Anchors you add are damage
A plywood floor feels like a good place to pin a cleat when a treadmill wants to slide. It is not your floor. A screw, a nail, or a staple you drive in is a hole the return inspection can see. The truck already has wall tracks for straps. Use those. A board you own can lie under a heavy piece and come back out with you, as long as you do not fasten that board to the truck. Do not toenail it at the corners to keep it from shifting. If the piece still moves, lower it and strap it. Drilling is not a loading method. The return inspection will see the hole.
Debris leaves its own fasteners
Construction scraps, pallet wood, and torn carpet tack strips shed nails even when you never touch a drill. Those nails sit in the grain until a tire finds them on the drive back. A broom skips many of them. A magnet on a handle pulls them out of the cracks. Dump the magnet into a can and take that can to the trash or scrap pile the attendant points you to. Do not pocket a handful of screws and forget them in the cab. Walk the tires before you leave the site, and look along both sidewalls. A screw in the tread is easier to deal with in the lot than on the highway.
Sweep the boards, do not rinse them
After the magnet pass, sweep ordinary dry grit into a bag or a dustpan and put it in the disposal bay you just used. That debris does not go in the rental lot, a ditch, or a storm drain. If you see a wet sheen that might be oil, paint, gasoline, or solvent, stop. Do not hose it through the floorboards or into the street. Absorb it, bag the rags the way the hazardous-waste program describes, and tell the rental counter what spilled. A hole from a screw is a separate conversation from a stain. Photograph both while you are still in daylight, and do not guess what either one will cost.
Before you go
- Strap to the wall tracks instead of screwing into the floor.
- Lay a loose board under heavy feet only if it leaves with you.
- Magnet-sweep nails into a can and put that can in the assigned pile.
- Sweep dry grit into the disposal bay, and do not hose a mystery stain.
Driving a cleat into the plywood so a stove cannot slide.
Questions people ask
Can I use a rubber mat I screw down at the corners?
You can bring a mat. You cannot screw it to the floor. A loose mat is also a slip hazard if it curls, so tape it only in a way you can peel up, or skip it. The mat leaves with you or goes in the disposal bay if it is ruined. It does not stay attached to the truck.
The previous renter left nails. What should I do?
Photograph them before you load and tell the rental desk if you are still at pickup. If you find them at the end of your trip, magnet-sweep them into a container and dispose of them at the site that accepts that metal or trash. Do not leave them for your tires.
Search Dumpmapper by ZIP code or city, then call the site before you load the truck. Hours and accepted materials change.