How to pack a basement for a move

In four passes. Sort first and pack only what you're keeping. Get the things a mover won't load out of the house, which in a basement means paint, gas, propane and chemicals. Pack for the stairs, with heavy things in small loads. Then carry the packed loads upstairs the day before and stack them by the door, so the crew only goes down for the furniture.

Anything flammable, corrosive or under pressure. The national van lines list paint, paint thinner, aerosols, gasoline, propane tanks, pesticides, weed killer, pool chemicals, motor oil, batteries and household cleaners. Federal rules say you can't ship hazardous materials with your household goods without telling your mover. Local crews like Mike Hammer Moving in Lenexa also want the gas drained from mowers and other equipment before loading.

It depends on the paint. Johnson County says latex paint can go in your regular trash once it's completely dry. Leave the lid off, or mix in non-clumping kitty litter, sand or sawdust until it hardens. Oil-based paint, stain and thinner go to the county's household hazardous waste facility at 11231 Mastin Street in Overland Park. It's free for Johnson County residents and works by appointment.

Almost never. Atlas and United both refuse it, and Mike Hammer Moving in Lenexa puts it first on its own list. The Johnson County drop-off only takes the small 1 to 3 pound cylinders used for camping stoves. A standard grill tank is too big for it. It either goes with the grill to whoever takes it, or you move it yourself.

Yes. About 84 percent of one-family houses in the Kansas City metro have a basement under all or part of the house, compared with about 41 percent nationwide. That's our count from the Census Bureau's 2019 American Housing Survey, which is the most recent year the survey sampled Kansas City. Close to two in three have one under the whole house.

Start sorting when you start getting rid of things for the whole move, which our checklist puts at eight weeks out. The basement takes longer than any single room above it because nobody has opened those boxes in years. Book the county drop-off appointment as soon as you know what's going, since the county warns that waits can be long.

If the basement is finished and dry and the move is short, cardboard does the job. Plastic earns its place on a damp floor, when loads stack at the foot of the stairs, and when you're carrying each one up a flight by hand. The EPA says mold can grow on paper wherever there's moisture. Plastic doesn't soak up water, and a handle is easier on stairs than the bottom of a box.

Start the day before. Eat it down, unplug it, and leave the lid open while it defrosts. Whirlpool says defrosting takes about two hours when the frost is light and up to 24 hours when the ice is thick, so a full day covers the worst case. Dry it out before it goes on the truck. GE says to keep it upright in transit, and if it stays upright you can plug it back in as soon as it's in place. If it had to travel on its side, let it stand upright for as long as it was on its side, up to 24 hours, first.