sirplug

Right, I'm busy cleaning all the outdoor stuff. Now I know that anything 'alive' has to be removed, grass, soil, seeds, etc but what about rust?

I'm cleaning, sanding and painting the garden tools and the BBQ and patio heater but I have a garage full of tools for work and some of these are quite rusty. They can't really be painted, just sanded, wire brushed, etc and left.

Are MAF fussy about rust??

Numptyhead

Hi

We were told by our removals that rust was okay as long as it was clean. What you are doing is the right things. Its the dirt, biodegradable stuff that they hate.

It feels like a never ending task, but you will get there x

NakiMan

I'm sure that rust is OK but be carefull of stuff like circular saws and other power tools. They need to be clean and all sawdust removed

lardyl

I had the same problem with tools used in the wet/dirt all their lives - I found that brushing/sanding off, applying cure-rust (and if appropriate Jayes Fluid) was good. The cure-rust helped to preserve them in the hot/humid container when they were being transported as well.
Now we are here I have bought a big bottle of cure-rust as the environment here is conducive to rapid rusting of tools.
You can also get lots of mould on stuff stored in the many unventilated spaces around the home. The nature of NZ housing and climate I suppose

alchris

Of the 3 shipping companies we had around they all told us something different! Hubby has loads of tools one said they werent worth taking as it would cost us too much the other end,but it was up to us, another said they would probably be ok if we cleaned them up and one said no rust! Like hubby said it's not like its contagious! Bless him since weve moved and he now has a big double garage he has been power washing and painting everything in sight. Like he said ''there's alot of money in all the tools and bit's n bobs he had in his shed'' he's happy so why spoil his fun

TeamEmbo

We brought all tools and garden stuff over. Like SirPlug is doing now, we spent a few weekends doing nothing but scrubbing, disinfecting, sanding and painting Hammerite (sp) over rust. OH's former trade plumber so heaps of stuff to clean plus all power tools etc. Don't forget to clean toolboxes/chest and power tool cases as well!

IMO its worth doing as they're not cheap items to replace and MAF inspected 55 boxes which included ALL the boxes marked as tools (probably 48 boxes were tools).