There is no doubt that the safety of your belongings will be one of your biggest concerns when moving house. You will, therefore, definitely do your best to ensure maximum protection to your items – and that means ensuring proper packing and proper loading.
Proper packing will create a protective layer around your belongings – proper loading will prevent the risk of your items crashing against each other or toppling over during transit. Both are very important for a safe and successful relocation. The significance of correct loading, however, is often underestimated.
The way a truck is loaded can ultimately determine how many items will fit in it and how secure they will be during the transportation. You need to know how to properly pack a moving truck in order to maximize the available space and minimize the risk of damage to your belongings.
Your best bet is to learn from the experts – professional movers have rich experience loading moving vehicles and know how to use the space effectively and how to ensure the safety of the shipment. So, if you want to load a moving truck in the safest and most efficient way possible, you should load it the way the movers do.
But how do movers load a truck? Read on to find out – and learn how to pack a moving truck like a pro.
How do movers pack a truck?
Professional movers know that the best way to pack a moving truck is to distribute the weight of the load evenly throughout the vehicle, creating tight tiers and securing the items in place.
So, when loading a truck, the pros will:
- Lay a tarp (or some old moving blankets) on the floor of the trailer to protect your items from dust and dirt and offer them some cushioning against shocks and vibrations during the transportation;
- Distribute the weight of your items evenly, loading your heaviest belongings in a “T”-formation;
- Load the truck in tiers – from floor to ceiling, with the heaviest items on the bottom;
- Pack your items tight to prevent them from shifting during transit – the pros will use plenty of padding to provide insulation between the items in a layer and make the load as tight as possible;
- Secure the items as they load them – the movers will tie down each larger object and will wrap a long sturdy rope (or a ratchet strap) around all the items in a tier to hold them together and keep them secured in place.
The load will be well balanced and the items will fit together like puzzle pieces, so the space in the truck will be perfectly optimized and the risk of accidental damage to your belongings will be reduced to a minimum.
Do movers load boxes or furniture first?
The order in which a moving truck is loaded is essential for both the optimization of the space and the safety of your belongings, so, before you start loading, you need to know how to position your furniture and boxes the right way. In other words, you need to know what to load first when moving and how to arrange your items so that they fit in the truck and stay secure during the move.
As already established, it will be best to follow the example of the pros. So, what do movers load first? And how do they organize the items inside the moving truck?
The professionals load the largest and heaviest items first – weighty furniture, bulky appliances, etc. The square pieces (dressers, bookcases, china cabinets, fridges, washers, etc.) are placed in the front of the truck (against the wall closest to the cab) and the longer items (sofas, headboards, mattresses, etc.) are positioned upright against the long walls of the vehicle. This helps the movers save space and balance the truck (as the heaviest objects are placed on the opposite sides of the moving vehicle).
Each larger item is secured to the side of the truck with moving straps. Pictures, mirrors, glass tabletops, flat-screen TVs, and other flat fragile items are placed between the mattresses and the couches for extra padding and protection, while smaller, lightweight items are stacked on top of the large, heavy pieces to optimize space.
Next, the movers load desks, chairs, tables, and other similar pieces and put some heavy boxes in the empty space underneath them to maximize the space and keep the furniture in place.
Then come the rest of the boxes – stacked in rows, with the heavier and larger ones on the bottom and the smaller and lighter ones on top. Any remaining space between the top of the boxes and the truck’s ceiling is filled with soft, non-breakable items.
Open-first boxes are loaded last, so that they’re the first to be unloaded upon delivery.
It’s like a game of Tetris – there are a certain number of items and a finite space to fit them into – and professional movers are really good at it. They know the most efficient way to pack a moving truck – and they put their knowledge to good use.
Good to know: Some movers have developed a different procedure for loading a moving truck – they load boxes first and place long furniture parallel to the cab wall, not along the side walls of the truck.
The boxes form the first layer, stacked against the wall closest to the cab. Next comes the square furniture – loading them behind the boxes is supposed to help keep them more secure during transport. Mattresses and box springs are placed behind the square furniture (with flat fragile items in between them). Headboards are loaded vertically behind the box springs and couches are positioned next to the mattresses (parallel to them) to keep them in place. If there are any appliances, they are placed behind the couches. All other things are loaded afterwards.
See also: What to expect from professional movers
How long do movers take to load a truck?
Professional movers have specialized moving equipment (moving dollies, moving straps, loading ramp, etc.) and rich experience loading household items for moving – they work very quickly and efficiently and can load a truck in record time.
How long exactly it will take the pros to complete the task depends on the number and type of the items that need to be loaded and the number of movers involved in the process. In general, though, if everything is ready and no unforeseen difficulties occur, a crew of two professional movers can load a small moving van within a couple of hours. Larger moving trucks take about 4-6 hours to load.
Keep in mind, though, that if you’re moving without professional moving help and loading your rented moving vehicle yourself, it will take you much longer to do the job. Loading the truck correctly, however, is more important than loading it quickly, so you should not rush things to finish faster. Work carefully and do everything like the pros do – following the proper way to load a moving truck will allow you to maximize the available space and ensure that your cherished possessions stay safe and sound during the relocation process.
