Moving... best way to pack tools?

[Speedfreak32]

We are in the process of preparing to move. We have a majority of the house packed up, but I haven't started on my tools. Everything is in my basement so it will have to be carried upstairs by hand. I have three rolling boxes that are pretty well organized and fairly full. I will definitely have to empty them to get them out. I am struggling to find a creative method to pack the tools up and still have manageable boxes to carry up the stairs. I'd like them somewhat organized in transit so I can get to them quickly at the new house before I am able to get my garage and outbuilding setup.

Anyone have any experience or ideas?

It's amazing how much stuff can be accumulated over 12 years...

 

[rburke65]

Plastic tubs isthe only thing I can come up with.....and there are reusable after the move.

 

[Barnabas]

Are you moving yourself, or packing everything for a moving company?

Can you remove the drawers from the rolling boxes? If so, leave the tools in the drawers.

Don't use large cardboard boxes. Too much weight. Lots of smaller boxes will be better than fewer large boxes.

I have lots of old wooden wine crates, Rubbermaid containers, 5-gallon plastic buckets, and lots of canvas bags. That is what I would use, if it was me.

 

[Speedfreak32]

We are moving ourselves. Only a half hour or so away.
I was thinking about removing the drawers and stacking them. That would make the boxes easier to get up the stairs.
The new place has an amazing garage that I can't wait to be in. 12 years with nothing but a small space in the basement. Not having space has not stopped me from acquiring multiple sets of almost everything.

 

[Warrenator]

I used the small size heavy duty cardboard boxes from Home Depot, even full with a vise or airtools they are somewhat manageable. Only 2 bucks each, can be given away or donated after. Always someone on craigslist looking for moving boxes.

I would move thentool chests empty without drawers. They get away from you in a hurry if younare trying to puchnthem down a ramp, and then get damaged.

 

[ducksface]

You are overthinking this by multiples.
Any container of a size you can carry from gunny sack to pelican boxes will work.
I particularly like bags for mine. They lay on top of one another with no dead space.

 

[Ditch]

I just left everything in my toolboxes when I moved. They were pretty full so not much moved around.

 

[Itinerant]

I've done this twice in the last 30 months.

Leave the tools in the drawers and take the loaded drawers out of the rolling boxes and carry everything upstairs. Once you have everything upstairs you can go about loading on whatever transport you are using for your move.

Moving house is a great opportunity to seriously evaluate the stuff you have. Make an honest assessment and get rid of the stuff you don't and won't use. As you said, you're surprised at the stuff you accumulate, get rid of the fluff.

 

[Grimpala]

The guy we bought our house from recently used 5 gallon buckets to move his stuff. I left all mine in the boxes and had help loading them into the truck. But we just moved across town, not a half hour away.

 

[My Old Tools]

I used a bunch of these from Costco.

 

[Davefr]

You are overthinking this by multiples.
Any container of a size you can carry from gunny sack to pelican boxes will work.
I particularly like bags for mine. They lay on top of one another with no dead space.

^^^Yes, go to a feed store and see if they have those polywoven feed bags in their recycle bin. They're very strong and will hold a lot. If in doubt, double bag them.

The best part is they're free.

 

[GYPSY400]

Remove drawers from tool boxes.. move box upstairs onto moving truck.. reinstall drawers into boxes.. shrink wrap the box if your locks don't work well.. no need to take the tools out and pack them in something else.

I've moved a tool box no less than 10 times

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[kams1973]

Canvas style bags work great. The small home depot or uhaul moving boxes also served me well on my recent move.

 

[Ditch]

Remove drawers from tool boxes.. move box upstairs onto moving truck.. reinstall drawers into boxes.. shrink wrap the box if your locks don't work well.. no need to take the tools out and pack them in something else.

I've moved a tool box no less than 10 times

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Easy and quick
All the other ways are mainly a case of thinking too hard.

 

[Viper98912]

I specifically bought new Gladiator boxes, with wheels this time, for my move. Then I made sure to choose a truck with a liftgate, so I just wheeled the Gladiator boxes onto the liftgate and onto the truck. Then when I got to the new house, I had the Gladiator stuff wheeled right into the garage, all nice and neat looking and no unpacking and buying more cabinets.

You definitely have an issue though since you're going up a stairwell. You can always put plywood down and rig up a winch...

 

[ItsNemo]

I did rubbermaid bins of various sizes and just filled them only as full as I could lift. Leave the drawers in the box, otherwise they'll get all skuffed/dinged up if you aren't careful packing them. I moved all the bins of tools myself but had movers do my boxes.

 

[F350]

Remove drawers from tool boxes.. move box upstairs onto moving truck.. reinstall drawers into boxes.. shrink wrap the box if your locks don't work well.. no need to take the tools out and pack them in something else.

I've moved a tool box no less than 10 times

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Yeah, this was what I was gonna say.

 

[KEH]

Sounds like a lot of good advice from guys who have had the experience. My only advice is to get some smaller web cargo straps and fasten around the tool boxes, full or empty. Drawers sliding open are a PITA.

KEH

 

[holdover]

this is my system, the boxes full weigh too much to move easily, example my 44" box is 300+ by itself. I empty the drawers with sockets , pliers wrenches etc, all the hard non-breakable stuff into 5 gallon plastic buckets with handles (usually my shop trash cans, plastic litter boxes also work well) to a point where they start to get heavy. If I don't have a cover I use some duct tape and heavy plastic drop cloth to seal the top. Has worked for me over the years,. Fragile items are packed carefully in the cans, but with some paper to protect them.

 

[Jamie V]

I went to HD and bought a ton of plastic bins. I emptied the cabinets and drawers in separate bins and marked each one with painters tape. I then stacked them in the trailer nice and easy.

 

[matt_i]

I like the idea of removing individual drawers but I think you'd struggle to find a box to fit them in that wasn't overloaded if packed full, and if packed with like 3 drawers it would be wasting space.

I better like smaller boxes like 3 drawers per box, cut other boxes or scrap cardboard as layer-dividers to maintain the contents of the individual drawers. Make sure you label each box very well, this way its an easy reversal to get your drawer boxes filled back.

I would be cautious of rolling loaded boxes around, up moving truck ramps, etc. I have mostly low-end boxes (craftyman) and the casters are all an afterthought. They are fine for the static load but are a liability to roll them around especially across anything other than smooth concrete with sawcut joints. I assume on better to high end boxes the casters are much higher quality bearings and attached better as well. I had a bad experience where one caster didn't make the jump across something or other on the concrete and 1 caster pulled its self-tapper screws out of the framework. I crashed a large stack of stuff about 3 milliseconds later which bent some drawer slides and caused other general unhappiness and diversion from what I wanted to be doing. so hopefully someone else can avoid this.

 

[adam0872]

Remove the drawers stack them strap them down easy as pie it's how I do it

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

I used a bunch of these from Costco.

These are great, sturdy and stackable. I bought mine at Home Depot. They are on sale from time to time. Have purchased about 15 of them. Noticed a neighbour who is a carpenter and he recommended them to begin with.

 

[crewchief888]

Remove drawers from tool boxes.. move box upstairs onto moving truck.. reinstall drawers into boxes.. shrink wrap the box if your locks don't work well.. no need to take the tools out and pack them in something else.


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this is the way ive always moved my boxes.

misc tools in milk crate or storage bins. moved all my work boxes, plus garage boxes, welder, air compressor all packed up and moved 1200 miles.
ive moved them several times since then using a utility trailer, truck bed, and even in the back of a rusty *** 85 bronco. i did have to make 2 trips with the bronco, as 1 roller cab took up the entire bed area.