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About this tool
Add up what you plan to store and get the smallest self-storage unit that fits, allowing for sprinkler clearance and access.
This selector sizes a self-storage unit by volume rather than by the floor area operators advertise. It adds the packed cube of your furniture, appliances and cartons, then compares it against each standard footprint — 5x5 through 10x30 — after subtracting the 18 inches of sprinkler clearance that must stay free above a stack and applying an access factor for how often you plan to open the door: about 90% of the stackable cube when packed solid, 75% with a narrow path, and 60% for a working store with a clear walkway. Enter your quoted rate per square foot and it prices every size for comparison.
Open Storage Unit Size Selector on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Enter the values you already know.
Fine-tune the options to match your scenario.
Read the result and use it in your planning or reporting.
Sizes by cubic feet at a real stack height, which is what actually limits what fits.
Choosing regular access shrinks the usable cube, so the recommendation matches how you will really use it.
One rate per square foot prices every unit size, showing what the next size up or down costs.
Usually a 10x10 or a 10x15. A typical 2 BHK inventory — a double bed, two wardrobes, a sofa, a dining set, a fridge, a washing machine, a TV, a bookshelf and about 40 cartons — comes to roughly 450 cu ft, which fits a 10x10 unit's 488 cu ft of usable space with a narrow access path. Add a second bed and a scooter and you are into a 10x15.
To within 18 inches of the sprinkler heads. That clearance is standard in sprinkler design for storage occupancies and operators enforce it, so an 8 ft unit gives about 6.5 ft of stackable height, not 8. Stack heavy items low, light cartons high, and never brace a stack against the sprinkler pipe.
It depends on whether you will open it. Packed wall-to-wall and floor-to-safe-height, a unit reaches about 90% of its stackable cube; leaving a narrow path to the back drops it to around 75%, and a fully walkable working store to about 60%. Since you pay for the whole footprint either way, an aisle you actually need is worth the extra size, and one you do not is money burned every month.
Almost always per square foot of floor area per month, regardless of how high you stack — which is why the tall unit and the disciplined stack are what make it cheap. Ask separately about the minimum term, notice period, access hours, and whether the price quoted excludes goods insurance, which operators usually require and often sell as an add-on.
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