What size storage unit do you need? A UK guide from lockers to garages

Choosing a storage unit size is really a balancing act between two costly mistakes: pay for more space than needed and waste money every week, or squeeze belongings into too small a unit and end up unable to reach anything without unpacking half the room. A rough size guide, matched to common household scenarios, makes this much easier to judge.

For a one-bedroom flat's worth of belongings, a 50 sq ft unit is commonly recommended as a starting point — generally enough for a double bed, a washing machine, a sofa, a dining table and other medium furniture, plus up to roughly 200 small boxes. That said, if there's bulkier furniture, awkward-shaped items, or a need to walk in and reach specific boxes regularly rather than leaving everything sealed for months, a 75 sq ft unit is often recommended instead, purely to leave enough of an aisle to access things without a full unpack.

Moving up a size, 75 sq ft is commonly cited as the natural fit for the contents of an average two-bedroom house — comfortably taking larger appliances like washing machines and fridges alongside sofas and bedroom furniture. For a fuller two-bedroom home, or a small three-bedroom property, a 100 to 150 sq ft unit — roughly the footprint of a single garage — is commonly recommended, with capacity cited up to around 300 small boxes alongside the larger furniture pieces.

One scenario worth planning for separately is using storage during a house move, since the right size can depend as much on timing as on volume. If storage is bridging a gap between selling one property and completing on the next, most people are storing the entire contents of a house for a period of weeks, which points toward the larger end of the size guide above rather than trying to economise with a smaller unit and cramming things in. If instead storage is being used to declutter before viewings or to hold a few items while downsizing, a smaller unit sized to just those items — rather than the whole house — is usually more cost-effective, so it's worth being honest about which of these two situations actually applies before booking.

Most facilities offer a size estimator tool or, more usefully, staff who can talk through a rough inventory over the phone and recommend a size — this is generally worth doing before booking rather than guessing, since resizing partway through a rental (moving everything into a bigger or smaller unit) is more hassle than getting it right from the outset. As a general rule of thumb, if there's any doubt between two sizes, sizing up slightly is usually the safer and less stressful choice, particularly if the unit will need to be accessed regularly rather than sealed and left.

Frequently asked questions