Full flap or partial flap: choosing a gaylord bottom

What a flap is

The bottom of a gaylord is folded from flaps that extend from the walls. If the flaps are long enough to overlap, you tape or glue them and the base is closed. If they are shorter, they meet in the middle with a gap. The first is a full flap bottom, the second a partial flap bottom.

Choose full flap when

• The load is heavy and dense, like metal parts.
• Pieces are small enough to slip through a gap.
• The box will be lifted by its base with no solid deck under it.
• The box will be moved a long way.

Choose partial flap when

• The load is resin pellets, regrind or produce, where the box will sit on a slip sheet or a solid deck.
• Quick set-up matters, since fewer steps close the base.
• The box will be emptied by tipping, and a clean bottom helps.

What the slip sheet does

A slip sheet is a thin solid-fiber sheet under a partial flap box. It closes the base, protects the board from nail heads on a pallet deck and lets a push-pull attachment move the load without a pallet. See the slip sheet guide.

A third style

The sleeve-and-tray gaylord skips flaps. It has a separate base tray under a corrugated sleeve, so there is nothing to tear. The sleeve-and-tray page covers it.

Say it in the request

The form's bottom style choices are full flap, partial flap, sleeve and tray, mixed and not sure. If you are not sure, say what goes in the box. Heavy parts and small pieces default to full flap; resin and produce default to partial. The octabin page shows how resin shippers usually combine the two choices.

Where it comes up

Plants in Gaston and Cleveland counties ask for full flap on parts. Plants in Rowan, Lincoln and Chester counties ask for partial flap with a slip sheet for regrind. If you have empties of either kind, the grading guide helps you describe the stack.

Telling the bottoms apart at a glance

Turn one box on its side and look at the base. If four flaps meet and close the whole bottom, it is a full flap. If only two long flaps close and the center is open, it is a partial flap. If there is a separate tray, it is a sleeve and tray. Check the flaps for tears where tape or a hand truck has caught them. Put the bottom style in the request on every line, because two boxes of the same footprint can be matched to different buyers by the bottom alone.

Questions from the dock

What is the difference between a full bottom and a partial bottom gaylord?

A full bottom has overlapping flaps and a closed base. A partial bottom has flaps that meet with a gap and needs a slip sheet or deck.

Does a partial flap box hold less?

Not necessarily, but it needs a solid support under it. The wall count and the maker rating set the capacity.

Can I convert a partial flap box to a full flap?

Not reliably. Ask for the bottom you need instead.