Moving Library

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Moving Library

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1pomonomo2003
Set 6, 2013, 12:15 pm

to new apartment. Suggestions and warnings appreciated.
Thanks!
Joe
PS. Is there a better group to post this in?

2varielle
Set 6, 2013, 12:51 pm

Get boxes from the liquor store to pack your books in. They are the best & free.

3lilithcat
Set 6, 2013, 12:55 pm

Don't put too many books in one box!

4bestem
Set 6, 2013, 1:05 pm

While probably not the best way for me to transfer books, after I'd packed all my clothes and stuff, I had all these empty dresser drawers. I put the majority of my paperbacks in the dresser drawers, then desk drawers. Once the two items were in the moving van, I just put the drawers inside them. Unloaded the drawers without unloading the big pieces of furniture when bringing them inside the new place, too. They were only packed like that for about 24 hours, as I was moving about an 8 hour drive away, for a cross country move probably not as smart a thing to do.

5PhaedraB
Set 6, 2013, 1:40 pm

4 > I just pack my clothes in the dresser drawers. Saves time.

Don't get fooled by the seeming convenience of plastic tubs. They're expensive, and unless you get fairly small ones, they're too heavy when full. Plus with the often rounded corners, they don't pack or stack as efficiently as you'd think. And, if it's cold, the plastic can crack. I've had that happen with plastic file boxes. I once had a brand new one crack driving home from the office supply store on a cold winter day. The plastic got brittle and one good jostle was all it took.

Pack the books flat, not on edge. Fill the boxes evenly to the top. Fill up the corners, nooks and crannies with packing material. If you do this, you will avoid not just damage to the books, but the heavy boxes will not crunch or collapse when you're stacking them. Avoid using newspaper (if anyone has newspaper any more) for packing books, as you can get ink transfered onto the books. If you have, as so many of us do, a lifetime supply of plastic grocery bags, wad them up & they make fine filler.

Of course, unless you're really, really fit, small boxes are better.

It helps if you have the family member who is best at Tetris pack the books. You'll get the most per box that way.

Forget about keeping them "in order" as you pack. That way lies madness. Pack by size and shape. Whatever hassle you have putting them away will be offset by less hassle packing them.

6bestem
Set 6, 2013, 2:13 pm

5> But I could compress and fit more clothes into duffel bags and suitcases than would fit in drawers. Plus, the duffels and the suitcases were things that would hold soft flexible stuff very well, but not so much the harder less flexible things. I wouldn't've been able to put books into the single suitcase and duffel bag (and maybe a comic-con bag or two), whereas I fit more clothes into those than fit in the dresser drawers on their own.

7PhaedraB
Set 6, 2013, 2:15 pm

6 > Whatever works!

8reconditereader
Set 6, 2013, 2:59 pm

Learn from my experience: if you are moving into a third-floor walkup, hire movers. For real.

9hailelib
Set 6, 2013, 3:02 pm

> 8

Yes, but pack the books yourself.

10lorax
Set 6, 2013, 3:13 pm

8>

Or even if you aren't, if you're moving cross-country and you can afford it, definitely hire movers.

(Our last move was paid for by my wife's new job. As they were carrying the boxes in one of the movers remarked "You guys sure have a lot of books." Not sure what to say, I nodded and said "Yep". He thought for a minute, and said "I guess if I had read more books I wouldn't be carrying yours.")

11PhaedraB
Set 6, 2013, 4:25 pm

I used movers for my last move because driving a U-Haul full of books across the Rockies was more than I wanted to deal with.

I'd already driven a 14-foot U-Haul full of books from New York to North Carolina. The truck got a flat tire on the Interstate in the middle of nowhere in the mountains of Virginia. I called the truck rental company & they said it would take 6 hours for someone to get there. It was the middle of the night, in November, and I was traveling alone with my cat.

Long story short, after someone else came to my rescue, I spent two nights in a motel at the truck company's expense. Why two nights? When they finally showed up with a tire, the guy takes one look and says, "Wow. You have two flat tires." And of course, he only had one with him, so he had to drive six hours again--each way--to go get another one...

On the other hand, long-distance movers are ridiculously expensive and charge by weight, which is not pretty when you're moving books. The final cost was in the neighborhood of 3 times greater than the original estimate, and that's after we did a lot of negotiating over the bungled estimate.

12pomonomo2003
Set 6, 2013, 4:41 pm

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! I appreciate it!

Joe

13jules_l
Set 7, 2013, 10:25 am

One thing to add - pack by size and shape, but take photographs of each shelf so you can read the spines before you start packing. That way you can get them back on the shelves reasonably fast at the other end, and everything should fit where you put it.

14Keeline
Set 7, 2013, 10:48 am

#13 by jules_l>

With this in mind, if you have cataloged them on LT already, you could tag the books by shelf and box number. This would involve a lot more work than photographing the shelf even with PowerEdit.

James

15PhaedraB
Set 7, 2013, 4:33 pm

I tag with box number as I pack. It's a little time consuming, but if stuff has to stay in storage for awhile as mine have done, it's been terribly helpful.

The fun thing is unpacking and then doing all the hyper-detailed cataloging (size, cover scan, all that stuff) that wasn't available or I wasn't doing at the time they went into the box. Of course, I guess that depends on your own idea of fun!

16andrewsd
Set 10, 2013, 9:52 am

>15 PhaedraB: "The fun thing is unpacking and then doing all the hyper-detailed cataloging (size, cover scan, all that stuff) that wasn't available or I wasn't doing at the time they went into the box. Of course, I guess that depends on your own idea of fun!"

That's my idea of fun!

And to the original poster, my best advice is go to Walmart and buy a couple large rolls of bubble wrap.

17pgmcc
Set 10, 2013, 10:52 am

...go to Walmart and buy a couple large rolls of bubble wrap...spread them out on the floor and roll around on them making popping noises.

:-)

18PhaedraB
Set 10, 2013, 2:21 pm

Just found a box of books yesterday that were cataloged when I first started LTing, but then packed in haste during the move-before-last by a "helper." (Shouldn't be snotty; true, I would have packed it more meticulously, but if I had, I'd still be in that apartment-before-last three years later...). Getting the scanner warmed up and looking for the ruler. :-)

PS: I find few sounds more unpleasant than the sound of bubble wrap popping. I realize this separates me from most of the human race, but I am willing to accept that.

19Nicole_VanK
Editado: Set 10, 2013, 2:25 pm

go to Walmart and buy a couple large rolls of bubble wrap

Unless you foresee you might have them in prolonged storage. Bubble wrap is wonderful, but at least some sorts aren't acid free and all that.

20llaaiinnaa
Set 10, 2013, 4:20 pm

I hate unpacking, but what makes unpacking more bearable to me is knowing I can unload my books, admire them, and then reorganize them any way I want. It isn't until this stage is done that I can feel truly at home.