Moving a Garage Workshop - Advice?

[jomiko949]

Other than "Don't do it!" that is.

There's a non-zero chance that we'll move - the first time in 33 years if we do it this year (but probably not this year). My previous "shop" was just some hand tools and a tablesaw. It's quite a different situation now: I've got a 2-car garage stuffed to the gills, plus a bunch of wood storage in the rafters. Big tools like a cabinet saw, 350mm jointer/planer, 540mm bandsaw, 25" dual drum sander, and 3HP cyclone dust collector are pretty straightforward, although I'll need help from strong movers and probably a lift gate truck. I'm not as young/strong as I once was. Packing up my CNC won't be fun, either - maybe I just try to sell it locally.

I guess I'm mostly concerned about all the medium/little things. Stuff in drawers, stuff on shelves, stuff hanging on the walls. While I poo-poo-ed using systainers in a shop, I have to admit that would/will help with moving items in them. I've got router bits in racks (aka long wood blocks with holes drilled in them) that I wouldn't trust on a drive, finishing liquids, etc.

And @jeffinsgf, I'll be sure to remember to take my air cleaner off the rafters, along with the spare ducting and some long board storage up there.

Some specific questions:
• Packing Time - how long should I allocate for packing up the shop to be "truck ready?" This would be mostly just me doing it.
• A "Pod" is an interesting idea, but I've read horror stories about how those get transported - seems like everything inside needs to be braced for very rough handling.
• Maybe I try creating a staging area and as I box/crate things up, place them in the staging area so loading of the truck can be done by many people and fairly quickly.
• One realtor told me I should prepare "a dollar figure" in case the potential house buyer asks about buying the whole shop en masse. He said similar things have happened in his office before. I'd have to pull some of my precious/discontinued hand tools out beforehand, though. That exercise, however, might be something I start today just to have an inventory of everything I've got and be useful for insurance purposes as well.
• Do I have to crate up the big tools? They all have all sorts of ways they can be tied to truck walls. I'm mostly worried about the jointer/planer since the jointer tables stick out so far and removing them would be a huge pain, not to mention reattaching and re-aligning them after, but maybe that's safest?

Any shop moving tales of woe or "it wasn't that bad" appreciated. And, maybe we won't move after all, but...

Moving a shop is a beast. Give yourself 3–4 weeks for the "small stuff", it always takes longer than the big iron. For the jointer/planer, don't pull the tables off; just bolt it to a heavy pallet and build a protective wooden cage over it.

 

[Duckler]

We moved my shop twice now. Once was an in town move that I was able to do in my trailer and van over the course of about a week. Took quite a few trips and it wasn't bad at all. The second time was from Florida to Tennessee. Took 2 full box trucks to get everything moved. Renting a truck with a lift gate was worth the extra money. Most everything was already on wheels already and the stuff that wasn't I put into totes and boxes and then stretch wrapped them all together to make it easy to roll into the truck. Rolling shelves just got wrapped with stretch wrap too. Carts and stretch wrap were worth the investment to me.
I probably spent 2 weeks packing stuff up and getting it ready to roll into the truck. Stuff like dust collection piping is slow to take down and get packed up. I used trash cans on wheels (brute cans) for all my clamps. They hold a bunch of weight and still roll well when full.
All the little things are going to take a lot of time to wrap up too. Packing foam and plastic totes made sure things like turning tools all made it safely.
Keep a separate bag with a drill and a few hand tools to load last into the truck on moving day. You'll need the drill for one last thing and if it's buried in the truck somewhere and you have to dig it out it's frustrating as can be!
Hope this helps, good luck with the move and enjoy setting up a new shop.

The drill is in its own Systainer. Right?

 

[onocoffee]

I hadn't thought about this before but seeing this thread again reminded me of how we did our last shop move.

See if you can connect with a coffee roaster in your area (this goes for anyone anywhere in America). Maybe one of the smaller ones. Ask them if they happen to buy coffee from a coffee importer named Genuine Origin. This company ships smaller quantities of coffee (half export bags) in 65 pound quantities. They do this to make it easier for smaller roasters to order a range of coffees and the 65lb size means they can easily ship FedEx Ground for cheap (vs LTL freight).

The cardboard boxes they package the coffee in are very sturdy and durable, and they come in a uniform size. This means they will hold a good amount of gear at a weight that is easy for movers to handle - and they can be easily stacked on a pallet or in a box truck. Any of these roasters will probably have a few of them (and more arriving on a regular basis) and if you take them, they don't have to get rid of them.

When we get some of those boxes in, I keep a few of them around to toss things I want to donate to Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity.