Moving to the Bay Area:

The San Francisco Bay Area is considered far and wide to be one of the great epicenters of arts and culture in the country. Offering everything from historic landmarks to high-tech points of interest, there’s also plenty of natural beauty to be found in its various state parks and ruggedly beautiful coastal areas. Moving to the Bay Area, you’ll discover that there’s so much to see and do that there may not be time for it all.

Moving Advice

As one of the most auto-centric regions in the country, the Bay Area is known for its frequently colossal traffic jams and generally busy roads, even during downtime hours. This may make your initial arrival into town as a new resident something of a challenge. Here are a few tips to help you avert the inherent catches and snags of moving to the Bay Area.

Although you’ll rarely encounter a vacant freeway at any hour of the day or night, the most heavily congested times of day for road travel are the Monday through Friday rush hours of 6 to 9 a.m. and later from 3 to 7 p.m. Try to schedule your move in the early afternoon if you can.

Many freeways throughout the Bay Area have the left-hand lane dedicated to carpoolers during certain posted hours. Carpools are defined as more than one person in the vehicle, including a child in a car seat. Remember that just because you’ve got more than one person in your vehicle, you’re not required to be in the carpool lane. If you don’t plan on passing traffic, keep to the right.

It’s a good idea to get the lay of the land prior to your arrival to account for any especially steep inclines or narrow streets that could impact a moving van’s progress. If you’re moving to downtown San Francisco, for example, you’ll encounter plenty of hilly streets, so plan your move accordingly.

Determine if you need a moving permit. There’s no requirement for you to obtain a moving van permit when moving the Bay Area, but if you’ve ascertained that parking shortages in the immediate vicinity may cause you to have a tough time unloading a moving van, contact the police department or city offices to find out how to get a permit.

Map out student populations. The California state university system has dozens of campuses scattered throughout the San Francisco Bay area, in addition to many private colleges. This could impact your decision about precisely where to put down roots when moving to the Bay Area, especially if you’re not interested in living in a neighborhood with a heavy student population. Some of the cities with the largest student populations include San Francisco, Berkeley, San Jose and Santa Cruz.

Check the weather. The Bay Area has varying climates, depending on your proximity to the coast or how far inland you’re located. Often, temperature changes from one area to another can be significant. To ensure you’re adequately prepared for your move, check weather forecasts in advance here.

Earthquake activity in the San Francisco Bay Area is frequent, but the majority of tremors are so small they’re undetectable. Quakes of moderate size are relatively infrequent, which may come as something of a surprise to newcomers, especially considering that the Bay Area is the location of the infamous San Andreas Fault.

Don’t forget to fill out a change of address form with the United States Post Office before you move to ensure continuity of mail delivery. The best advice is to submit paperwork one week before your move, since processing can take as long as 7-10 business days.

Neighborhoods

The San Francisco Bay Area is a big place, measuring almost 7,000 square miles. It has a total of nine counties to its credit and six distinct sub-regions that are home to its 7.15 million residents. These six sub-regions are comprised of the following recognized areas.

• San Francisco
• The East Bay
• The North Bay
• The South Bay
• The Peninsula
• Santa Cruz/San Benito Counties

Getting Around

Moving to the Bay Area provides you with a bevy of alternatives to vehicle ownership. For those who live and work within San Francisco city limits, it’s entirely possible to rely solely on public transportation and to not own a vehicle. On the other hand, getting around throughout other sections of the Bay Area will likely require one of two things: a car or plenty of additional time, required to make use of the various public transportation options. The links below will provide you with information on all available public transportation programs in the San Francisco Bay Area.

• BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)
• Caltrain
• Amtrak
• ACE (Altamont Commuter Express)
• Muni Metro
• VTA (Valley Transportation Authority)
• Northern California Transit and Rideshare Directory

If you’re moving to the Bay Area and are arriving by air, there are three main points of entry serving commercial airlines both domestically and internationally.

