Moving tips

How to effectively load your U-Haul truck

Tier your load by placing the heaviest pieces in a row across the floor of the van and building a second and third row on top of the first, and so on, until they reach the ceiling. Then start on the next tier.

Household items are never identical in weight, shape or size, and packing for a tight, evenly distributed load is key to ensuring that all belongings arrive undamaged. The pros use furniture pads to ensure that they meet this goal; to fill a space, to level a tier or to give support to a curved (contoured) or irregularly shaped item.

Use pads for the tops of cartons or blocks used underneath furniture with legs to help spread the weight evenly.
Fill the top of a hutch or armoire with pads to avoid springing the joints. Pads will raise the tier so that subsequent rows will not rest directly on the top lip.
Contrary to popular belief, the back of a TV needs just as much protection as the front; a good bump can cause major internal damage. To protect the back, roll two pads into “sausages” and place them vertically, one on either side of the horn between the back of the TV and the previous tier.
The tier behind the back of overstuffed furniture or upholstered couches must be padded to protect the furniture. Also, the floor under the couch must be padded and a pad folded into four gives plenty of protection to a couch with flat ends. However, a couch with irregularly shaped ends, such as one with “French wings”, must be set on a base of several pads folded to support the contour of the arm.