Moving Your Outdoor Gear

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of Flickr

When most people start thinking about moving, they usually begin by working their way through the interior of their home.  This is simply because what is outside is out of sight and therefore out of mind.  The problem is, packing and moving your outdoor gear can present some of the biggest challenges to moving, as you will soon discover.  That being said, moving your outdoor gear doesn’t need to be a major source of stress, provided you use a little foresight along with a dash of common sense.

What Happens in Transit

You’ve heard of the gambler’s credo, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas?”  While that might be true, when it comes to belongings that have stayed outside, many times they don’t stay outside until the move is done.  This means before you load your patio furniture, barbecue, hoses and flower pots into the truck, you need to check for stowaways.  That upturned pot could harbor a lizard or mouse.  Even worse, I once picked up a cactus that lived in a flower pot on the front porch, only to discover a colony of wasps happily ensconced on the back of the plant.  Thankfully for me, I was able to put the planter down without incurring the wrath of the wasps.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Over the years I have discovered all kinds of critters hiding in barbecues, rolled up lengths of garden hose, under seat cushions and stubbornly lodged beneath sports equipment.  The bottom line is before you load up anything that resides on your porch, patio or lawn, you need to make sure there are no stowaways.  Remember, this gear is going to be packed in the same truck as the rest of your household goods.  What’s to say that the stowaway might not choose to migrate from your patio furniture to your living room or bedroom furniture during transit.  The last thing you want to see when you unpack is anything that slithers or scurries making a beeline across the kitchen tile or bedroom carpet.

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

Another fact you need to deal with is the unfortunate fact that outdoor gear can also be a dirt magnet.  This means that you need to wipe down and/or hose off anything that resides outside.  Remove the cushions from your patio furniture and give them and the furniture a good scrubbing.  Open the grill and scour grates, burners and the hood thoroughly.  You’d be surprised at the mess charcoal or soot can make if it happens to come into contact with any of your belongings during transport or while unloading.  Uncoil your garden hoses and hose them down, before letting them dry and placing them in a yard trash bag that will insure they don’t wind up harboring leaves, twigs or vermin.  The bottom line is that your outdoor gear needs to be shipshape before it gets shipped.

If you have a backyard shed, the implements contained therein need to be cleaned before they get packed.  Again, dirt has a habit of getting into everything with very little effort.  Speaking of dirt, if you intend on transporting topsoil or manure, make sure you double bag them.  The last thing you want to see when you arrive at your new home is a bag of soil bursting to rain down on your other belongings.

How to Pack Out Back

Image from Scott's Discount Movers

The real secret to getting your outdoor gear from point A to point B without incident is to make sure they are appropriately packed.  You’d be surprised at how many people simply toss garden implements, even those that are razor sharp, into a cardboard box without securing them.  Things like shears, loppers, and pruning saws are potential hazards. 

Gardening gear that is sharp needs to be shielded by wrapping the blades with bubble wrap that is then tied with twine.  Make sure you put plenty of crumpled up newspaper on the bottom of any box containing gardening implements.  Better still, when it comes to shears and loppers, take a tennis ball, cut a slit in it and slide the blade tip into the ball.  Then pack these implements into the box.  This will prevent them from poking through the cardboard when they are unloaded.

Another thing that anyone who owns a backyard shed has are lots of spare parts and diminutive tools that are stuck on a pegboard.  These are best bagged before being boxed, since this will keep them from rolling around during the move.  Just as with household items, the secret to properly packing a box is to pad it well, then shake it gently afterward.  If you hear the things inside the box clang around, open the box and add more padding.

The best way to pack patio furniture is to remove and box seat cushions before stacking and tying chairs together.  Barbecues need to have doors and hood tied securely shut with twine once all the contents have been removed.  Plants potted in ceramic pots need to be transferred to plastic pots that won’t shatter.  Then the pots need to be padded and packed in a box and the plants should be transported via car, as opposed to being loaded in the truck.  (The exception is if the move is only minutes away, in which case they should be loaded last and unloaded first.  Plants don’t like heat, cold or vibration.)

Image courtesy of Pixabay

If you own a lawnmower, chain saw, gas-powered weed whacker, or any other power tool that relies on an internal combustion engine, make sure you drain the fuel from it before transport.  If you have bottles of insecticide, cleaning fluids, oil or paint stored in your shed or garage, you need to either safely dispose of them before the movers arrive, or you need to move them yourself since movers are prohibited by law from transporting hazardous materials.

If you have kids, then you probably have a swing set, sandbox, playhouse or basketball backboard that you want to take with you.  Just like everything else in your backyard, these need to be dismantled and cleaned, then packed up well before the movers arrive.  If you have a doghouse, this too needs to be thoroughly cleaned and sprayed for fleas at least one day before the move, unless you want to find your belongings infested a couple of days after the move.

When it comes down to moving your outdoor gear, provided you employ a little preparation, it should not prove to be a hassle.  On the other hand, if you leave this chore to the last second, or ignore it entirely, your pet might not be the only one that winds up in the doghouse.

With over 4,000 moves, Scott Discount Movers has handled moves of all sizes, including local and cross country. If you are looking to move your home or office, you can depend on Scott's Discount Movers to provide a stress-free relocation.