Hazardous materials and why
No moving company can legally or safely carry hazardous materials in a shared load. This is not a preference; it is a combination of federal transport rules, insurance conditions and the plain fact that a leak in a closed vehicle endangers the crew and everything else in it.
The category is broader than people expect. Paint and paint thinner, solvents, gasoline and other fuels, propane and other compressed-gas cylinders, charcoal lighter fluid, kerosene, motor oil, pool chemicals, pesticides, fertilizer, ammunition, fireworks, matches, aerosols, acids, bleach and other corrosives, and car batteries.
Most of these can be disposed of through your county or city household hazardous waste programme, usually free and usually at a scheduled drop-off. The programmes and their locations differ across DC, Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Montgomery County and Prince George's County — look up the one for your jurisdiction, and do it a few weeks before the move rather than the night before.
Anything containing fuel
This is the one that surprises people, because the item itself is ordinary.
A lawn mower, a string trimmer, a leaf blower, a chainsaw, a generator, a pressure washer, a motorcycle, a moped, a snow blower or a portable grill with a propane tank all count as hazardous while they hold fuel.
The fix is simple: drain the fuel and run the engine until it stops, then disconnect and remove any battery. Propane tanks come off and travel with you, or get exchanged at the destination rather than carried. Once it is dry and the tank is off, the item is just an item and we can take it.
Do this a day or two before, not on the morning. Draining a mower is a fifteen-minute job that becomes a forty-minute job when a crew is standing in the driveway.
Firearms, ammunition and illegal substances
We do not transport firearms, ammunition or anything unlawful to possess, and no reputable company does.
Firearms travel with their owner. The laws governing possession and transport differ significantly between the District, Virginia and Maryland — and a move within the DMV can cross two of those lines in twenty minutes. If your move crosses a jurisdiction, look up the current requirements for both ends before you travel, or speak to a licensed dealer. We are movers and we are not going to guess on your behalf about something with those consequences.
Ammunition is separately a hazardous material and is excluded on that basis too.
Perishables, open food and unsecured liquids
Frozen and refrigerated food does not travel. Nor does anything open, anything that can leak, and anything that will attract pests over a few hours in a warm vehicle.
Sealed, shelf-stable pantry goods are fine and worth packing properly — boxed and upright, not loose in a bag.
Open bottles, half-used cooking oil, opened condiments and anything in a container that will not stay closed should be emptied and recycled. A bottle of olive oil that tips over inside a box will ruin considerably more than itself.
Plants are a judgement call rather than a prohibition. They rarely survive being packed, they cannot be insured, and they suffer in a hot or cold vehicle. Small ones are best carried in your own car.
High-value items you should carry yourself
These are not banned. They are things that should not be out of your sight, and any honest mover will tell you so.
Cash, jewellery, watches, precious metals. Passports, birth certificates, social security cards, immigration documents, deeds and titles. Prescription medication. Laptops, phones, hard drives and anything holding data you cannot replace. Irreplaceable photographs and family papers. Keys.
Put them in one bag or one box, and keep that in your own vehicle or on your person. Do not label it as valuable.
If you have something genuinely high in value — art, an instrument, a collection — tell us before the day. Some things need a specialist and we will say so rather than take the job.
Items needing approval: pianos, safes, very heavy pieces
Some things we can move, but only if we know in advance, because they change the crew size, the equipment and sometimes the answer.
Upright pianos, gun safes, large aquariums, slate pool tables, commercial appliances, stone or concrete table tops, treadmills and large gym equipment, and anything over roughly 300 pounds.
Tell us what it is, roughly what it weighs, what floor it is on and what the path out looks like. Some of these need four people. Some need a stair-climbing dolly. Some — a grand piano, a very large safe above the ground floor — need a specialist rigger, and we will tell you that plainly instead of turning up and discovering it.
What we will not do is attempt something unsafe because it is already on the estimate. A crew injury is worse than a rescheduled move.
Living things
Pets do not travel in a moving vehicle. There is no climate control in a cargo area, no way to check on them, and no version of this that is safe.
Plan for the animal separately: in your own car, with a friend, or in boarding for the day. Moving day is loud, the doors stand open for hours, and a frightened cat that gets out of a house it is about to leave is a genuinely common and genuinely awful way for a move to go wrong. Shut them in one empty room with a sign on the door, or get them off site entirely.
The same applies to fish. A populated aquarium cannot be moved with water in it, and the tank, the water and the fish all have to travel separately. If you have a large tank, look up how to break it down properly a week ahead — it is more involved than it looks.