• San Francisco International Airport
• Oakland International Airport
• Mineta San Jose International Airport

The Bay Area is served by an extensive system of highways and freeways that enable trans-bay travel and route traffic to and from all points on the map. The major freeways leading into the Bay Area include:

• US Route 101
• Interstate 80
• Interstate 280
• California State Route 1
• California State Route 35
• Interstate 880
• Interstate 680
• Interstate 580
• State Route 152
• State Route 156
• State Route 29

Relocation Resources

If you’re relocating to the Bay Area to find a better way of life for yourself and your family, you’ve chosen the right place. Overall, the San Francisco Bay area is one of the most affluent areas in the nation, boasting two of the wealthiest counties in the United States: Marin County and Santa Clara County. In Marin County, average per capita income is $91,000. In Santa Clara County, the median household income is $93,000.

Although unemployment in California reflects numbers that are above the national average, jobs in the Bay Area remain plentiful for qualified personnel in a variety of industries. Encouraging numbers, like 2015’s reported Gross Domestic Product of $785 billion for the Bay Area (if compared against other countries, this would mean the Bay Area has the seventeenth highest GDP in the world), continue to illustrate that its job market remains healthy, despite far less desirable conditions throughout the rest of the country.

Media Outlets

Are you moving to the Bay Area? If so, one of the first things you’ll want to do is read up about local news and happenings, while keeping your eye on national and international news. Here’s a list of some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s top newspapers and local TV channels.

San Francisco Chronicle
Published seven days a week, the San Francisco Chronicle is one of California’s longest-running publications. Founded in January of 1865 when Abraham Lincoln was still in office, the Chronicle’s daily average circulation is around 225,000, with its Sunday edition fetching close to 290,000 readers. The Chronicle, which has earned top honors by winning six Pulitzer Prizes throughout its history, is full of local, state, national and international news.

Despite its slightly left-leaning political bend, it’s read far and wide and considered to be the premium news source among residents living in San Francisco, as well as the city’s numerous outlying areas. The newspaper’s sections include news, sports, business, entertainment, and a living section that often caters to the city’s LGBT population.

The San Francisco Examiner
Beating out The Chronicle in age by a full two years, The San Francisco Examiner has been churning out daily news since the Civil War was still raging. Throughout its history, the newspaper has hired a number of writers who later went on to become classic American authors, including Jack London, Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce. In 1965, The Examiner and Chronicle joined forces. These days, The San Francisco Examiner is a free publication that runs six days per week and reaches approximately 200,000 readers with its mix of local news, sports coverage, business and job listings, and local entertainment features.

San Jose Mercury News
Starting out in 1851 as The San Jose Weekly Visitor, today’s San Jose Mercury News reaches an audience almost as wide as San Francisco’s Chronicle and Examiner combined. With close to 530,000 readers during the week and an impressive 602,000 for its Sunday edition, the Mercury is also no stranger to acclaim, having won two Pulitzer Prizes in the 1980s. Considered by most to be a left-leaning publication, it features a healthy mix of national and international news articles, sports, business and entertainment. Local news includes not only the city of San Jose, but also stretches north to neighboring San Francisco and as far south as Santa Cruz.

SF Weekly
The premiere free daily publication catering to San Francisco’s culturally diverse population, SF Weekly is an alternative news publication that focuses on local stories and local arts and entertainment. Its circulation is estimated at between 75,000 and 85,000.

Local TV News Channels
If you’re moving to the Bay Area you can tune into the following local TV stations for full news coverage:

• KGO TV 7 (ABC affiliate)
• KPIX TV 5 (CBS affiliate)
• KTVU TV 2 (Fox affiliate)
• KDTV TV 14 (Univision Spanish language)

Climate

Because of the diversity of geographical regions within the San Francisco Bay Area, it’s impossible to categorize its weather within any single definition. Temperature variations here can be drastic, sometimes as great as 40 degrees from the coast to inland areas in a single day.

• Coastal areas offer the least amount of temperature variation year round, with winters that are mild and wet, and summers that are comparatively cooler than what you’ll find moving further inland. Living on the coast frequently brings fog during the summer months.
• Inland areas that are separated from the Pacific breeze by mountains usually experience the greatest temperature swings, with hot, dry summers and winter nights that can drop to near freezing.

Because of the number of cars on the road at any given time, smog levels in the Bay Area can be heavy, although conditions are not nearly as bad as those you’ll find further down the coast near Los Angeles. The state-run AIRNow website publishes an Air Quality Index (AQI) that offers frequently updated information on air quality.

