What to do when you move out before you can move in

If you have to move out before you can move in, the aim is to pack once and unpack once. Pack into crates rather than boxes, put them straight into storage sealed and stacked, and move them into the new house when it is ready. Done that way the gap costs you storage and nothing else. Done with cardboard, you often pay for it twice.

What happens if you have to move out before you move in?

Everything you own goes somewhere in between, usually a self-storage unit or a container, for anything from a few days to a few months. The move becomes two moves, and the thing that decides how painful it is, is what your belongings are sitting in while they wait.

Is it safe to put cardboard boxes in storage?

Not for long, no. Cardboard sags under its own weight over weeks, it crushes when boxes are stacked on top of it, and it takes on damp in an unheated unit. The boxes at the bottom of a stack are the ones that fail, and they are usually the ones packed first with the heaviest things in them.

Crates are rigid, they have secure lids, and they are built to be stacked. A crate at the bottom of a stack is the same shape in three months as it was on day one.

How much fits in a storage unit?

More, if it is crates, because they stack squarely floor to ceiling without crushing, and a unit you can fill to the roof is a smaller unit than one you dare not stack. Cardboard forces you to leave the top third of a unit empty, and that empty space is rent you are paying for.

Who carries it all in?

We do, if you want. Our crates-to-storage service starts from £395: we deliver the crates, you pack at your own pace, then we collect them full and carry them into your unit or container and stack them. Nothing is unpacked on the way, so the china and the valuables are handled once, not three times.

How long can we keep the crates?

As long as you need them. Standard hire is two weeks, four weeks costs less than two separate two-week hires, and beyond that crates kept in storage are £1 per crate per month. If the wait turns out to be long, you can buy them outright at £12 each.

Is it cheaper to hire the crates or buy them?

Hiring is cheaper up to about a year in storage, and buying is cheaper beyond that. At £1 per crate per month against £12 to buy, the two costs meet at twelve months. If you know the gap is a few weeks or a few months, hire. If it is looking like a year or more, buying frees you from the clock entirely.

What should we do differently when packing for storage?

• Label every crate on the label, not on the crate, and write what is in it rather than which room it came from
• Keep a list. In three months you will not remember which crate the passports are in
• Put the things you will want first nearest the door of the unit
• Do not part-fill crates. A half-empty crate wastes stacking height, which is the thing you are paying for
• Seal anything confidential or valuable with numbered security seals

Which areas do you cover for storage moves?

Sudbury and everywhere within 30 miles, across Suffolk and north Essex, including Ipswich, Colchester and Bury St Edmunds. Delivery and collection are included, and we will carry the crates into your chosen unit wherever it is in that area.