Monthly Archives: August 2008

“For My Residential Move, Can I leave the drawers full ?”

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The short answer is it is best to empty the “large” pieces like dressers, chest of drawers, armoires, wardrobes, buffets, china cabinets, and desks.

The items that have to be moved have to be moved some way by someone. The question is what is the most efficient and cost-effective way. There are large bedroom pieces which physically cannot tolerate being moved full. “High-boys,” for example are in danger of having their legs snapped if moved full. Others can only be moved full with the assistance of special equipment like a refrigerator hand-truck. Often this is fine if it is a ranch house with old carpet floors. But in a multi-level house with hardwood floors—now you have to worry about damaging the floors.

Many Movers will say as a marketing ploy to “just leave everything full,” but when they need to, they will take the drawers out anyway.

For the drawers you do leave full, remember to go through them and check for valuables like currency, watches, jewelry, and firearms. You would be amazed how many people do not do this even after being reminded to. Many people have more loose valuable items like these than they can keep track of, and simply forget they are being kept in back of a drawer.

One time we were carrying a dresser down the stairs; a drawer opened up; a pistol fell out and to the ground and went off !!! Fortunately it was just a “starter pistol,” but we didn’t know that when we heard the gun fire.

Since the Movers may remove drawers and move them separately, think about the contents of the drawers and whether you want them being waved in the breeze. You probably won’t mind if the contents are pants and sweaters, but how about underwear and other bedroom items? Discrete, professional Movers will concentrate on their task at hand, and have seen everything anyway, but it is something to keep in mind.

In another situation, a long dresser may be not be all that heavy, but in order to get out of the bedroom it has to be stood up on end. When this happens, if the drawers are full–many loose items will be thrown against the side of the drawers (now pointing down), and the structure of the dresser will be tested. A quality dresser will hold together, but a press-board dresser may fall apart right then.

The conclusion: empty the drawers of the large pieces. The move will go faster if all the drawers are empty, but then that means extra work box-packing—whoever does it. A good compromise is to just leave “full” the “medium” and “small” pieces.

Moving to High-Rises Like “Plaza Towers”

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We will be moving a repeat customer next week to the 20th floor of the “Plaza Towers” on Peachtree Road.  This building is incidentally across the street from the “Park Place” high-rise which is where Elton John is reputed to have a penthouse (see picture below)

Our customer is only moving a one-bedroom apartment, so she initially felt a two-man moving crew would suffice. I explained that High-Rise moves add an extra layer of complexity and risk.

If you just have a two-man crew, then there is not an extra man to watch the furniture in the truck or left outside the elevator. Once we had a dresser stolen that was left outside an elevator of an upper floor of another High-Rise in town. During an unload to a High-Rise: With a three-man crew, one man can push items from the truck to the elevator. The other two men can take the items up the elevator into the destination unit.

A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT HIGH-RISE MOVES:

1) Talk to the Building Management about the details of reserving the freight elevator.

2) Will the Movers have exclusive use of the elevator during that time period? If they don’t, the move will take much longer.

3) Will the Movers have a key to the elevator, or will it otherwise be “locked” for them, or will they have to wrestle with trying to hold the door open as they move items in and out of the elevator?

4) A High-Rise residential move is similar to an Office Move in that additional four-wheel dollies are required. Make sure the Movers have between 10 and 20 four-wheel dollies on the move. The more furniture which can be loaded onto dollies, and rolled into and out of the truck, and then into and out of the elevator and into the destination unit, the faster the move will be.

Make Sure the Movers Have Between 10 and 20 of These

Make Sure the Movers Have Between 10 and 20 of These

The Physical Strain of Packing and Moving Boxes

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I bet these boxes are empty!

I bet these boxes are empty!

WHAT AN UNREALISTIC ADVERTISING SHOT.   If these boxes were full, she would have to be holding them from the bottom, and this girl could probably not carry both at once!

 

 

Yesterday I booked a job for a couple about 65 years old who are moving close-by.  They want to move all the boxes themselves.
I reminded them of the physical strain involved in packing and in moving boxes:
First you have to get the items off the shelf.  You have to get down on your hands and knees for the low shelves, and on a stool for the high shelves.
Once they are wrapped, you need to place them in the box.
Once the box is packed and closed up, you have to get it out of the way.  You have to carry it somewhere and probably stack it on top of other boxes, bending down or stretching up to do it.
Then you have to get the stack of boxes to your car–either carrying each box or rolling the stack on a handtruck if you have one.
Then you have to place it in the car, and even with SUV’s some bending over is required.  Remember box-packers cost less than the orthopedic surgeon.