Garage Clean-Out Calgary

Truck or bin for a garage

If the garage is going to be cleared in one push and you want it done today, a truck and two people is the answer. We arrive, you point, it is empty in a few hours, and you have your Saturday back.

If you want to sort as you go — keep this, sell that, decide about the rest — a bin dropped on the driveway is better. You work through it over a week at your own pace and call when it is full. A 10 or 15 yard bin covers most residential garages.

The one case where a bin is clearly right is when the garage also contains construction leftovers: old lumber, drywall offcuts, a stack of shingles from a re-roof. That material is heavy and awkward, and you do not want to be holding it while someone else loads a truck.

What comes out of a typical Calgary garage

Tires are the single most common item and they have their own rules. Alberta runs a tire recycling program, so tires are recyclable, but they cannot go into a general landfill load and they are handled separately. Tell us how many you have.

After that it is broadly predictable: old bikes, a barbecue, patio furniture, scrap lumber, sheets of plywood, garden tools, a broken snowblower or lawnmower, empty planters, boxes of paperwork, sports equipment, and shelving. All of it goes.

Metal is worth separating and we do it as a matter of course. Old bikes, a barbecue frame, the lawnmower deck, steel shelving and a water heater all go to scrap rather than landfill, which reduces the tipping weight and therefore the cost of the job.

The things we cannot take out of a garage

Garages are where household hazardous waste ends up, and this is the part to sort before we arrive. Paint, stain, solvents, thinner, motor oil, antifreeze, gasoline, pesticides, pool chemicals and propane tanks all fall outside what a disposal company can legally haul.

The good news is that Calgary has free household hazardous waste drop-offs for residents at its landfill sites, and propane tanks are taken by most refill exchanges. It is an hour of your time and it costs nothing.

Set that material aside in one corner and tell us it is staying. Everything else, we take.

Getting the pad clean

An empty garage with fifteen years of grit, sawdust and mouse droppings on the floor is not really a finished job, so we sweep the pad out before we leave.

If you are clearing the garage because it is being demolished or rebuilt, say so — that changes the sequence and we would rather bring the right setup once. Garage demolition is something we do, and combining the clear-out with the teardown saves a visit.