Schools

If you’re moving to the Bay Area with school-aged children, your first order of business should be to research the quality of learning institutions available. In the state of California, there’s an open enrollment policy that gives you the option of sending your child to any available school—including charter schools—as long as that school in the same district as your home. Below, you will find a listing of the top five elementary, junior and senior high schools in the Bay Area to help you make the wisest scholastic choices for your young.

Top 5 Elementary Schools

1. William Faria Elementary (Cupertino)
2. Nelson S. Dillworth Elementary (San Jose)
3. Mission San Jose Elementary (Fremont)
4. Millikin Elementary (Santa Clara)
5. Herbert Hoover Elementary (Palo Alto)

Top 5 Junior High Schools

1. American Indian Public Charter School II (Oakland)
2. William Hopkins Junior High (Fremont)
3. Redwood Middle (Saratoga)
4. John F. Kennedy Middle (Cupertino)
5. Ardis G. Egan Junior High (Los Altos)

Top 5 High Schools

1. Dr. T.J. Owens Gilroy Early College Academy (Gilroy)
2. Pacific Collegiate Charter (Santa Cruz)
3. Lowell High (San Francisco)
4. Monta Vista High (Cupertino)
5. Palo Alto High (Palo Alto)

Top 5 School Districts

1. Hillsborough School District
2. Las Lomitas School District
3. Los Altos School District
4. Lakeside Joint School District
5. Orinda School District

Government

For helpful information when moving to the Bay Area, visit the following government websites covering a broad range of services from car registration and licensing to tax law considerations.

• The Association of Bay Area Governments is a helpful online resource with links to individual city websites where you can find information on local utilities and trash and recycling services.
• Find vehicle registration and driver’s license information at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
• The California Tax Service Center will answer any tax law questions you may have.
• For recycling information, visit the Bay Area Recycling Outreach Coalition.
• Voter registration for new Bay Area residents is processed through the Secretary of State.
• The California Department of Agriculture has information on rules about the importation of plants, fruits, vegetables, pets, fish, game and livestock.

Mortgage Rates and Fed Announcements:

File this one under “no need to panic,” despite constant warnings of a Fed move impacting mortgage rates.

You can’t blame them (the media) – it makes for a good headline, but much of what is thrown out there usually isn’t true or anything to worry about.

In most cases, it’s fear mongering, or simply something to fill the page. It tends to be a regurgitated article that comes out around the time the Fed meets, which is every six weeks throughout the year (eight times annually).

Whenever a Fed announcement comes along, you’ll start to see an uptick in articles about what mortgage rates will do when the Fed speaks, with the most common one being “rates expected to rise” or something of that nature.

[See the latest mortgage rates from dozens of lenders, updated daily.]

Or you’ll get straight up definitive articles warning you about the impending rate rise and what you should/can do to mitigate the damage. The problem is it’s simply not accurate and these things tend to do more harm than good.

The Fed Doesn’t Announce Mortgage Rates

When the Fed gets together to set the target rate for the Federal Funds Rate, financial markets (stocks, bonds, etc.) pay attention and react. As does the media because it’s generally a big deal. But Janet Yellen and co. don’t sit down and decide which way mortgage rates will go.

Rather, they discuss the state of the broader economy, inflation, monetary policy, and so on. They almost never mention mortgages explicitly, except for at the moment thanks to the remnants of the quantitative easing program known as QE3.

Additionally, there’s no clear correlation between the Federal Funds Rate and mortgages. In other words, one can go up while the other goes down. Or one can do nothing while the other does something. Or they can move in the same direction for a while.

But the spread between the two won’t remain in a certain range over time like mortgage rates and the 10-year bond yield do. You can’t say the 30-year fixed should be X% higher or lower than the Fed Funds Rate at any given time.

As you can see from the St. Louis Fed chart above, the 10-year yield and the 30-year fixed (based on Freddie Mac data) move in relative lockstep. You can see the blue line and red line move in a very similar fashion over the years with a pretty steady spread. Then there’s the green line (Fed Funds Rate), which is all over the place.

BEARDS FOR CHARITY:

You Move Me Vancouver Island is proud to have supported the second ever Beard On/Beard Off organized by local philanthropist and (ex) beard owner Brian Bates!

