How to pack a truck for long distance moving

​Most people don't realize there is a preferable way to pack a rental truck when moving furniture over long distances. Moving to a new location is already expensive. The last thing you want to do is replace damaged items. To ensure a safer, easier, and quicker move, load your prized possessions in a manner that consistently builds walls throughout the moving truck by utilizing the furniture you have available. Below we’ve outlined the different types of furniture you’ll find during a basic household move and how you can pack them in a manner that saves truck space and guarantees protection.

Look at your furniture like a mover would

1. Bases—Bases are large furniture items that are particularly heavy, wide, and flat. An example of a base piece of furniture would be bedroom dressers, dining room buffets, armoires, refrigerators, washers, dryers, nightstands, etc. Basically, a base is anything over 75lbs that can sit on the floor of the truck or pod container and support the weight of boxes.
2. Walls—Furniture items that we would consider walls are relatively tall and flat. An example of a wall would be bookshelves, box springs, refrigerators, etc. Ideally, a wall is a taller piece of furniture that can be used to secure other furniture items behind them like a makeshift wall.
3. Boxes--Boxes are self-explanatory, so we won’t go into detail here. The key to remember when handling boxes is to always stack them in accordance to their weight with the heaviest boxes on the bottom of the stack. Also note that occasionally small boxier shaped night stands that aren’t heavy can be utilized as a box.
4. Tables--Tables will come in all shapes and sizes. As a rule of thumb, the legs should be removed from all wooden dining room tables if possible before moving in order to ensure that it remains damage free. Moving blankets should be wrapped around all tabletops. Depending on the size of the tabletop, it can be place in the truck either as a wall or simply along the walls of the truck.
   1. Glass Tabletops/Stone--Should never be carried flat. This places pressure in the center and is more likely to increase the odds of damage. In general, Glass tabletops should be wrapped in moving blankets and secured between the mattresses if available.
5. Sofas—Couches should be placed along the sides of the moving truck or shipping container preferably after all or most of the bases have already been loaded. This is because sofas and chairs are going to be the biggest space takers on the load.
   1. Armchairs/Recliners—These can usually be placed upside down on top of a sofa if it is not overly heavy or have mechanical parts that could be damaged if reversed. Occasionally the backs of armchairs and recliners can be removed. If this option is available, please use it.
   2. Dining Chairs—These should be among the last things loaded into the truck or shipping container due to their awkward shape. If the weight of the chairs is not considerably heavy you can place them on top of other furniture in the truck once you have established a stable platform.
   3. Rolling Desk Chairs—These are difficult to find the perfect positioning for. However, please ensure that the wheels and the pivoting functions of the chair have been immobilized so that it can’t shift and cause damage during transportation.
   4. Ottomans—These are traditionally lightweight and can usually be placed at the top of a stable pile of other furniture.
6. Miscellaneous—This would be anything that doesn’t directly fall into one of the about categories. This could be any household thing like bags of clothing, bikes, garden tools, kiddie pools, etc. The goal with these items is to use them to fill in odd shaped gaps so that all the loose space is utilized.

The goal is to achieve a symmetrical load that’s less likely to shift and get damaged. Please review the following photos:

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Utilize the tools of the trade

Standard equipment that will be utilized to carry out your duties as a moving labor helper are:

• Hand Tools—Basic set of screwdrivers, pliers, hex keys, socket wrenches, etc.
• Moving Dollies
• Moving Blankets—Unless there are none available, moving blankets are to be placed on ALL FURNITURE. Especially wood and glass furniture.
• Plastic Wrap

The differences in moving trucks

All moving trucks and shipping containers perform the same duty. However, the subtle differences between them dictate that they should NOT be loaded in the same manner Use this reference as a guide for loading each kind correctly. Most of the time you will be assisting in loading/unloading the following types of moving vehicles:

U-haul trucks

• A U-Haul Truck: The difference between U-Haul rental trucks and other rental trucks is the addition of the Attic area. When loading a U-Haul truck, you want to always load this area of the truck FIRST with boxes and secure them in position with a wall. You can then begin to secure the walls in position with a base item that you will then stack with boxes as you continue to build walls toward the front of the truck. The only time when you will not load the attic part of the truck first is when the customer does not have enough furniture to completely fill the truck. In that situation your objective would be to spread things out in a manner that fills the trucks width but not its height.

Penske/Budget trucks

• A Penske/Budget Truck: Penske or Budget variety of moving trucks are not equipped with the attic area that U-Haul trucks have. This works to the advantage of the customer because it allows you to load the truck with more things. 

ABF shipping container

• An ABF UPack container: Is like a semi-truck trailer. The vertical space is greater when loading one of these and therefore the wall building model of loading the truck should be strictly applied here. Also note that like the Penske/Budget scenario, you have to begin the load with a blanketed base.

Pods/pack rat container

• A Pod/Pack Rat container: Similar to Penske and ABF, PODS containers must also begin with a base to ensure the integrity of the load. However, due to the way that they are designed, you have to be strategic about space usage because of the post in the inside can make achieving an even load difficult.

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If the idea of doing all of this yourself is still intimidating to you after reading this guide, just hire movers to take care of all of the heavy lifting while you sit back and attend to the other aspects of your move.