If reliable packaging is the main guarantor of the safety of property during a move, then mistakes in the choice of packaging materials are among the most dangerous. There are so many types of boxes, films, bags and other things on sale now. Everyone who plans to move should figure out in advance in a calm environment what types of packaging are available, what they are suitable for and what features you need to pay close attention to in the selection process.
Carton boxes
The most versatile container ever! Suitable for almost everything: clothes, books, dishes, children’s toys and much more. In addition, boxes will replace sheet cardboard and come in handy to secure fragile appliances, furniture, glass and mirrors.
The main difficulty is to correctly calculate the amount. If you do not ask for help from the manager of a moving company, but deal with the issue of purchasing a package yourself, then feel free to multiply your calculation by 2. Otherwise, it will almost certainly turn out in the middle of the collection that there are desperately not enough boxes. To insure and make sure the calculation is correct, you can use a convenient and free service – an online packaging calculator.
What to look for:
Density of cardboard. Unfortunately, now dubious products made of thin cardboard are often sold under the guise of moving boxes. They will not withstand the load and can fail right during the move. Read the description of the goods in the store, a container made of three-layer corrugated cardboard brand T24 will suit you.
Reliable construction. Often there are reviews from those who are moving that inexpensive boxes from a building supermarket have literally come apart at the seams. When buying, check the joints and gluing of the side walls for strength.
Dimensions. Here the most common mistake is to choose large boxes. This is fundamentally wrong. The optimal weight of the filled container is 10 kg, the maximum is 15. Otherwise, it will be difficult to carry the boxes, and the bottom may not withstand excessive load. Therefore, give preference to boxes of medium and small sizes. By the way, two sizes will be enough, you should not buy boxes of all the configurations presented from the seller. They will be inconvenient to carry and carefully distributed in the back of the car.
Cut-out handles. At first glance, this is convenient. However, this design significantly increases the risk of tearing and crushing the box.
Marking. Something as simple as labeling boxes will make it much easier for you to unpack in your new home. If you manage to find a package with pre-applied fields and icons for marking, consider yourself lucky! Signing such boxes is easy and fast.
Packages and bags
The popularity of this type of packaging is understandable – it is affordable, and you can find it in any hardware or department store. However, this is where the benefits end. They are often too heavy to carry. And because of their irregular shape, it is difficult to compactly arrange them in the back of a truck. And most importantly, the packages are torn, threatening damage to the property packed in them. We advise you to refuse bags when preparing things for the move! The consequences of their use can be much more troublesome and costly than the timely purchase of reliable packaging materials.
Scotch
We do not have to talk about the purpose of this type of packaging material.
Let’s tell you what to pay attention to:
The most important thing is the quality of the adhesive layer. It is impossible to check it in the store when buying. But here there is a simple pattern – the cheaper the sample, the lower its adhesive properties. We have seen adhesive tape that does not hold adhesion even with cardboard, boxes have to be sealed 3-4 times. At the same time, the risk that the container will open still remains. Buy adhesive tape from trusted sellers, brands you know and do not strive for unnecessary savings.
Winding – the number of meters of tape in a roll. Does the purchase seem very profitable? Check, often inexpensive specimens have only 20 to 40 meters in winding. Simple arithmetic: to glue one box (2 layers along the bottom plus fasten the top flaps), depending on its size, you will need about 3-5 meters of adhesive tape. That is, a roll of adhesive tape with a winding of 20 meters is only 4-6 packed boxes.
Air bubble film
You can’t do without it! Bubble wrap will keep your dishes, glassware, porcelain, mirrors, and also useful when packing monitors, TVs and other household appliances. We do not recommend replacing bubble wrap with stretch wrap. It will protect only from dust and moisture, but it will not provide depreciation and protection against mechanical damage.
What to look for:
Density. Here are the indicators that you can focus on – the film must be three-layer with a bubble layer thickness of at least 4 mm. A more “flimsy” bubble will have to be used in 2-3 layers to provide proper protection to your property.
Stretch film
It will protect furniture and other items from getting wet, dirty and “light” mechanical damage like “rubbing” when touching various pieces of furniture in the car body during transportation. It will fix sliding elements – say, drawers at the curbstone.
What to look for:
Density. Our recommended values are 17-20 microns. Thicker foams will cost more, and budget ones may refuse to be too thin and they will have to be used more (additional 2-3 layers). This will not only increase the cost of packaging, but also increase your work time.
Winding – the amount of film in a roll. Always pay attention to this indicator, because in fact you are not buying rolls, but meters of packaging material.
Other
We talked about the main types of packaging materials that are used during the preparation of things for the move. Sometimes, in addition to this “must-have” set, vendors or shops offer a rich selection of less popular options:
Wooden crates – can be heavy.
Plastic containers are convenient, but significantly more expensive than cardboard containers. Will a few dozen plastic boxes come in handy after moving?
Large checkered bags are not much better than plastic bags. When filled, they are heavy, they can keep their shape poorly, you can’t stack them one on top of the other, the handles often come off or the lightning diverges.
Vacuum bags – use with extreme caution! Indeed, they can greatly reduce the volume of transported, but at the same time the weight of things will greatly increase. Remember about the allowable weight – 10-15 kg for one packaged item.
Paper – and the truth can come in handy! It is better to use special paper, such packaging is quite budgetary. But old newspapers and magazines can ruin your things with paint.
Polyfoam bulk filler – good for transporting fragile items of complex shape. For example, it will effectively save the chandelier.
It seems that now you know everything about packaging materials.