how to pack and store your child’s artwork

Posted on: 22 June 2016

Hiring professional movers is a fairly simple proposition: you pack everything up, they load it on their truck and drive it to your new home, and you unpack it again. But things can get complicated when you have specialized, fragile, hazardous, or otherwise difficult items. Some things have special moving needs, so you may want to move them on your own or hire a specialized white glove shipping service. And there are some things your moving company may refuse to transport at all. The company policies will probably specify which types of items your company reserves the right not to move, but here's a general list to help you plan in advance to reduce the number of items you have in this tricky category or arrange for alternative transportation for them.

1. Live things

Of course you wouldn't expect to transport your family pet in the moving van, but the ban on live things encompasses plants as well as animals. Even if you've checked to make sure the plants you want to move are permitted in the state you're moving to (and every state in between), it's still illegal for your movers to move plants more than a hundred and fifty miles unless they're specialized plant shippers. For long-distance moving, this means that your plants will have to either ride in the family car or be handled by a licensed plant shipping company. If you're moving less than 150 miles, your regular moving company may handle the plants for you, but company policy will probably forbid this due to the dark, non-climate-controlled atmosphere inside a moving van, which is not conducive to plant health.

2. Explosive and flammable things

Of course your moving company doesn't want their trucks blown up, but in addition to that, it's actually illegal for them to move your explosive belongings because it could be a hazard to the general public. These explosive things include items such as:

• aerosol cans
• ammunition
• fireworks
• fuel
• paint thinner
• nail polish
• nail polish remover
• lighter fluid
• charcoal

Most of these items are easy to replace once you get to your new home, so just give away your half-empty cans of hairspray and leftover fireworks and you'll have that much less to fit in your car on moving day.

3. Hazardous things

Explosion isn't the only safety concern connected with moving trucks. There are many other things in a normal household that could actually put the health of a professional mover in danger, which is why hazardous items and substances are on the no-go list as far as movers are concerned. Be sure you don't pack:

• bleach
• ammonia
• other cleaners
• anything caustic

These three categories of items may represent a large number of your belongings, in which case you'll need to start thinking now about how you're going to handle them. Outdoor plants can simply be left in the ground, and some of the other types of items can be either given to friends or disposed of at a hazardous waste facility. But in some cases, you may need to think about hiring a specialized mover, such as a plant mover, in order to get some of your belongings to your new home while following all applicable regulations and policies.

For more information, contact Father & Son Moving & Storage or a similar company.