Is my 26 foot box truck enough to move my 2100 SF house? (packing, moving company)
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Moving from Connecticut to VA in a few weeks. I have a 2100 SF, 3 bedroom house. I have a 26 foot box truck reserved from Penske. We have purged pretty well, and aren't moving any appliances.
I was considering reserving a UHaul trailer that I can pull behind my mini-van just in case we don't fit everything.
Is that necessary, or will we be OK with the 26 footer?
Location: ๏̯͡๏﴿ Gwinnett-That's a Civil Matter-County
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I'm sure you can fit it, the question becomes "how many trips?"!!
Nobody can answer this for you.
Some people live in 2100 sf and have very little. Others live in 2100 sf and are total pack rats.
And some people have very little but have no clue how to load a truck.
My advice would be to reserve the trailer because you can always cancel it later if you don't need it.
We just moved 1800 sq ft with appliances. Family of 4 with all the accumulated stuff. We took up a 28' truck and then went about 6 feet into a second truck we could have done it all in the 28' had we purged a bit more than we did.
We hired a professional crew to load the truck, this made a huge and I do mean huge difference in what fit into the truck and in reducing damage. It was amazing how well that truck was packed. I hired the crew from a local residentail moving company not yokels from U-Haul or the like. These guys were $35 an hr ea but worth every single penny. They took about 7 hours to load a 28' truck.
I seriously doubt you'll make it with just one trip using a 26' Penske rental. That unit is only 1400 cu. ft. and it has a load capacity of just 8300 lbs. Most well appointed family homes your size usually have well over 1600 cuft. and 10,000 lbs.
Experienced HHG van operators pack and load at a density factor of 6.0 -7.0 lbs per cube. At 6.0 lbs per cubic foot, a professional mover is able to load approximately 9600 lbs into a 1600 cu ft. rental truck.
Most inexperienced DIYers, on the other hand, pack and load at rate of somewhere between 3.0 – 5.5 lbs per cubic foot.
The actual results usually depend the quality and quantity of the packing and protective material being used, types of load securement options (straps, rope, dunnage, nothing) employed to hold the load in place; and each workers packing experience/ability, physical condition and/or health limitations.
If a do-it-yourselfer uses the right amount of material and equipment and is lucky enough to pack and load at a rate good enough to achieve a density factor of 5.5 lbs per cube, then they can will be able to move approximately 8800 in the 1600 cu ft. truck. (i.e. 1600 cu ft. x 5.5 lbs per cuft. = 8800 lbs)
If, on the other hand, the DIYer decides to skimp on material and avoid the cost of ropes and/or straps to secure the load, the 1600 cu ft truck will only be able to accommodate approximately 5600 lbs if loaded at a density rate of 3.5 lbs per cubic foot. (i.e. 1600 cu. ft. x 3.5 lbs per cuft = 5600 lbs)
If you only want to make one trip, you're better off considering one of freight trailer drop and hook services offered by common carriers like ABF or Old Dominion.
The problem is that these kind of unregulated moving services only use spring ride freight trailers. Your stuff is likely to take a beating if not loaded well.
Another concern is that many communities in both Connecticut and Virginia have enacted laws which prohibit leaving an unattended trailer or container on a public access thoroughfare. Be sure to check before considering this option.
We just moved from a 2100 sf house. We're far from being pack rats, but we do have a lot of things and took a refrigerator along with us.
We did the packing. It may have taken less cartons if we had professionals pack. However, we hired a national company for the move and they packed their truck tightly.
When they came down to estimate the job, (before we packed), they estimated we would need something larger than their 40-ft. truck. They were correct. It took two 26-footers to accommode everything.
we moved here from a 2400 sqft home, used a 26' Uhaul (with the extra storage above the cab), and had pro loaders pack it. They used every inch of that space, and we still put some stuff in our SUV we drove down as well as outdoor items packed under the cover of our boat we towed.
So that truck worked for us, but we had also given away to family a complete furniture set we had in our lower level, plus donated other items we knew we'd have no need for or room for down here. So like others said, a truck like that can work for a home that size, all depends on how much you have to take with you. Note we were prepared to grab a small trailer if needed, as we were getting nervous with the truck space getting less and less and stuff still in the home lol
Well, just to update this thread, we successfully moved using a 26 foot Penske Truck. We did not have appliances, a grill, or anything terribly large to move. We are not pack rats (did lots of purging). The movers told us we had a lot of things packed in boxes, which I attribute to having a lot of cooking equipment and tools. We have 2 small children. In the end we did not move our dining room table and chairs as they were falling apart.
I reserved a UHaul pull behind trailer, but cancelled the reservation as it wasnt worth the $300 to move one piece of furniture that wouldn't fit.
Thanks for this forum feed. My growing family of 3 is moving halfway across the country in a few months and are debating how to get all of our stuff there. We currently have an 1100 sq ft house and a 2 car garage. The house is JAM PACKED, the garage is filled to the brim, and we have a lot of outdoor porch and patio items. I am thinking of trying a 26 ft UHaul and renting a pull behind trailer as back-up (which I feel confident that we'll use). I will update this as soon as we see how it goes.
^^Or you could try to get rid of the extra stuff you really don't need before the move. Moving is a great way to weed out the unnecessary stuff, especially when faced with the cost to move it. Have a sale, set the money aside to buy replacements on the other end of the move (for the necessary items like furniture, etc.).
This is a very helpful thread. We are moving out of state soon and I don't know what we will need. We aren't bringing any appliances either and I've purged as much as possible so hopefully we can do one truckload.
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