If you’ve searched for “what size storage unit do I need”, it’s worth knowing upfront that F Smith & Son doesn’t use walk-in storage units. Our Croydon warehouse works on a container system: your belongings go into individual 250 cubic feet wooden containers, and you’re charged for however many containers your move actually needs. So the real question isn’t “what size unit”, it’s “how many containers”. This guide walks through that, room by room.
How Container Storage Works at F Smith & Son
Each container holds 250 cubic feet. That’s roughly enough for a single room’s worth of furniture and boxes, though it depends heavily on what’s going in. Here’s the process:
- Your belongings are packed into containers at your property, then handled once into the container and once again out of it at the other end. That’s the whole point of the system: fewer handling stages than loose storage means less risk of damage.
- Containers are forklifted onto and off the removal vehicle rather than carried piece by piece.
- Everything is protected with blankets while in the container.
- We maintain continual liability for your goods from collection right through to delivery into our store.
- Containers are kept in our secure warehouse at Unit 5-6 Mill Lane Trading Estate, Croydon CR0 4AA.
If you have something that genuinely doesn’t suit the container format, loose storage is available on request. Ask us about this when you get in touch.
Roughly How Many Containers Per Property
Each container holds 250 cubic feet. Using typical UK household volumes as a starting point, here’s roughly what that means in containers:
| Property | Typical volume | Approx. containers |
|---|---|---|
| 1-bedroom flat | 250-500 cubic feet | 1-2 |
| 2-bedroom house or flat | 500-700 cubic feet | 2-3 |
| 3-bedroom house | 750-1,000 cubic feet | 3-4 |
| 4-bedroom house | 1,000-1,500 cubic feet | 4-6 |
These figures are general UK household volume benchmarks, not a quote, and they assume an average household. If you keep possessions to a minimum, you’ll likely need fewer containers than the ranges above. If you’ve been in the same property for years and things have built up, expect to need more. Containers rarely pack to their full 250 cubic feet in practice, since furniture is an awkward shape and leaves gaps a stack of boxes wouldn’t, so treat the higher end of each range as the safer assumption. As a general guide, the more separate rooms of furniture you have, the more containers you’ll need, and a single bulky item like a wardrobe or sofa can take up proportionally more space than several boxes. Two households with the same number of bedrooms can still need a different number of containers depending on how much furniture, rather than boxed items, they’re storing. And if you do underestimate, it isn’t a problem: containers can be added to your storage after the fact, so it’s fine to start with a conservative number and adjust once you see how everything fits.
What Changes the Count
A few things push the number of containers up or down:
- Furniture versus boxes. Boxes stack efficiently. Large, awkward furniture doesn’t, so it uses more container space relative to its actual size.
- Flat-pack or dismantled items. A wardrobe or bed frame taken apart before storage takes up noticeably less room than one left assembled.
- Garden, shed or garage contents. These are easy to forget when estimating, but they add to the total.
- What’s staying, what’s going. If you’re planning to sell, donate or dispose of some items rather than store everything, your count drops accordingly. It’s worth deciding this before you get a container estimate, not after.
Getting an Accurate Count: Book a Free Video Survey
Room-by-room guides are useful for planning, but they can’t replace an actual look at what you own. F Smith & Son offers a free video survey where one of our team walks through your property with you over a video call and works out exactly how many containers your move will need. It takes a fraction of the time of an in-person survey and gives you a proper number to plan around, not an estimate.
Book a video survey, or get in touch to talk it through first.
Packing for Storage
How you pack affects your container count almost as much as what you own. Loose, unpacked items waste space; well-packed boxes don’t. We offer a full or part packing service if you’d rather we handle it, or you can do it yourself using our packing tips. If you’re storing furniture specifically, our guide on properly storing furniture covers what to check before it goes into a container.
FAQs
Can I store items that don’t fit the standard container system?
Yes. Loose storage is available on request for items that don’t suit the container format. Mention this when you contact us so we can plan for it.
Can I add more containers partway through my storage period if I underestimated?
Yes. If you need more space once your items are in storage, we can add containers to your existing storage. Get in touch and we’ll sort out the extra space.