Buying boxes when moving into store

Most self storage companies offer boxes and other packing materials at the storage centre. This can be very daunting when confronted with all the different sizes and products for the first time. Sizes, quality and prices do vary considerably so do shop around. If you buy cheap single walled boxes then you will not be able to stack them as the bottom boxes will collapse.

Use our simple box checker to see how much sqft your box will hold. You can then compare the prices on odd size boxes.

Size Checker for boxes

Width   X Length   X Height   Unit of measure

  0 Ft3

Box Jargon

  • Single Walled Box - Light duty box made by gluing a sheet of fluted corrugated material between two flat sheets of board. Cheap and cheerful but not really suitable for stacking.
  • Double Walled Box - This describes the layers of corrugated card inside the actual walls of the box. A double walled box is much stronger and will protect the items inside from crushing much better. Stronger and will take heavier loads, protecting items from crushing. A double walled box is made from Corrugated material made of three sheets of board interleaved with two sheets of fluted corrugated material.
  • Triple/Tri Walled Box - A very heavy duty high performance grade, corrugated kraft cardboard box used only for very heavy duty shipping.
  • T Chest Box - The good old fashioned removal man dream box. Ideal in size for easy stacking, good capacity and a good all rounder. Measurements should be industry standard 18"e; x 18"e; x 20"e; double walled. An ideal moving box with handy holes.
  • Recycled Cardboard - Most boxes in the UK are made from recycled material and recyclable. According to the UK corrugated packaging industry* "Over 80% of all used corrugated in the UK is recycled and, on average, 75% of every corrugated box in the UK is made up from recycled fibres. That makes it, in the jargon of today, truly sustainable. "
    You can also purchase bio degradable bubblewrap and tape which are much more friendlier on the environment.
  • Sizes - Small, Large, Jumbo, Medium all means absolutely nothing!! You have to check the actual sizes of the boxes. We recently found a Large moving box for sale at £2.99 and this compared to a small book box at £1.99 Looks great however the small book box was actually a larger box than the large moving box. Descriptions can be misleading and what one person says is large another calls small. Use our size checker to above to see the cubic volume a box will hold. This is the best way to compare. All box measurements should be internal.
* Information from 10th May 2011, CPI Corrugated Sector, which represents the UKcorrugated packaging industry.

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