Transporting 12+ Foot Long Molding Baseboards in our Prius
Posted on March 21st 2015 by Arthur in Home ImprovementToday we transported 12 to 13 foot long baseboards from Home Depot to our home. I wasn’t sure if we would be able to do that in our small car, but it actually went very well and I just wanted to show in the pictures below what we used to secure the wood and how we tied everything down in our Prius.
We placed a big box in the back to keep all the wood straight, so it wouldn't be at such a steep downward angle, risking everything to slide out the back. From the dashboard to the box in the back the wood sat very securely.
On the passenger seat I put a couple of big square plastic bags with pillows and comforters that we had, which turned out to be perfect to keep the load steady and not rest them on the dashboard too much. At first I had put a box there too, but it was too rigid and difficult to keep at the right angle. With the box in the back and the soft cushion of pillows in the front the wood did not rest on the passenger seat at all and nothing was damaged.
In the front the boards sat on our dashboard against the front window. I used a couple of towels to protect the window.
We also had a bunch of small shoe moulding that we secured by putting newspaper around it and taping it tight with duct tape. I also wrapped a blanket around everything and tightened it with a rope to protect the wood in case the hatchback would be bouncing up and down, but the back door stayed put and didn't move much at all.
We tied the rope through both loops at the bottom and the ring of the door lock.
We got home safe and neither the wood nor the car were damaged. I am very happy that we were able to transport such a long load in our Prius. The only downside was that the back door alarm was beeping the whole time, but fortunately the ride wasn’t so long.