Books are the load that catches out people who have moved house several times. A wall of shelving looks like an afternoon’s work and turns into the heaviest thing in the entire move by a considerable margin. Moving a book collection needs a different approach from moving furniture, because the problem is not size or fragility but concentrated weight in a small volume. Anyone arranging van hire in Warrington for a serious collection should be thinking about boxes and backs long before thinking about the vehicle.
Density Is What Makes Books Difficult
A cubic metre of books weighs several hundred kilograms, which is far more than the same volume of almost anything else a household owns. That single fact drives every other decision. It means large boxes are a mistake, it means the load has to be distributed rather than piled, and it means the number of trips from house to van is high even though the van never looks full. People routinely fill a large plastic crate with hardbacks and then find that two adults cannot lift it off the floor, let alone carry it down a staircase. Working out the weight before you pack, rather than after, is what makes the day manageable.
Small Boxes, Filled Properly
The rule with books is to use the smallest boxes you have and fill them completely. A small box of books is heavy but liftable, and a full box keeps its shape, whereas a half filled one collapses when something is stacked on it. Pack spine down or flat rather than standing books upright on their fore edges, which damages the binding over time. Reinforce the base of every cardboard box with tape along the seam, because the classic failure is a box handing you its contents halfway down the stairs. If you are packing valuable or older books, keep them separate and pack them flat with nothing heavy on top.
Loading Dense Weight in the Right Place
Because book boxes are heavy for their size, they should go on the floor of the van, forward, over the axle, rather than stacked high or left at the rear doors. Build the book boxes into a low, tight block at the front of the load space and then put lighter, bulkier things behind and above them. This keeps the vehicle balanced and stops the heaviest part of your load being the part that has furthest to travel if you brake hard. The long wheelbase high roof van works well for a full library because you can build that low block of boxes and still have height above it for shelving, which is the other half of the job.
Do Not Forget the Shelving Itself
The books are only half the load. Bookcases are usually large, often flat packed originally and frequently not designed to be dismantled twice. Solid wood shelving is heavy and awkward; particle board shelving may not survive being taken apart, so decide in advance whether a unit is worth moving at all. If a bookcase is coming apart, keep the fixings with it rather than in a general box, and label the shelves if they are cut to different depths. Empty units travel on their backs or on edge with padding at the corners, and they should go in after the book boxes are already forward and secure. Bookcases are also the item most likely to be damaged in transit, because a tall carcass with nothing in it flexes and the back panel is usually thin hardboard pinned on. Support it along its length rather than letting it bridge across other items, and never lean anything heavy against the back.
Keeping Paper Dry and Off the Floor
Damp is the one thing that will ruin a collection outright, and February in the north west offers plenty of it. Boxes standing on a wet pavement while you load will wick moisture up through the cardboard within minutes. Put something down to stand boxes on, load straight from the house rather than staging everything outside, and if it is raining, work in shorter runs with the van doors closed between them. At the far end, get the boxes indoors rather than leaving them in a garage overnight. Customers moving collections out towards Irlam van hire bookings and the surrounding villages often plan the load around the forecast for exactly this reason.
Booking the Van and Planning the Trips
Our depot sits on Tilley Street at the main entrance to Cockhedge Shopping Centre beside Asda, open Monday to Saturday from 8am to 4pm and closed on Sunday, with free secure parking on site for your car. Bring your photocard licence and a DVLA check code generated beforehand on the DVLA website, and note that no deposit is required on most of our vehicles and no credit card is needed. If your move date is more than a fortnight away it is worth checking whether the ten per cent advance booking discount on selected vehicles applies, which is explained on our van hire special offers page.
Tell us roughly how many linear metres of shelving you are emptying and we will give you an honest view on the body and the number of trips. Call the depot on 01925 396 222 to get a van held for your date, and pack a few boxes as a test before the day so you know what you are dealing with.
