moving process, you can always revise and add things to the list and check things off when each item is done. Trust us, having a moving list will make things a lot easier.
2. Stock up on packing supplies
Before moving your belongings, you need to stock up on packing supplies. Here are some of the essential items to purchase to start your packing journey:
- Small and large sizes of cardboard boxes
- Packing tape for sealing boxes
- Scissors
- Broom and dustpan
- Exacto knives
- Garbage bags
- Labels or a label maker
- Bubble wrap
- Markers
- Newspapers
- Cargo straps or ropes
- Moving blankets
- Packing paper
- Work gloves
These essential packing supplies will help you secure your belongings properly and prepare them placing in your shipping container.
3. Clean everything
Before packing items into boxes, you need to clean them. You would be surprised at how cleaning items can prevent insects and pests from seeping into boxes while sitting in a shipping container.
If you decide to skip cleaning items and put them in boxes anyway, you run the risk of pests damaging your belongings. So it’s worth it to do a quick wipe using warm water and soap or with a spray cleaner with disinfectant. Sanitized wipes are a good solution, too. Don’t forget to clean the bottoms of items that have the most dirt.
4. Protect wooden furniture
Wooden furniture needs extra protection as they are more prone to getting damaged when being transported in a shipping container.
First, clean all wooden furniture like benches, chairs, tables, and desks. Wipe them dry and wrapped them with plastic and cover each item with a moving blanket or padded blankets. Be sure to use moving blankets on wooden furniture because leaving them wrapped in plastic doesn’t protect them fully from getting small warps or minor chippings.
5. Protect household furniture
Now moving to furniture items such as sofas, beds, recliners, kitchen appliances, fridges, televisions, and additional items made out of glass, metal, plastic, or marble should also be cleaned before getting wrapped up in boxes. For mattresses, use mattress covers and plastic mattress covers to protect them from getting dirty.
After cleaning your items, wrap them in shrink wrap and cover them with moving blankets or padded blankets. Once their ready to be placed in the shipping container, avoid placing big furniture items by the doors as this prevents damaging them while the doors are being opened.
6. Avoid packing hazardous items
As a word of caution, you might be tempted to pack flammable items like motor oil, propane tanks, paints, cleaning liquids, and aerosols. But remember liquid chemicals are considered hazardous because their chemicals are highly combustible. If they leak or burst during transport in the shipping container, they could explode and damage your belongings. Moreover, hazardous items are flammable and can start a fire in your container.
7. Distribute weight evenly across the shipping container
Now the fun part begins. Once your items and furniture are all packed, you need to move them onto your shipping container. But there are tricks to utilizing the space in your shipping container properly and you want to avoid tipping your container.
For instance, stacking all of your heavy items in the back of the shipping container runs the risk of tipping. To evenly distribute the weight of your large items throughout your storage container, place some heavy items in the back, middle and front of the shipping container.
8. Pack according to access
Once you’ve distributed weight evenly in your shipping container with your heavy items, evaluate your smaller items and consider what objects you might need to access first once you arrive at your new home.
For instance, any tables, cooking utensils, electronics, chairs, linens, and clothes should be placed near the front of the shipping container so you can get them quickly and use them right away.
9. Fill in space
To use the space efficiently in your shipping container, you can fill empty spaces with boxes and other small miscellaneous items. Little boxes with small items help with stabilizing the weight in the shipping container and also prevent shifting during transport. A moving tip: place soft items like clothes or linens on top of boxes or furniture for added protection.
10. Lock up your shipping container
Last but not least, once you’re done loading your furniture and items into the shipping container, you need to lock it. You’ll need to purchase a combination lock or a padlock with a key. Be sure to store the combination in a safe place and if you use a padlock with a key, be sure to have an extra set of keys handy in case you lose the original one.
Contact Secure Container
These ten ways how to pack a shipping container for a move are designed to keep you organized and avoid causing damage to your belongings during transport. Following these tips for moving your items to and from a shipping container into your new home are all effective in protecting your most prized possessions while utilizing all the space in a shipping container.
At Secure Container, we have a variety of Mississauga shipping containers for rent. For more information on how to securely pack your shipping container for a move, call Secure Container at 416-817-3216 or contact us here.
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