How to choose your moving boxes in order to minimise damages and stress

Moving soon? It’s quite common for people to collect cardboard boxes of various sizes from supermarkets, including the good old banana box. Boxes tend to account for about 30 to 40% of the load, with the rest made up by furniture. Choosing suitable boxes for a move in Belgium can save you time and spare you some stressful moments.

Solid and modular cardboard boxes

If affected by damp or already used for previous moves, a single-wall box will be inadequate to load onto the mover’s van.

In order to properly protect your possessions, it’s vital to have double-wall corrugated cardboard boxes. This light yet rigid material also has excellent mechanical characteristics, as the corrugations help absorb knocks, protecting the contents from damages even when they are a bit deformed. As a contrast, plastic tubs don’t absorb impacts or vibrations, but instead transmit them to the contents.

Boxes with standard and combinable dimensions

Professional movers in Belgium often see a variety of boxes when moving individuals: photocopy paper boxes, household electrical or hi-fi boxes, and even individual shoe boxes. This has two main disadvantages:

• It’s impossible to efficiently stack such diverse shapes and sizes, which complicates arranging the goods in the moving van
• Small containers are lightweight, but they multiply handling operations, which increases loading and unloading times and, in the end, the final cost of your move.

It’s much more practical to use the cardboard boxes available from your Belgian professional moving firm specialised in bespoke removals, as they have common dimensions that allow them to be arranged as compactly as possible. For example, the length of a standard cardboard box corresponds to that obtained by two small book boxes positioned adjacently. The height of a medium-sized box is equivalent to two standard boxes placed on top of one another. Combining these different containers at perfect angles facilitates loading a rectangular van.

Transport crates and their uses when moving

Each of the packing solutions provided by your mover – a dozen in all – will be suited to different uses. For example:

• Boxes for glass: this type of container has 75 separate spaces spread over three levels. You can use it for your drinking glasses, but also for rolled-up ties, spice jars, Christmas baubles, candle holders, the contents of your medicine cabinet, etc. The three slide-out levels give you an immediate and clear view of the contents and make it easy to arrange them in your new home.
• Boxes for plates and dishes: people often wrap each plate individually with a lot of paper and then place them in a box. This is a mistake, as any impact will be transmitted over a wider surface area, possibly causing them to break. Professional boxes for plates consist of a rack where the items are positioned standing, like in a dishwasher. The point of contact and therefore any impact is considerably reduced. It also saves a huge amount of packing time.
• Boxes for flat linen: these highly practical boxes are 88 cm in length, 55 cm in depth and 20 cm in height, the typical size of a bedroom drawer. A quick numbered inventory of the boxes makes it easy to locate your things, considerably reducing the stress of a move from Belgium by sea, for example.
• Bottle boxes: these containers can accommodate any oblong object, such as wine bottles, pepper mills, bottles of oil and vinegar, candlesticks, etc.
• Boxes for paintings: bubble wrap presents disadvantages for your artwork, as it doesn’t offer sufficient protection for framed glass, while watercolours and oils can become indelibly marked by the pressure of the bubbles. This lack of protection is exacerbated when paintings are resting on the ground, leaning against each other. The pressure on the closest one to the wall of the box is considerable. Your mover can provide boxes with runners where each artwork remains upright and free from any obstacle, while remaining perfectly stable.

Would you like to purchase removal boxes tailored to the size and nature of your personal effects? Then contact Maison Genné.

Request more information on our packing box solutions or get a quote for purchasing transport crates in Belgium. We will supply them ahead of your move and advise you on their optimum use.