Throughout December and the beginning of January, Brian and his team of bearded do-gooders raised donations for the Cool Aid Society by asking the people of Victoria, and beyond, to decide whether or not these brave men would continue to don their luscious face scarves, or come out baby-faced.

The event came to a close last night at St. Franks bar on Broad street, which houses a mini Victory Barber Shop in the back. As the night was well underway, even the delicious beer, (provided byDriftwood Brewery), wasn’t enough to calm the nerves of the soon to be beardless bros.

After the count came in, Brian and his team raised over $6000 to help support the important work the Cool Aid Society does for our homeless community in Victoria. The donations (which came out very in favour of Beard Off), will go towards the REES program for resources, education, employment and support which uses a co-operative, recovery-based approach to help reduce the isolation from community, friends and family that is often a result of mental illness and addictions.

You Move Me Vancouver Island was more than happy to lend our support and donate to this amazing, and extremely entertaining event and we look forward to participating again! If you would like to learn more about the Cool Aid Society, and the ways in which you can support their programs please visit their site. Oh, and if you see Brian around town be sure to congratulate him on his newly rediscovered facial features.

How Proper Packing Protects Your Property:

When you pack away your belongings for relocation, it must be done in a particular way so that the contents in the box arrive at the next location unharmed. You can’t just throw miscellaneous items in the box then seal it and expect that everything is safe. Movers are trained to pack properly.

Each individual piece should be wrapped in bubble wrap, foam sheets or newspaper if it stands a chance at breaking during the handling of the box it is in. Dishes should be stacked with foam sheets in between them and smaller boxes should be used for such heavy items. Larger boxes should be used for linens, pillows, winter clothes, and other light weight items.

As you pack, it is suggested that you leave the boxes in the room you packed them in. Each box should be stacked nicely and there should be room left for the movers to get in and out easily. Make sure each box is taped well and sealed. The room that the box is to go in should be written legibly in permanent marker on the sides. If there are fragile items in the box, write “fragile” or “this way up,” if it shouldn’t be flipped over.

In order to avoid all of the packing, you could purchase full service packing. The movers will then come in and pack everything away before the scheduled moving date. They will even bring their own packing supplies and tools. When you get this service, you can avoid packing and spend time doing other things to prepare for the relocation.

Tips on Tipping Movers:

Consumers put a lot of faith in professional movers, which is why good ones are as prized as a competent and fair mechanic. As a customer, you are entrusting all of your possessions, prized and otherwise, to people you may not even have been introduced to before they started taking your stuff and loading it into a truck.

Although movers are considered part of the service trade, there is usually a lot more riding on their job performance than, say, a waitress or someone who cuts your hair. If the waitress drops your rye toast, she can quickly get you a new order and, hey, your hair will grow out.

If a mover, however, does a poor job packing, drops your family heirloom or drags your furniture across the wood floor, there is a lot more at stake. Besides, there are few people in the service industry that work as hard as movers.

Perhaps because consumers rely so much on a mover doing a good job that they don't consider them as a service professional. But they are and proper etiquette requires that they be treated as such. This means it is proper to offer a tip, whether it is cash at the end of the day or you buying the crew lunch or even both.

As with any other service provider, you would base your "tip" on job performance – a bad attitude and indifferent work habits would hardly be considered tip worthy. If, however, you think your crew was attentive, helpful and professional, then give what you believe is fair.

Movers usually don't expect a tip but is appreciated when given. More than anything, it's a sign that you recognized their effort and thought it worthy. You may think you're paying a small fortune to the moving company, but what trickles down to the guys actually lugging your stuff won't have them driving home in a Beamer.

Moving is a stressful life event overloaded with thousands of small details that need attention. One of those is how to treat the crew moving your life's belongings, so here's a quick reference that should keep the guys happy and moving:

