How To Pack A Van Properly: The Complete UK Removal Guide

Packing a van the right way is the single biggest factor in a smooth, damage-free move. Get the loading order, weight distribution and tie-down strategy right and a stressful day becomes a calm one. Get it wrong and you’ll be unpacking broken glasses, scratched furniture and a dented headboard. After 15+ years moving thousands of UK homes, here’s exactly how our drivers do it.

1. Before You Load: The Prep That Saves Hours

The biggest mistake we see on jobs is people trying to pack a van before they’ve actually finished packing their boxes. You’ll lose 60-90 minutes of paid driver time and end up cramming items in randomly. Spend the day before sorting everything into one of four groups.

The four-pile system

• Heavy & sturdy — books, tools, kitchenware in boxes, washing machines, fridges.
• Light & bulky — duvets, pillows, soft toys, lampshades, plastic storage of clothes.
• Furniture — sofas, tables, bed frames, chests of drawers, wardrobes.
• Fragile — TVs, mirrors, picture frames, glassware, ceramics, lamps.

Label every box on at least two sides with its room and a one-word content hint (e.g. “Kitchen — Pans”). It costs five minutes and saves an hour at the new place.

Disassemble what you can, in advance

Bed frames, dining tables, IKEA flat-packs, garden furniture — all of it loads (and travels) better in pieces. Bag the screws, tape the bag to the largest part, and you’ll thank yourself later. A half-disassembled wardrobe is the single biggest van-space waster on the average UK move.

2. Essential Kit For Packing A Van

If you’re DIY-ing the move, get these together the night before. If you’re booking a man with a van with us, the driver brings most of them as standard.

• 4–6 removal blankets (also called furniture pads)
• 2–4 ratchet straps (5m, 25mm wide is the UK sweet spot)
• 1 sack truck / hand trolley
• Cardboard or thick plastic for floor protection
• Bubble wrap or packing paper
• Stretch wrap (the clingfilm-on-steroids stuff)
• Strong parcel tape and a tape gun
• Marker pen (Sharpie is best)
• Mattress bag if your mattress isn’t already wrapped
• A torch — vans are darker inside than you think

3. The Correct Loading Order (Step-By-Step)

This is where most DIY moves go wrong. Stuff gets thrown in any old order, then re-stacked twice, and the driver still ends up sitting on the load to shut the doors. Follow this sequence instead.

Phase 1 — The bulkhead (front wall of the load space)

Start with the heaviest, flattest, most stackable items pressed against the bulkhead (the wall behind the driver’s cab). These act as your wall.

• Washing machine, dishwasher, tumble dryer (drum locked or padded)
• Fridge-freezer (defrosted at least 12 hours ahead)
• Sofa-bed or solid wardrobe carcass — stood on its end if tall
• Mattresses — slid in flat against the bulkhead behind the appliances

Phase 2 — The base layer

Once the bulkhead is loaded, build a flat floor across the rest of the van using heavy, sturdy boxes. Books, kitchenware, tools, vinyl records, anything that won’t crush. Aim for a solid platform 50-80cm high.

Phase 3 — Mid layer (furniture)

Now load the furniture: dining tables (legs off, top on its edge against a side wall), bed frames (in pieces, tied together), chests of drawers (drawers wrapped in stretch wrap to keep them shut, then stacked together).

Phase 4 — Top layer (light & bulky)

Fill the top half with bedding, soft toys, pillow boxes, duvets, garden chairs and anything that won’t suffer from being squashed. This is your foam fill — it stops things shifting in transit.

Phase 5 — Fragile zone (rear of load space)

Last on, first off. Boxes marked FRAGILE, mirrors and pictures (wrapped, standing on their long edge), TV in its original box if you still have it. These stay nearest the door so you can unload them first and most gently.

4. Weight Distribution & Why It Matters

A badly weighted van isn’t just uncomfortable to drive — it’s actively dangerous. Too much weight at the back will lift the front wheels under braking. Too much on one side and you’ll feel the van pull on every roundabout.

