Shop moving question?

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Hi All,

This question relates to my electrical question in that I am moving my shop. The move will be 5 hrs. away. Question is how do you decide what's worth having the movers transport for you? Is some of the heavier stuff just not worth moving and better to sell?

Did some of you just sell your stuff and buy new? Yes that sounds good to me but I like most of my stuff. I have a pretty standard shop with my MM16 being my heaviest machine. The rest is a lunch box planer, contractor's table saw, drill press, 6" jointer, router table, lathes, etc.

I wouldn't mind trading up to an 8" jointer and a cabinet saw but I don't think I really need them.

I don't think I should try to move this stuff myself so I'd llike to know what you've done in moving your shop. My next step is to get estimates from movers but I have a bad feeling it's going to get very expensive with all the weight involved. Thanks for any advise.

[Richard Wolf]

I have been looking into this as I see a move in the next few years. It seems like the best way to deal with a shop move is to buy a heavy duty trailer and load and move your own machines. After you are finished you can sell the trailer.
The next option is to look into a pods container. Load and secure your machines have them pick it up and deliver it to your new location.

Richard

[George Summers]

No help on the moving questions, but; when you get here and settled, you will have to join ncwoodworker.net and Triangle Woodworkers Association. You probably already know but we have a Klingspor Woodworking Store (where TWA meets), WoodCraft (both in Raleigh), and a Woodworkers Supply (½hr-45 mins up the road), a great hardwood store about the same distance (The Hardwood Store of NC) and a Rocklers in Greensboro. Do you know what area you will be buying in yet? I'm about 45 minutes north of Raleigh. Welcome to NC.

George

Oh, I forgot, and a Harbor Freight across the street from Klingspor.

[George Summers]

The next option is to look into a pods container. Load and secure your machines have them pick it up and deliver it to your new location.

Richard

Richard's post came while I was typing mine. I have heard that the PODS floors are on the weak side and that a load of big machinery is at their limit for safety. You might check that out before you go with PODS.

George

[Kelly C. Hanna]

I moved all of my shop then wound up without enough power to carry 220's safely out in the shop and had to sell the cabinet saw and DC. That said, it's a perfect time to upgrade without lugging everything to the new shop.

[Jim Becker]

Richard's post came while I was typing mine. I have heard that the PODS floors are on the weak side and that a load of big machinery is at their limit for safety. You might check that out before you go with PODS.

There is a thread here somewhere from the last week or two that someone used the PODS, but put an extra layer of plywood down on the floor before loading it. The weight was also close to the tippy-top limit for the hoist to get it on the truck...and the picture in that thread was indicative of that. But I suspect that you (Alan) don't have that much weight to avoid the PODS if it looks like a good solution for you.

When we moved here in 1999 (about an hour...so it was short haul), I had the movers deal with my tools.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

No help on the moving questions, but; when you get here and settled, you will have to join ncwoodworker.net and Triangle Woodworkers Association. You probably already know but we have a Klingspor Woodworking Store (where TWA meets), WoodCraft (both in Raleigh), and a Woodworkers Supply (½hr-45 mins up the road), a great hardwood store about the same distance (The Hardwood Store of NC) and a Rocklers in Greensboro. Do you know what area you will be buying in yet? I'm about 45 minutes north of Raleigh. Welcome to NC.

George

Oh, I forgot, and a Harbor Freight across the street from Klingspor.

Thanks George, I PM'd you. I appreciate all the info.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Thanks guys for all the great info. I'm going to check into the Pod and see what they will take weight wise. Anybody use a truck with hydraulic lift to move? Any other wisdom out there will be most appreciated. Please keep it coming. Thanks to Richard, George, Kelly and Jim as usual.

[Allen Bookout]

When we were repairing our home from the damage caused by Hurricane Charlie we used a pod to store some of the contents of our house. The very best thing about it was that you only had to lift the objects about six inches high to get them inside. At the time I was thinking that would be the way to go if I had to move my tools because of the ease of loading the really heavy stuff. A ramp with a very shallow incline would do the trick. I suppose a low trailer would also not be too bad but a bobtail or a semi----major loading problem without the proper equipment.

I did not inquire about the weight limit as we just left it sitting on the driveway.

Good luck on your move! Allen

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Allen, The Pod seems to be a very popular option. We're thinking of getting one for temporary storage while we move. BTW Alan is the correct spelling.

[Chris Giles]

Alan,
I moved my house and shop a few years back, and as you suggested, the quotes from movers were outrageous (Chicago to New Hampshire). It was over $8000 just for the shop which had easy level access, and I would have had to rent a forklift and load the truck myself. Essentially all they would be doing is driving the stuff out here, and unloading into my awaiting parking lot. No thanks.

I ended up renting a Penske 24ft. truck one-way two times, and in those two trips was able to move the whole lot. These trucks were all new at that time, and held up quite well under the >10,000 lbs loads. Each trip was about $800.00 with my AAA discount, so the total came in around $2000 with gas. I borrowed a forklift from my neighbor to load it, but one could easily rent one for the day. I believe if there is any way to move it yourself, you will save some serious bread. Good luck.

[tod evans]

alan, my vote is with richards first impression, buy a trailer.....02 tod

[Matt Meiser]

When we moved (only about 8 miles) we had to put everything in storage for about a month because of how the deals worked out. To get everything into storage, I used my trailer and moved a little at a time. To get it out, we rented a Budget truck with a lift gate. That worked very well and is how I would do it again.

[Jim DeLaney]

For my cross-country move a year or so ago, I hired Allied Van Lines to move it all. They sent a four man crew to load it all - I'd done most of the packing myself - and another four man crew to unload at the destination.

The total household goods and tools move was about 20,500 pounds. Cost me just under $10K to move it 2500 miles.

I had absolutely no damage, and nothing was missing. It went onto the truck in Tustin, and off the same truck - no intermediaries - in Austintown about two weeks later.

The crews did bitch a bit about the weights of things like the cabinet saw, the LT16 bandsaw, the 9" metal lathe, and the 600#+ workbench, but they were moved without incident or damage. Didn't even knock the tablesaw fence out of alignment!

[JayStPeter]

Alan,

I'll go the opposite to everyone else. I was very happy to have the movers haul all my stuff. I got it prepped before they showed up (removed TS fence/extension and bandsaw table, blocked or removed motors, thick coat of wax ... etc.). If they damage anything it's covered. If you do ... not so much. It was surprisingly inexpensive to have the movers move my shop. I got them to quote with and without the shop. I recall the delta being a couple hundred bucks. Well worth keeping my back healthy to do the rest of the stuff a move involves. The biggest problem I had is some of my shop cabinets wouldn't make it into the truck, so they got left behind.

Jay