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Racks and Home Depot

2K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  twouptons 
puckschmuck95 said:
Greetings all,

My baby should be here Thursday. As my wait grows increasingly anxious, I was looking around for posts from anyone who's in the middle of home improvements projects. I'm always in the middle of one. As such, I was wondering if anyone with the factory installed rack has transported things like 2x4 wall studs, sheets of plywood or anything similar on top of their rack. I know it's not the best way to get stuff home but when a Mini is all you got, it's all you got. For the big loads, I'd defintely rent something bigger. But for light loads like 2-3 sheets of plywood I would think it's doable..

Anyone, anyone? Bueller?

Thanks and Happy Festivus
I'm in the same boat. We're thinking, though, of getting a hitch and small trailer. The US-spec cars are not officially trailer-rated, but the European cars can tow 1000-1200lbs and are mechanically identical as far as towing is concerned. I think I would be far happier towing a few sticks of lumber and some mulch rather than piling it on the roof. I can also get a hitch, trailer, and wiring for less than $700 (plus installation if I don't want to do it), and I think the roof rack ends up being not much less than that by the time you add a bike rack or storage bin...

And some of those plywood sheets are heavy, so 165lbs (75kg) wouldn't take long to hit. I also don't like the idea of having big sheets of wood sticking over the roof in all directions. We did a glass door on a Saab with a roof rack a few years ago, and that was none-too-stable.

-Eric
 
puckschmuck95 said:
Greetings all,

My baby should be here Thursday. As my wait grows increasingly anxious, I was looking around for posts from anyone who's in the middle of home improvements projects. I'm always in the middle of one. As such, I was wondering if anyone with the factory installed rack has transported things like 2x4 wall studs, sheets of plywood or anything similar on top of their rack. I know it's not the best way to get stuff home but when a Mini is all you got, it's all you got. For the big loads, I'd defintely rent something bigger. But for light loads like 2-3 sheets of plywood I would think it's doable..

Anyone, anyone? Bueller?

Thanks and Happy Festivus
Over the holidays we built a nice new set of bookcases. Since we haven't yet solved the "how to get things from Home Depot in the MINI" problem, we used one of their rental trucks. Even though we bought the lumber elsewhere (Home Depot's 1*12*12' lumber is expensive, and we needed eight...), the truck ended up costing less than $30, and it included gas and mileage. Well worth it for that trip...
-Eric
 
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