The 60/40 rule

Roughly 60% of your load weight should sit ahead of (or directly over) the rear axle, and 40% behind it. In practice that means:

• Washing machine, fridge, mattresses → front, against the bulkhead
• Boxes of books, tools → over the rear wheels
• Light bulky stuff (duvets, soft furnishings) → at the rear and on top

5. The Van Tetris Method: Filling Every Cubic Inch

The single biggest difference between an amateur and a professional pack is that pros leave almost no air gaps. Every cubic centimetre is filled with something.

• Inside drawers — put soft items (clothes, towels, bedding). Then wrap the chest of drawers in stretch wrap so the drawers don’t open in transit.
• Inside the washing machine drum — clean towels, cushion covers, kids’ soft toys.
• Inside the fridge — wrapped lampshades, smaller fragile items (the fridge becomes an insulated padded box).
• Inside saucepans — small kitchen utensils, herbs and spices in a sealed bag.
• Above wardrobes — duvets, pillows, plastic storage bins of clothing.
• Between sofa cushions — picture frames wrapped in bubble wrap.

By using your furniture as packing boxes, you’ll typically free up 15-20% more van space and save the cost of half a dozen boxes.

6. Securing The Load: Straps, Knots & Blankets

Most modern Luton vans have anchor rails or D-rings along the floor and sides. Use them. Run a ratchet strap across every metre of load height, tightened until you can’t shift the load by hand.

How to ratchet-strap correctly

1. Feed the free end through the bottom slot of the ratchet, away from the handle.
2. Pull through until it’s snug — don’t ratchet yet.
3. Crank the handle slowly. Stop when the strap is firm and the load just begins to compress.
4. Always release the ratchet gently when unloading — sudden release with weight on it can fire the handle into your face.

Blanket strategy

Furniture pads go between any two pieces of furniture that touch. Corner of a chest-of-drawers against the side of a wardrobe? Blanket between. Sofa arm against a doorframe-shaped table edge? Blanket. The blanket is what stops 100 small road vibrations turning into a deep scratch by the end of the journey.

7. Protecting Fragile Items

Mirrors and framed pictures

Tape a giant X across the glass with masking tape (so if it does break, the shards stay in place rather than scattering). Wrap in bubble wrap, then in a blanket. Always travel on their edge, never flat — a flat mirror with anything dropped on it is finished.

TVs

Original boxes are gold. If you don’t have it, wrap the screen in a clean blanket, tape the blanket securely top-to-bottom, then sandwich the TV between two soft surfaces (e.g. a mattress and a sofa back) so it can’t fall.

Glassware and crockery

Wrap each plate in packing paper, then stack them on their edge (not flat) inside a sturdy box — plates take much less impact damage standing up. Glasses go right way up, packed so tightly they can’t move. Fill the top of the box with crumpled paper before taping.

Plants

Water them lightly two days before (not the day of). Wrap pots in plastic bags to contain soil, and stand them inside a cardboard box so the leaves can breathe but the pot stays upright.

8. Choosing The Right Size Van

Booking the wrong size van is the most expensive mistake people make. A van that’s too small means two trips (so twice the cost). A van that’s too big means more fuel and more hourly rate than you needed.

Rule of thumb: a one-bed flat = a medium van. A two-bed house = a Luton. A three-bed house with garage and shed = a Luton plus one return trip, or a 7.5 tonne.

9. 10 Mistakes That Cost People Money

1. Not defrosting the fridge — meltwater on top of your boxes is grim.
2. Loading the heaviest stuff last — it crushes everything underneath.
3. Carrying loose items by hand — slows you down 5x vs trolleying boxes.
4. Wrapping the TV in a duvet alone — no rigid protection means it cracks.
5. Forgetting the parking permit — getting clamped or moved is an expensive lesson.
6. Booking a Saturday last-minute — premium pricing kicks in.
7. Not measuring the doors — sofa won’t fit out, panic ensues.
8. Mixing dirty and clean items — your bedding shouldn’t sit next to the garden tools.
9. Underestimating the loft — there’s always more in there than you think.
10. No “essentials box” — first night with no kettle, no toothbrush, no charger.

10. Multi-Trip vs One-Trip Strategy

If your old and new homes are within 5 miles of each other, two trips with a medium van often work out cheaper (and easier on your back) than one trip with a Luton. Above 10 miles, one bigger van is almost always the right call. Above 50 miles, one trip is the only sensible call.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related reads: The Complete Moving Day Checklist · 9 Ways To Cut Your Removal Bill