100–150 cartons
Boxes for a two-bedroom flat
A two-bedroom flat usually packs into 100–150 standard cartons, and a two-person crew needs roughly 6–10 hours to pack it at 1.5–2 hours per room. This page turns those numbers into a shopping list: which carton sizes to buy, how much tape and wrap to have on hand, and which truck class the finished load fits.
100–150 cartons
Three carton sizes
18–32 kg per box
6–10 crew hours
20 ft class
8–10 m per carton
A two-bedroom flat packs into roughly 100–150 standard cartons before any furniture is wrapped.
The range assumes a normally furnished flat: two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and hallway storage. Sparse homes land near 100; full bookshelves, a stocked kitchen and children's rooms push the count toward 150.
Split the order across the three standard sizes. Small 30 cm cubes take dense goods — books, files, tins — because they reach the 18–32 kg working band long before they look full. Medium 46×46×41 cm cartons carry kitchenware and clothes; large 61×41×41 cm cartons are for light, bulky loads like bedding and lampshades.
Budget tape with the boxes. Sealing one 60×50 cm carton — base, four sides and top — takes 8–10 m of 48 mm tape, so a two-bedroom flat consumes roughly 0.8–1.5 km before a single wardrobe is wrapped.
Flat-wide averages hide the kitchen, so walk the home and add the rooms up.
Divide the total across rooms instead of trusting one number: 100–150 cartons over four to five main rooms works out at roughly 25–35 cartons per furnished room, a figure derived from the standard range. Treat the kitchen as two rooms, because its contents are dense and fragile.
The same walk-through sets the clock. A two-person crew packs at 1.5–2 hours per room including furniture wrapping, so a two-bedroom flat budgets 6–10 crew hours; a one-bedroom runs 4–6 hours and a four-bedroom house 10–14.
A two-bedroom flat's cartons plus wrapped furniture usually fill a 20 ft truck's 28–34 m³.
Four classes cover household moves: a 10 ft truck holds 4–6 m³ (150–200 ft³), a 15 ft holds 20–23 m³ (700–800 ft³), a 20 ft holds 28–34 m³ (1,000–1,200 ft³) and a 26 ft holds 42–48 m³ (1,500–1,700 ft³).
Loads fill 85–95% of the box volume; the remaining 5–15% is headroom, because sofas, beds and wardrobes never tessellate with cartons. Plan against the space, not the floor plan.
The cartons of a two-bedroom flat alone occupy roughly 7–13 m³ (derived from the carton dimensions); once wrapped furniture joins the pile, the load lands in the 20 ft class. Booking the 26 ft to be safe pays for air and lets the load shift.
Every number here is a standard industry estimate; arithmetic combinations are marked as derived.
Pack in a fixed order and the four classic failures never get a chance to happen.
First failure: the blown bottom. A carton sealed only along the centre seam opens under 25 kg of books, so tape the base fully — base, four sides and top.
Second: the overweight carton. Above 30 kg a two-person crew must stop and repack, burning the room's 1.5–2 hour budget. Third: the crushed stack. Piles four or more cartons high deform, so three is the staging ceiling.
Fourth: the anonymous box. An unmarked carton goes to the wrong room and gets opened with a knife; label two sides with room and contents while the tape is still fresh.
| Home size | Standard cartons | Two-mover packing time | Smallest truck that fits | Cargo volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio, about 20 m² | 40–70 | 1.5–2 h per room | 10 ft | 4–6 m³ (150–200 ft³) |
| One-bedroom flat | 60–100 | 4–6 h | 15 ft | 20–23 m³ (700–800 ft³) |
| Two-bedroom flat | 100–150 | 6–10 h | 20 ft | 28–34 m³ (1,000–1,200 ft³) |
| Three-bedroom house | 180–260 | 9–14 h | 26 ft | 42–48 m³ (1,500–1,700 ft³) |
| Four-bedroom house | Count room by room | 10–14 h | 26 ft, filled to 85–95% | 42–48 m³ (1,500–1,700 ft³) |
All figures reflect commonly published industry standards for carton sizes, truck classes and crew workloads; no commercial source is endorsed.