Decorating is the job people start in spring and underestimate twice, once on time and once on transport. A single room is a car boot job. A whole house, or a rental property between tenancies, is not, because paint is heavy, wallpaper comes in long rolls and the furniture has to go somewhere while the work happens. Van hire for decorating tends to be booked for the second of those problems rather than the first, and arranging van hire in Warrington for a full project usually means one vehicle doing two quite different jobs.
Two Loads in One Booking
Most decorating hires involve an outward trip carrying materials and a second movement shifting furniture out of the rooms being worked on. Those are different loads with different requirements. Materials are heavy, compact and must not leak. Furniture is bulky, light and easily marked. Doing both in one hire is entirely sensible, but the order matters. Collect the materials first and get them into the house, then use the empty van for the furniture, rather than trying to fit sofas around a stack of paint tins. If the furniture is going into storage or a garage rather than another room, plan that leg before you start moving anything.
Carrying Paint Without a Disaster
A five litre tin of emulsion is heavy and the lids on trade tins are not as secure as people assume, particularly once a tin has been opened and pressed shut again. Paint should travel upright, on the floor, packed so tightly that tins cannot tip or roll. Do not stack opened tins on top of unopened ones. A tin that goes over in a van coats everything it touches and emulsion sets hard on a load floor within hours. If you are carrying anything already opened, put it in a crate or a bucket so a leak is contained rather than distributed. The same applies to any solvent based products, which should also be kept out of the cab.
Rolls, Boards and the Long Awkward Items
Wallpaper rolls are easy. Lining paper, coving, dust sheets on a roll and lengths of skirting or architrave are not, and they set the length you need. Coving in particular is fragile and will snap if it is bent or if it is supported only at the ends. Lay long items flat along the floor of the van rather than propping them at an angle. The short wheelbase medium roof van suits most domestic decorating projects well, giving enough height to stand inside while you stack and enough length for standard rolls, while staying easy to park outside a house in a residential street.
Moving Furniture Out and Protecting It
Furniture that comes out of a room being decorated tends to be handled quickly and carelessly because it is only going a short distance, and that is when it gets damaged. Wrap or sheet anything with a fabric surface before it goes anywhere near a van that has been carrying paint and dust. Take drawers out of units so they are lighter and so nothing slides open. If the furniture is only moving to another room, it still benefits from being covered, since sanding dust travels remarkably well through a house. Keep a route clear and lay something down on the floor rather than carrying wardrobes across a carpet you are not replacing.
Timing the Project Around Merchant Hours
Decorators merchants and trade counters keep shorter hours than the big retail sheds, and mixing a bespoke colour usually takes a day or two rather than being done while you wait. Order colours in advance and confirm they are ready before you set out. Our depot on Tilley Street at the main entrance to Cockhedge Shopping Centre next to Asda is open Monday to Saturday from 8am until 4pm and closed on Sunday. Customers working on properties around Rixton van hire bookings and out towards the villages often collect everything in one trip on the first morning rather than making repeat runs across the week.
Collecting the Van and Getting Started
Bring your photocard licence and a DVLA check code generated on the DVLA website beforehand. There is no deposit required on most of our vehicles, no credit card is needed at the counter, and free secure parking on site means your car can stay here while you are out. Everything we run is within three and a half tonnes gross vehicle weight and driveable on a standard category B car licence. If you would like to know more about us as an independent depot before booking, our about us page explains how we work.
Getting Waste and Old Furniture Out at the End
The end of a decorating project produces a surprising amount that has to leave the house. Old carpet and underlay, a wardrobe that was only ever going to survive one more move, off cuts of skirting, empty tins and bags of dust sheets that are past saving. Paint tins in particular cannot go in a household bin with liquid still in them, and most local sites want them dried out first, which you can do by leaving the lids off in a ventilated space for a few days. Plan the disposal run as a separate leg rather than trying to combine it with anything clean, and do it last so the van is not carrying rubbish while you still have furniture to move back in. Carpet is heavier and bulkier than people expect once it is rolled, so allow for that rather than assuming it will tuck in beside everything else.
Tell us whether you are moving furniture as well as materials and we will make sure the body suits both halves of the day. Call the depot on 01925 396 222 to book your dates.
