How to Choose the Right Boxes for Your Home Move

A cardboard box is a cardboard box, right?

Wrong. Who would have thought that the Chinese invention of paper back in 100BC could have such an impact, (pun intended), on your house move today……..

But your choice of boxes could make, or break, (literally), moving day. Yes, those cubes, or rectangles, constructed from layers of stiff paper, are vitally important when it comes to moving home.

There are plenty of places where you will find used cardboard boxes available for the packing of your household goods, ready for your home move.

Shops, factories, friends, free ads on the Internet, and in newspapers, are all good sources of used cardboard boxes.

But read on to find out why that may not be such a good idea.

You may also like to read: How Many Boxes Do I Need for Moving Home? In this guide, we find out how many boxes on average you will need for every size of home move and also include a useful packing supplies calculator.

Think Inside the Box About Your Home Moving Boxes Choice

Should you buy new, or re-use cardboard boxes for moving home?  What are the best size boxes for moving home? How heavy should a moving box weigh?

Used boxes, whilst free, may not offer the uniformity of strength, or size, which makes for a good packing solution.

Also bear in mind that cardboard can deteriorate over time if stored, as bedbugs and fleas can eat away at the cardboard.

Obviously, boxes exposed to water will have been damaged, and the integral strength of the box seriously damaged. So, therefore, do not use boxes that have been stored in damp conditions.

The most vulnerable part of a used cardboard box is the seam where the cardboard sheets are glued together. Over time the glue can deteriorate and become a weak point of the box’s construction.

The stronger two, and three-ply boxes, are usually stapled at the joining edges and are not prone to this potential problem.

Preferably, you will purchase brand-new moving boxes.

This will ensure that they are of good quality and are of standard sizes.

The removal company will have based the volume calculation for your move on standard box sizes.

Be aware that using non-standard boxes may mean that all your items do not fit on the removal van come moving day.

There is a reason why there are boxes specifically for home moving, and boxes specifically for cornflakes.

In a world of ideal home moves, and what every professional packer will tell you, is that every box should be brand new, and super sturdy.

But in reality, you will probably use a mixture of new and used boxes, depending upon what you intend to pack into them, and what your budget for packing materials is.

You may also like to read: Alternative Packing Materials for Moving Home. In this guide, we look at the rising popularity of using plastic totes for moving home. We also suggest things that are commonly found around the home that can be used to save money on packing materials.

Moving Boxes Must be 2-ply

The thickness of the cardboard box walls will determine the strength of the box and the protection it offers the contents of that box.

You should ideally use 3-ply, (3 layer) boxes for fragile items, and 2-ply, for items that require less protection.

Bear in mind that the stiffer the cardboard, the better that the boxes will stack in the removal vehicle.

This will mean there will be less likelihood of crush damage when being handled, in transit, or when in storage.

Investing in the best moving boxes you can afford will be money well spent.

You may also like to read: Are Home Packing Services Worth the Cost? Most people will agree that the best value-for-money thing that they paid for during their home move was professional packers. In this guide, we look at what professional packers do, how much on average they cost, and how they will make your home move so much easier.

What Size Moving Boxes are Best?

A search through the Internet will reveal that there is a bewildering number of sizes and types of moving boxes

These, however, are the standard sizes that the British Association of Removers recommends:

Small: 457mm x 330mm x 330mm – for heavy items such as books.

Medium: 457mm x 457mm x 499mm – for the majority of your items.

Large: 445mm x 445mm x 744mm – for cushions, pillows, and duvets.

There are, of course, any number of variations of item-specific boxes: wardrobe boxes (that come complete with hanging rails), TV (with extra protection for the screen), and picture/mirror frame boxes which expand to protect your valuable artwork.

Talk to your removal company, or browse the Internet, if you require these types of boxes, but again, it will come down to your budget, and whether the outlay for such items can be justified.

Also, consider boxes with protective dividers for items such as glasses, crockery, and, essentially, wine bottles.

Whilst this will add to the cost of purchase, it will not outweigh the cost of replacing any broken or damaged items, or the distress of no wine to toast your arrival in your new home!

