Using a rental van to get your house move done - A guide

House moving is a stressful time, no point trying to say otherwise. We have seen fresh faced couples arrive for their vehicle in high spirits only to be greeted 24 hours later by a gaunt exhausted couple who are vowing never to move home ever again.

This is usually down to a number of factors. Well basically one factor, preparation. Having lived in a home for a number of years you will have accumulated a huge amount of items tucked away in attics, garden sheds and closets. When a customer typically considers what items they need to move, they can tend to forget about much of these items, but they must be shifted also as the new owners will not be too thrilled about being greeted by your cast offs. To be honest the van hire is the easy part of the operation, it’s the preparation for the move that takes time.

Preparation for your house move

• Set a moving date, usually the day that contracts are exchanged, if possible try for a weekend move. Weekend moves are less stressful as you do not have heavy traffic to contend with or work commitments.

• Collect all the keys to your home and any others that may be with friends relatives and give them to your solicitor.

• Do an inventory of all the items that you wish to take with you. Any items that you do not wish to keep can either be dumped, passed on to friends or given to charity shops ( in the current climate the latter is a very worthwhile endeavour ).

• Use up  frozen food and opened packets, its not going to make the journey and there is no point simply throwing it away.

• Check out your attic, garden shed and outhouses, there is probably more in there than you think.

• Get your important documents in order. Start with important stuff like insurance policies, bank statements, legal documents etc. These need to separated from the general clutter, you will thank yourself in the future.

• Pay attention to your large items, especially white goods and oversized items like pianos, this will help the van hire company to figure out your load requirement. Consider dumping the items which you no longer require, e.g. old beds, worn out sofa’s , that dodgy washing machine, Dublin City Council operates a number of recycling facilities, one of which is located beside us in Ballymount, Dublin.

• Organise some moving boxes or crates. Label crates and boxes with their contents and location in the new home. Do not use plastic bags for packing anything, this will result in days of sorting through belongings.

Moving Day.

• Have you items packed before you collect the van, believe us it will make things go far easier and quickly.

•  Try to have a few friends and relatives around to help you out. For those of us who do not do much manual work it is surprising how quickly you can get worn out. Do not have any visitors over unless they are helping you move, they will become a hindrance and get in the way.

• If you have small children, consider leaving them with friends, they will not be much help after a couple of hours.

• Choose the correct van or truck. It is very common to choose an incorrect vehicle. If the vehicle is too small you will be doing multiple trips which wastes time. If you choose too large a vehicle you may have access problems.

• Unload large bulky items first. Its best to tackle these items when you are fresh. Also access to the smaller items is far easier with the big stuff out of the way.

• We have a guide to choosing the correct vehicle here. If you have any specific enquiries on our house moving vehicles or need some advice please feel free to contact us and we will do our best to make sure your house move goes smoothly.

• Check all utilities are working when you arrive at your new home, electricity, gas and hot water.

When all of the above is done, relax, go outside and give your new neighbours a smile!

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