Packing tips

googler

Orangezorki wrote: »

By the way, the one thing that I am worried about is how to move my 42" flatscreen TV. Any ideas.

Phone round the suppliers for that brand in your area and see if anyone has a spare box. Call TV repair places. Wait around at your local recycling site to see if anyone is about to dump one in the cardboard recycler that you could snaffle

Call the maker's distributor for the UK, see if they can supply one.

Call cycle shops in your area. Cycle boxes tend to be around the same size as TV boxes, one of these may be suitable for you, and you'll probably find they'll prefer to give you the boxes for free than have to pay trade waste rates for them.

Failing all of the above, get two pieces of plyboard slightly larger than the body size (W & H) of the TV, along with some stripwood slightly larger than the depth of the TV, and build a crate around it.

It'll have to be transported upright, so use a hefty bit of wood for the base, make sure the front and back pieces of ply are securely attached to this, and fill between the set and the plyboard with bubble wrap or similar. The side and top filler pieces of wood needn't be as secure as the base, they won't take the weight, but fill in sides and top as appropriate, with bubble wrap again between the set and the crate.

Mark it for the removers to keep upright, which side is the screen side, etc.

googler

Callie22 wrote: »

This Archive boxes are absolutely brilliant for packing - you can't really overfill them, they're just the right size to carry comfortably ans they're designed to stack. We bought a couple of dozen a few years ago and they've seen us through half-a-dozen house moves, once you're done with them you can flatten them ready to store for next time.

Indeed, I meant to mention the 'fold flat and re-use next time' aspect.... or you can hire them out to friends when they move....?

dacouch

As previously mentioned, plasma tv's need to be transported upright, otherwise they can bleed.

If you're hiring a van that has the rails on the side that you can tie or bungy too then you don't need to faff about too much. Put something soft underneath it eg a thick folded up blanked. Cover it in an old duvet or towels then put a decent thick flat packed box in front of of it and one behind. You can then tie it using webbing or bungies to the side of the van (The screen side goes against the van wall). Feel free to add more cardboard or blankets.

£900 from liverpool to London is not that bad, they will have diesel and need to pay their staff for the return journey as well which will take about 5 to 5.5 hours in one of their vans.

If your doing the trip yourself in a hire van, bear in mind it will cost you about £60 in diesel each way (Assuming you drive at 60ish), if you drive at 70mph or more it will cost upwards of £90 each way. Don't forget you will have to take the van back to Liverpool

princeofpounds

If you are doing a small removal, forget firms like Pickford and go for a 2/3 man and van company that are used to doing light removals. Will normally be much cheaper.

Regarding TVs, most removers would wrap it in blankets/duvet and strap it to the side wall of the van.

jozbo

Lots of useful advice on this thread, thanks all

If using a man and van firm, do try and get a recommended one through friends, colleagues, which local, etc. I've used a fair few cowboys, been kept waiting etc. So do your research but don't overpay with a huge firm unnecessarily.