• Moving is hard, back-breaking work so it would only be common decency to have cold bottled water, soda or sport drinks on hand.
• Some people prefer to buy the crew lunch in lieu of a tip and this is perfectly fine. Some do both. It's whatever you are comfortable with. If you do offer to buy the crew lunch, make sure to ask if they have a preference as to food choice. Many people think, "Oh, we'll get some pizza," so you can imagine how much pizza these guys might have had that month.
• You will hear varying advice on how much to tip. Percentages don't really work as they do in restaurant work. The difference between a $2,000 full-truck move and a $20,000 full-truck move is likely the distance the moving van travels, not how much time it took to load the vehicle. Basically, if it's a half-day (4 hours) move, $10 per person is considered appropriate. If it's a full-day move (8 hours), then $20 is the consensus. If you have a lot of heavy furniture, narrow or winding stairs, a steep lot, etc., you should consider adding to the amount. If the crew works 12 hours to get your belongings packed, figure $40 as fair.
• A tip about tips from movers themselves: Don't give the lump sum to the foreman or driver. Give each worker their tip. First, it shows that you recognize and appreciate their individual efforts. Second, there are some unscrupulous foremen, who will keep the entire amount for themselves.
• Avoid giving the guys beer at the end of the day. It's a bit stereotypical and most legitimate moving companies have rules against drinking on the job. It also opens liability issues. Make the tip cash and the movers can spend it how they wish.

PACKING 101 CHECKLIST THE BETTER YOU PACK, THE EASIER IT IS TO UNPACK.

Getting started

• Start by packing the things you aren’t using and won’t need until after you move. (Think camping equipment, sporting equipment and out-of-season items). Work backwards from least to most needed so that your everyday necessities won’t need to be packed until moving day.
• Your soft and lightweight goods in drawers need not be removed and packed in boxes; they can be moved as they are. Your movers will wrap dressers with plastic and blankets to keep drawers closed. However, anything breakable, spill-able or that may damage other items should be removed from your drawers prior to moving.

Tips for packing items in boxes

• Group like items together. Pack kitchenware together in one box and label it accordingly. Do not mix fragile collectibles with pots and pans, or otherwise throw together contents haphazardly.

• Wrap items individually with multiple layers of clean packing materials like news wrap, paper towels, tissue paper and/or bubble wrap. Towels, blankets and other soft items may also be used to pad boxes.

• Each box should be packed firmly but not overloaded. You don’t want items to shift. The box lid should close easily without bending inward or being over-packed.

• Each box should be tightly sealed with tape unless it contains any items that are listed on the Mayflower High-Value Inventory Form. Boxes with high value items need to be left open for inspection by the van operator prior to transport.

How to pack a standard box

• Before adding items to your empty box, create a two to three inch layer of padding at the bottom with crushed news wrap.
• Place the heaviest items on the bottom of the box, then build up in layers with medium weight items in the middle and lightest weight items on top.

• Each layer should be filled with crumpled news wrap or other packing materials to eliminate empty spaces.

• You may further define layers by using sheets of cardboard for dividers.

• Everything should be completely covered by paper or other padding.

How to pack small, fragile items in a box

• Small and fragile items should be individually wrapped. The more delicate the item, the more padding required.

• They can then be packed separately in small boxes, either one item per box, or a few together in each box.

• Ensure these boxes are fully cushioned with paper or other packing materials.

• These smaller boxes can then be placed in a larger box, with each small box cushioned by additional news wrap to fill the gaps between boxes.

Organizing and marking boxes

• As you seal each box, list its contents on the side in permanent marker. You can also keep track of your boxes and contents in a notebook. You may also wish to number each box for better tracking.

• Which room should the box be directed to? If you mark each box clearly by room, you can tape signs on each room at your new home, which will help the movers quickly distribute the boxes to their appropriate rooms.

• Which boxes will you want to unpack first at your new home? Indicate these priority boxes with a special mark so they can be set aside when you get there. Your United team should have “Last Load” stickers for you to use.

Packing electrical equipment and items with multiple pieces 

• Group parts and pairs together. Put hardware in plastic bags and tape them securely to the articles with which they belong.

How To Move A Safe By Yourself: Stay Safe!

And if your move has already been scheduled, then you must be already working on the jobs in your personal moving calendar. And if that is the case, have you noticed how some tasks are relatively easy to complete and offer some kind of breathing space for your busy schedule, others will certainly give you a run for your money?

The fact that some items are much harder to pack, transport, and unpack than others cannot be really disputed – how could you possibly compare moving your book collection to deciding to take your antique piano with you? You can’t. And what about transporting huge and heavy furniture pieces? Taking your pool or snooker table with you?

Wait a second – what about moving a big safe to another home? In fact, that safe moving job does sound like a true challenge, doesn’t it?