You may also like to read: How to Label Moving Boxes – An Easy and Foolproof Way. It is essential that you label every box so that you know which room they go into and the order in which to unpack them. This system uses a simple colour code to identify which items to unpack first and which room they should be placed in on moving day.

How Heavy Should Home Moving Boxes Be?

Each box will have a maximum safe weight that they are designed to hold, but as a rule of thumb, 20kg is the maximum any moving box should weigh.

That is safe for the box and safe for your home removal team!

Don’t forget that the quality of your packing tape is important too.

There is no point in having the strongest boxes and using tape that will not adhere properly, which results in your precious cargo being spilled all over the footpath.

Spending some time to ensure you have the correct packaging materials, and essentially the correct boxes, for your home move, will ensure that your items are properly protected.

So now you know the type, sizes, and quantity of boxes you need you should take the time to visit our home moving blog which is packed with useful tips on how to pack every item commonly found inside and outside the home, as well as tips to make your home move cheaper and easier.

Whilst you wait for your moving day to begin, why not learn a bit more about one of the most vital components of making your home move as stress-free as possible?

And, when it is time for your guests at your home-warming party to go, you can soon send them packing (another intended pun!), with your party piece lecture on the origin, and other fascinating facts, about the humble, or not so humble, cardboard box………

Some trivia to stop you from getting board………

1817 to 1895: How the Cardboard Box Came to be………….

• In 1817 Sir Malcolm Thornhill, a British Industrialist, started to produce the first commercial boxes from single sheets of cardboard.
• Then in 1856, Edward Allen and Edward Healy were awarded a patent, when they created corrugated paper in England for the first time.
• Albert Jones, in New York in 1871, was granted a patent for using single-sided corrugated board as a shipping material.
• Just 3 years later in 1874, corrugated cardboard, as we recognise it today, was developed by Oliver Long, who added liner sheets to the corrugated boards. Mass production of these sheets started the same year.
• A fluke by a malfunctioning machine in Brooklyn, in 1890, created the cardboard box. Robert Gair discovered by accident, when a blade creased, rather than cut, the seed bags he produced. He found that by cutting and creasing cardboard you could create a box.
• In 1895 the very first cardboard box was produced in the USA.

And so the iconic cardboard box was born.

You may also like to read: What to Do With Boxes After a Home Move: Practical, Fun, and Useful Ideas. In this guide, we look at where you can sell or give away your used moving boxes, what use they can be around the garden, and things that would be fun for your kids to make from them.

Still eager for more Cardboard box trivia?

• About 70% of the world’s cardboard boxes are recycled
• Cardboard boxes are 100% biodegradable
• A cardboard box is even on display in a toy museum (National Toy Hall of Fame), in the USA.
• The most common cardboard box is known as an RSC (Regular Slotted Container). Identifiable by the fact that the two closing flaps meet, and the other two flaps do not, as you close it.
• From 1983 to 1998 Waterloo Station, London, was the site of the Cardboard City, housing approximately 200 homeless people.
• There is even a Sherlock Holmes mystery called “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box”.
• Since 1938, the Finnish government has issued new mothers with a cardboard box of goodies for their newborn. The box is then lined with a mattress and used as a bed for the baby.
• Coincidentally, Finland has the lowest infant death rate in the world, is that fact related to the child sleeping in a cardboard box?
• France has a museum dedicated to the cardboard box, where you can view hundreds of different-sized and coloured boxes.
• The corrugated centre of cardboard is called the medium.
• Cardboard boxes are rated by an industry standard known as an Edge Crush Test (ECT). This is the amount of weight the cardboard can withstand, before crushing, when stood on its edge.
• Home moving boxes have an ECT of 32 and, therefore can withstand 32 pounds of pressure on the board edges before crushing.
• Boxes are measured internally, based on an open, assembled box, by Length (L) – this is always the longer of the box measurements x Breadth (B) x Height (H).

You may also like to read: How to Make Moving Home Fun. Moving home and fun are rarely used in the same sentence, but in this guide, we suggest ways to make every aspect of your home move more enjoyable.

Good luck with your home move!