Packing up shop, storing, and subsequently moving cross country

[William C Rogers]

William, who did you use to move? and did you incur any damage to your tools? I'm assuming you broke them down as much as possible.

i used Leaders Moving. Nothing was damaged. No problems with them. Yes I broke everything down. Stretch wrapped everything. Removed handles and knobs where practice. My boxes were marked with color code dots and a number. Make sure you have a good list of each box. I also took a lot of pictures. I ended up buying a lot of the heavy duty boxes from HD. Glad it is over.

[Brian Peters]

For sure price this out. I thought the PODS was such a great idea until they quoted me for the move. I ended up doing the UHaul route myself when I got sticker shock. As people mentioned above their storage rates are VERY high as well as just the transportation fees.

[Jim Becker]

I friend/coworker used the UHaul "pod" service when he and his lovely moved out to Idaho. It worked well for them. The one concern I would have is that the containers are "soft-sided" so being sure that the really heavy gear is locked down somehow is going to be important.

[Matt Przybylski]

I was getting really worried about this whole thing and last night my wife had a great idea. We were going to stay at my inlaws and paying their utilities while the new construction was being built but she proposed going ahead and moving to AZ right now and renting a house with a garage where we can just store everything (we're selling most furniture so it's mostly be storage for my shop). That way for only a little more than the utilities would cost us we can get a place to stay close to our new home so we can be there for progress and decision making, we'll have storage and well avoid the Chicago winter

i priced a es a preliminary move with UPack which came out to $3k using their trailer which should be enough and is what I had in mind as a price point this whole time (minus storage but that shouldn't be an issue now). I think this will be the route well go down.

[Jim Becker]

Matt, that sounds like a GREAT idea...and you maintain control of your "stuff" the while you're waiting for the new house to be completed. 'Suggest you clearly separate your hand and portable tools so you can enjoy them in the interim (and for any final personal touches to the new house after closing) without unpacking anything that is only related to your larger tools/shop.

[John K Jordan]

...I guess another question I have is how to get heavy machinery into these pod type storage containers? I have a 1 ton lift but the wheels on that will get stopped by the threshold of where the pod starts and the ground it sits on, I imagine. Unless they're propped up somehow and you can get the lift under them? I've never used one so I don't know but I imagine a bit of space is left under for when they put it down/pick it back up?

Matt, Someone mentioned a shipping container. I bought one for farm use that is 8x8x40'. (I store hay in it) I found this one for about $1500. You might buy one, use it to move and store, then sell it when done if needed. I also bought an 8x9x45' semi trailer with the wheels removed and use it for another storage building.

I've seen complete semi trailers for sale for not too much. Rather than renting a pod would it be cheaper to buy one, get someone to move it, then sell again?

For loading heavy things I have a tractor with forks that I drive right into either the shipping container or the semi trailer. I've got these up on PT lumber to keep them off the ground and the tractor still had no problem going in and out. Eventually I laid down some gravel to make ramps to make this smoother. I can imagine a temporary and portable ramp made of wood but I don't know what your 1-ton lift is like and what it can negotiate. Is it like a roll around crane?

If you can set things down just inside the door on pallets with your lift or a hired equipment, a pallet jack could position something inside the container.

When my storage things were delivered or moved they used a big rollback truck and dropped them (very gently) exactly where I wanted them. If you have them set one on timbers you could leave enough room under to get your lift wheels under. I lay down 8' 4x4 or 6x6 posts but you could use short wood blocks on the sides if needed, at least on the door end. Talk to the hauler and tell them what you need - those guys are good! (I put down flags with 2" of clearance and the trucker set the 40' container exactly between the flags. I told him I had a $25 tip if he could do that. :-)

If you take things apart, removing cast iron tables etc., two healthy movers can move and carry almost anything found in a typical shop. With a pry bar and a couple of furniture dollys I easily moved a 700 lb lathe by myself out of a trailer and into the shop by moving the pieces.

If anyone hasn't packed things to move beware of anything touching unprotected surfaces. The road vibration from a trip can easily wear through paint or powder coated steel.

JKJ

[John K Jordan]

BTW, friend and woodturner John Lucas moved and stored his entire shop in a rented container while he built a building and new shop at a new house. (It was packed to the ceiling!) I think he got friends to load and unload everything including a heavy lathe, cabinet saw, huge bandsaw, milling machine. I don't know if he follows SMC but I could ask his opinion if you want.

JKJ

[Matt Przybylski]

Thanks for the details on the moving, John, much appreciated!

[Michael Cole]

I was getting really worried about this whole thing and last night my wife had a great idea. We were going to stay at my inlaws and paying their utilities while the new construction was being built but she proposed going ahead and moving to AZ right now and renting a house with a garage where we can just store everything (we're selling most furniture so it's mostly be storage for my shop). That way for only a little more than the utilities would cost us we can get a place to stay close to our new home so we can be there for progress and decision making, we'll have storage and well avoid the Chicago winter

i priced a es a preliminary move with UPack which came out to $3k using their trailer which should be enough and is what I had in mind as a price point this whole time (minus storage but that shouldn't be an issue now). I think this will be the route well go down.

This is a very good idea. We had our house built here in Montana while we lived in Western Washington. It is very difficult to keep track of progress when you live away from the new construction.

[Robin Frierson]

I would consider selling as much of your shop and wood as possible as its hugely expensive to haul the weight of the shop and then store it. I moved recently and the movers were talking about that very subject, that many are finding its cheaper to sell the heavys and buy it back later. Also good excuse to upgrade..

Of course if you do it yourself its much cheaper. Whatever storage situation you decide, just make sure you can get to your stuff. I stuffed my things into two storage units, packed floor to ceiling and couldnt get to anything. Had to go out and buy some things I already had...just couldnt get to them.

[Robin Frierson]

OH, and if you use movers be careful. They steal. I lost most of my fishing tackle and levels, a 48in starret straightedge. Since we just put evething in storage we didnt know it was gone until months later. Take careful inventory and check everything off.

[Julie Moriarty]

Hey everyone,
I'm facing a bit of a "situation". We're putting our house on the market this week in the Chicago suburbs. I have a two car garage shop that is full of tools/wood/you name it. We are purchasing a new construction home in Arizona so we will not be immediately moving from our house to the new house. I am going to have to pack away my tools, store them, and move them again when the time comes in six months or so.

Matt, we did pretty much the same thing a year ago - moved from a Chicago suburb to a hot spot (for us, Florida). We would be renting in our new locale until we found a house to buy. In the mean time, we made arrangements with the movers to store our stuff, about which 1/3 of the weight was my workshop stuff.

We had a baby grand piano so we opted for climate controlled storage for everything. Cost to move was a little less than $1/LB. Storage was about $300/mo.

When move in day finally arrived, everything was in big crates. They had taken everything off the truck at their storage facility in Tampa and packed it in wooden crates and stored it that way. When it was being uncrated we found some of the stuff was damaged. We were not happy. That had to have happened when they packed it in crates because we monitored the movers when they were loading up the truck at our old house.

Take it for what it's worth...

[Matt Przybylski]

Yeah, I am not going to store anything, we're going to go ahead and rent a house with a garage in AZ while the new house is built because I worry about that exact situation. I want my stuff in my possession, especially my tools, or I wouldn't be able to sleep at night