It certainly does. Ready for some good tips for moving a safe?

What to know before moving a large safe

Before you even decide to do that extra challenging and dangerous job on your own (with a few reliable friends, of course!), you should be aware that there are a bunch of important points to take into consideration first.

Safety above all

Safety should be your primary concern. After all, we’re talking about the best ways to take a huge metal beast of a safe and move it safely to another home altogether. If you own a much smaller portable safe for important documents and cash, then you don’t really have anything to fret over – you just take it with you as if it were a metal packing box. In reality, that’s all it is, isn’t it – a much more secure and heavier metal box where you store really essential and expensive items.

The problem here is not really how to move portable lightweight safes, such as document safes, data safes, and jewelry safes. The real problem you may be facing when moving to another home is how to move a huge safe – your High Security commercial safe that could weigh up to 500 lb, or even more. And when you add extraordinary weight and large dimensions to the world of moving, things can go from easy to hard, and then from safe to dangerous in mere seconds.

Thus said, if you do own a commercial safe that was designed to offer the ultimate protection against theft (burglar-resistance), fire (fire-resistance) and other forces of nature (environmental resistance), then your best bet is to hire professionals to do it for you. Re-assess the whole relocation situation with a clear mind and keep in mind that your monstrous safe is surely no joke to be moved around safely.

The safe moving dilemma





Big. Heavy. Dangerous. Sounds like a safe thing. Or does it?
Although you do realize that the best way to move a large and heavy safe is to hire the services of specialty movers, the thing is that, under specific circumstances, you may be tempted to complete that daring moving task without any professional help. Such circumstances may include:

You only need to move your heavyweight safe to another spot in the same room;
You want to move your High Security safe to another room inside your own home or office;
You have previous experience moving huge safes around, and you know exactly what it takes to get the tough job done with no accidents of any kind;
You have a group of reliable friends whom you know you can trust to help you complete successfully that risky relocation task;
You have the proper safe moving equipment that gives you confidence that things will turn out to be okay in the end;
The price quotes you received to have your huge strongbox moved to its new resting spot are not much to your liking, so you decide to save some money by moving the safe by yourself.
So, if you feel like you’re really up to the task, then you should get familiar with the necessary preparations before you get down to the job at hand. Follow the safe moving checklist below to get ready to move your safe by yourself.

What to do before moving a heavy safe

It’s important to understand that the successful relocation of your personal safe depends primarily on how well you are prepared for the challenge ahead.

You must secure the proper safe moving equipment first if you want to have a fair chance of pulling off that tough task. You’re going to need a wheeled helper – a heavy duty appliance dolly (the “L”-shaped two-wheeler which is also known as a hand truck). Also, you’re going to need a few supporting straps or a considerable length of rope to secure the heavy safe once it’s loaded onto the dolly, as well as a number of thick moving blankets.
Measure up your safe. Before you go ahead and rent the above equipment for moving a safe from a local moving company, make sure you know the dimensions and exact weight of your home or office safe so that the movers know what type of moving dolly to lend you. The specifications of your strongbox should be clearly noted in its documentation. If not, as long as you know the model of your safe, you can always look up that specific data on the Internet.
Confirm, again, that your helpers will show up on the scheduled day and will give you a hand with that super heavy monster of a safe that you own. This is the make-it-or-break-it moment of your bold decision to move a safe by yourself – if you can’t seem to secure at least 4 helpers for your safe moving cause, then you should just give up on the idea and seek professional assistance. Do not attempt to move your heavyweight safe entirely on your own as you’re risking not only costly damage to your property, but serious personal injury as well.

Where’s the heavy-duty moving dolly?
Consider emptying your safe to make it lighter, especially if it happens to be a heavy-duty gun safe. Besides, the unorthodox movements that the valuables inside your safe will be subjected to may pretty much damage them, so you are advised to remove all the items from your safe box before you begin the moving procedure. Once you get those valuables out, be sure to pack them separately and then find the best way to move them safely.

