Storage of house contents in shipping container-type situation?

ProDave

Cost up the cost of storing the big things, sofa's, beds etc. you may well find you are better off selling them and buying new rather than storing them.

chappers

dunroving wrote: »

My point was that doing it this way would involve an extra lot of unpacking (to put in storage area) and repacking (into a van to deliver to new destination). A shipping storage container isn't unpacked until it reaches the final destination. I just can't find any information on whether this is feasible for a within-UK (rather than international) move.

I doubt it's worth it when you consider buying a container and finding someone to store it, or renting one even if you can, then you need someone capable of lifting it then transporting it which is expensive and charged by the mile.
I will give you a real example we are moving from Oxford to Pembrokeshire with 3 weeks storage involved in the middle, the total cost is £1800 +vat broken down as follows;

collect and take to storage £300+vat
3 weeks storage £150 +vat
remove from storage and deliver to Pembrokeshire £1350+vat.

Norman_Castle

dunroving wrote: »

My point was that doing it this way would involve an extra lot of unpacking (to put in storage area) and repacking (into a van to deliver to new destination). A shipping storage container isn't unpacked until it reaches the final destination. I just can't find any information on whether this is feasible for a within-UK (rather than international) move.

The size and weight of a shipping container is the problem. HGV trailer parked outside your house to load or container craned off then back on. Legalities of parking a HGV on the road and road closure for large crane. Unloading and reloading at storage area then HGV trailer and crane at final address. Removal company is likely to be cheaper.

Shipping containers work well at ports because the infrastructure to handle them is in place. They're very impractical elsewhere.

bouicca21

Pickfords stored my stuff when the place was being repaired. As Pasturesnew said above, it went into a wooden crate, which was then sealed. So effectively stored in a mini container.

coffeehound

For long term storage, damp and mould could be an issue in an unventilated, unheated transport container too.

dunroving

Thanks, All, that gives me plenty of good ideas and information. It seems probably the best compromise is to have stuff packed in a couple of "lift vans" (wooden container) - I really like the "phased delivery" idea of separating into urgent and less urgent items, so that I could potentially have one box delivered before the other.

I also hand't considered the difference between parking an HGV vs. parking a removals van ... I always thought they were about the same size and weight but it would be slightly inconvenient if I buy a place that has limited access and parking ...

sheramber

We used Pickfords for our removal and storage of goods until we could move into our next house. A 3 bedroom house and a child's toys etc.

As said above they loaded the stuff into a container on a normal removal van so no different from a normal removal. The container was sealed and put into storage until we requested delivery.
the sealed container was loaded onto a removal van and delivered to our new address where the container was emptied - just the same as an ordinary removal, same sized van.
http://www.pickfords.co.uk/long-term-storage

Sarastro

I think we've missed the point. The only reason for doing this is that it might put you in a better position as a buyer. True, it might but only in terms of being able to move quicker as a cash buyer and what happens if you can't find a house you want to buy for months? You may save a few thousand on the price of the house but that could all be spent on storage fees and the hassle of doing without your stuff for an extended period.

sheramber

We were moving from Scotland to England and the two systems were not compatible.

House sold in Scotland within 2 weeks with entry date fixed but no fixed date for entry to new house under English system.

As was normal in Scotland sale completed in a month. so we had to move out.

English house purchase took 9 months to complete.

AnotherJoe

dunroving wrote: »

I have just (today!) retired and plan to move house to another part of the UK. I have the idea that if I can sell my current home first, that would put me in a better situation as a buyer, as I would be a cash buyer with no chain.

Not necessarily correct.
No chain below you, yes. There is likely to be one above you.

You also arent necessarily in a better position, depends on the vendors of your purchase.
They might not be in a rush to sell (maybe they haven't found somewhere to move to), or they might need (or want) a particular figure that isnt susceptible to negotiation, or they might even think that as a cash buyer you are going to be more flakey and likely to drop out as you have little "investment" in the purchase and will prefer someone getting a mortgage as that person is "locked in" having spent money on mortgage fees, surveys etc etc.