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Wesco Hand Trucks: The Best Tool to Have for Moving into Your New Home

Wesco Hand Trucks: The Best Tool to Have for Moving into Your New HomeCongratulations – you have a new home! Everything went well at the closing, and now the house is yours. That’s great news! There’s nothing left to do now except move in.

Moving! If you find that the idea of moving is challenging, and takes away from your enthusiasm about having a new home, relax – you are not alone.

Many things contribute to the stress of moving. One of the activities that people dread is the sheer physical effort of picking up a heavy box, carrying it into the house, returning to the truck for another box – and repeating the process, over and over.

Benefits of a Hand Truck for Helping You Move

Fortunately, there is a way to ease the pain of all that physical labor. At Douglas Equipment, we are experts in material handling equipment. We would like to recommend that before you move into your new home, you purchase a hand truck made by Wesco Industrial Products, Inc. A good hand truck will reduce the amount of lifting you have to do, will eliminate the need to carry boxes by allowing you to roll them instead, and will last for years.

Before we explain why owning your own hand truck is such a great idea, let’s first explain exactly what a hand truck is. Many people not familiar with material handling equipment terms know them as dollies, or mover’s dollies. However, in the industry, a dolly is a four wheeled platform; when it has a handle, it’s known as a cart.

 The Basic Hand Truck

The basic hand truck – in this case, a two-wheeled hand truck – is more versatile. It has two wheels, a tall vertical handle, and a nose plate that rests on the ground. To use it, you slip the nose plate under a stack of boxes (or place boxes on the nose plate), tilt the handle back and balance the load on the two wheels, then roll the boxes to their destination.

If you hire a moving company, watch the movers as they work. You’ll see that the two-wheeled hand truck is the piece of equipment they use the most. A single worker can stack boxes weighing hundreds of pounds on the hand truck, and roll it with ease. Fully stacked hand trucks can even be used to move loads up stairs.

The Need for Hand Trucks

If you rent a cargo van and do the moving yourself, you may have the option of renting a hand truck. We recommend, however, that you take this opportunity to purchase your own hand truck. You’ll find that once the first phase of the move is over, and you’ve returned the van – or the movers, if you hired them, are gone – there are still plenty of boxes around that must be moved. It will be a great convenience to have your own hand truck.

Furthermore, as time goes by, people who have their own hand trucks stored in their garage or basement find many opportunities to use them throughout the year.

A Good Hand Truck for the Homeowner

Hand trucks come in many shapes and sizes. They can be designed for general purpose use, or for specific functions like moving 55 gallon drums or appliances. They can be built to take daily abuse in an industrial environment, or constructed for occasional use by a homeowner.

At Douglas Equipment, we are authorized representatives for Wesco’s full line of hand trucks. There are many we would recommend for the homeowner.

SR Economy Hand Truck

This is a solidly built hand truck that you can use for general purpose material handling tasks. It’s constructed with a 16 gauge steel frame, and weighs 28 pounds. The height is 51 inches, it’s 21.5 inches wide and 19 inches deep, with a nose plate that’s 7.5” x 14”. The load capacity for the SR Economy Hand Truck is 500 pounds.

The correct wheels are important for smooth operations with two wheeled hand trucks. Wheel diameter should be 8 -10 inches, so that the hand truck can easily roll over cracked pavement, gravel or other obstructions. The wheels should also cushion the ride. The SR Economy Hand Truck has wheels that are 10 inches in diameter, offering a smooth ride. You have two options for wheel styles: pneumatic “PE” wheels that are filled with air, and have a valve; and solid rubber “SR” wheels offer a comfortable ride, but without the necessity to maintain the correct air pressure.

Two More Useful Hand Trucks

As we said above, Wesco makes many hand trucks that are great for homeowners. Here are two more that we recommend:

Cobra-Lite Aluminum Hand Truck

These hand trucks are similar in shape and function to the SR Economy Hand Truck, but they feature all aluminum construction. They have great strength, but with the benefit of lighter weight. For additional strength, they employ 2 inch wide cross braces. There are many options available for Cobra-Lite Hand Trucks: you can choose from among many available handles, nose plates, wheels and other features, allowing you to specify a hand truck that will best suit your needs.

Collaps-A-Truck

This steel all-welded construction hand truck can be folded up for portability and convenient storage. It’s ideal for those who would like to own a hand truck, but have limited storage space.

Wesco Hand Truck from Douglas Equipment!

Moving does not have to be stressful! What type of hand truck would be best for you? Our experts at Douglas Equipment will help you choose and configure a Wesco hand truck that will help you in your new home – year after year! Contact our customer service team today at 800-451-0030 or 305-888-3700 for those who live in the South Florida area. You can also reach us online through our contact form.