Be careful how you dress up for the occasion. Yes, your clothing and footwear will probably be the least of your concerns, but trust us – they matter. Avoid baggy clothes and long jewelry pieces that may get caught on something and compromise the safety you’ve worked hard to achieve. In fact, what you wear, regardless of whether you’re moving your safe to a new home or moving it to a new place around your current home, should offer maximum comfort and utmost protection for your body. Choose the most comfortable pair of closed shoes you have and double check to see if their soles are provide the excellent traction you need. Moreover, do not begin the safe relocation procedure before you have a high quality pair of work gloves on your hands for a better grip and even better protection for your fingers.
Before you begin the safe moving operation, you need to be perfectly clear on what you want to do and how you will do it. In other words, work out your relocation strategy to the smallest detail. Walk the intended path beforehand and make sure there are no obstacles of any kind that can make things riskier than they already are. Identify any dangerous zones and make them safe. Plan each safe moving step in your head and don’t keep that exit strategy to yourself – share it with your friends so that all of you are on the same page. If the escape route includes tight corners, narrow corridors or flight of stairs, then re-evaluate the whole situation and don’t hesitate to seek professional assistance if the risks appear to be too high.
Take precautions to keep your home damage-free while wheeling your huge safe around. Place protective coverings along the exit route (film protectors, old carpets or blankets, or simply large pieces of cardboard). Also, tape think moving blankets along tight corners, staircase banisters, wall frames or any other places which you think might get into contact with the big safe during transportation.
If you’re moving a safe to a new home, you’re going to need a moving van for its actual transportation. A borrowed pick-up truck or a rental moving vehicle should do just fine – only make sure that that vehicle is equipped with a loading platform to make things easier and safer for everyone.
How to move a safe by yourself


Gun safes are especially tricky to move for obvious reasons.
Now, the moment you’re done with the preparation stage, it’s time to get down to the serious business of moving a safe with a dolly. This is the right time to forget about all kinds of unusual and plain dangerous ways of transporting a large and heavy safe, like moving a safe with golf balls, skateboards or metal pipes. For best results, stick to arguably the greatest invention in human history – the wheel.

So, how to move a safe with a dolly? Follow these tips for moving a safe to keep things safe!

Close the door of your safe and lock it in place. Remember that its accidental opening during transport could do plenty of damage, including to itself;
Wrap your safe completely with moving blankets until no metal part is visible, and then tape the protective covers in place with packing tape, straps or rope;
Slowly, tilt the safe with the help of your friends and slide the heavy-duty dolly underneath the bottom of the stronghold. Do this particular task with great caution;
Wrap the entire body of the safe with straps or rope and then fasten it tightly to the dolly. This is probably the most important step when moving a safe – the heavy and bulky metal structure must remained firmly attached to the moving dolly at all times;
The moment your safe is perfectly secured to the dolly with straps or rope, use all the manpower you’ve got to tilt back the two-wheeler so that the entire weight of the valuables keeper rests balanced onto the rubber wheels of the L-shaped first class lever;
Have at least 3 of your friends support the safe onto the moving dolly while you’re already making your way out of the house or you’re heading towards the pre-selected spot inside your current home;
Your helpers should keep the strapped up safe steady at all times just to make sure things are running as smoothly as possible. If possible, assign a person to walk a few meters before you and warn you of potential trouble along the way;
No one should be allowed to make any sudden or unexpected movements as they might confuse the rest of the helpers, or even throw them off balance. Sharp turns or bumps along the way could actually cause the safe to fall off the dolly, so avoid them as best as you can;
Moving a safe downstairs or upstairs is a risky business and if you’re not sure how to do it, then don’t do it at all. The main idea is to down or up one little step at a time while the safe is being supported by as many persons as possible;

Choose the safeR way to move your safe safely.
When you’ve made it safely to the awaiting moving vehicle, use the loading ramp to wheel up the loaded moving dolly or even better – use a motor-driven ramp to go up to the storage space;

Once inside, get the strapped safe against one of the vehicle sides and strap it securely to survive the bumps of the road ahead. Use as many straps and ropes as you deem necessary to achieve complete immobilization until the new home is reached;
The above steps for moving a safe should be repeated in reversed order the moment you get to your new residence.
IMPORTANT: Safety is your top priority when moving a safe to a new location. Do not risk your health or that of another person if you’re not 100% sure that you’re up to the challenge. When in doubt, do the sensible thing and turn to experienced professionals who know what it takes to move a large and heavy safe.