20 Yard Dumpster Rental in Philadelphia

A Philadelphia rowhome taken down to the brick and joists produces a particular kind of debris: plaster and lath by the ton, horsehair plaster ceilings, radiators, a hundred years of flooring, and kitchens and baths from every decade since the war. All of it leaves through a front door that opens onto the sidewalk, which is where the dumpster sits.

Plaster is the catch. It's heavy, and a 20 yard full of plaster and lath can pass its included tons long before it's full to the rail. That's why the quote asks what's coming out, sets the tonnage for the job, and why a plaster-heavy demo sometimes runs as two hauls with a swap instead of one. The weight ticket from the scale comes back with every haul, so you see exactly what the load weighed.

On most rowhome jobs the dumpster is on the street or the sidewalk, which puts it in the Streets Department's right-of-way. Our Philadelphia Dumpster Permit & License Guide covers the license, the medallion and the right-of-way approval, and we'll tell you which applies to your block when we quote.

Roofing goes in its own dumpster when it can. A clean load of shingles or roofing material is handled differently at the facility from mixed construction debris, and keeping it separate keeps the cost down. A 20 yard is the usual size for a single roof; a flat roof with gravel and several layers is heavier, so tell us what's up there.

Timing is everything on a roof. The dumpster is dropped the day before the crew starts and pulled the day after, so it's out of the way before the next trade arrives and the crew isn't waiting on a truck with shingles piling up on the lawn. Tell us the roofing date and we'll schedule both ends.

A 20 yard sits about the length of a car and a half along the curb. The roll-off truck needs a straight run to back in and clear space overhead to lift the bed and slide the dumpster off, so low wires, big street trees and a parked car in the wrong spot all matter on delivery day.

On a driveway, protect the surface with boards under the rails if it's new or soft asphalt. On the street, the dumpster stays out of the travel lane, clear of fire hydrants, crosswalks and the corner. On a narrow block, we'll ask where the truck can stop and whether a car has to move for the morning.

The 20 yard's rear door swings open so wheelbarrows, dollies and furniture roll in instead of being lifted over the side. Load the heavy, flat things first and keep the load level with the top rail, because a dumpster loaded over the top can't be tarped or hauled until it's leveled.

If the job is one room or the debris is concrete, brick or tile, a 10 yard dumpster is the better fit. If it's a three-story gut rehab, an addition or a commercial fit-out with lots of bulky, light debris, a 30 yard dumpster saves a swap. When it's close, the 20 with a swap on call is usually the cheaper path on a tight block, because a bigger dumpster needs more street.

Send the address, the job and the date, and the quote comes back the same day: the size, the days on site, the tons included, the overage rate and the swap price. Accept and pay on your private job page. The dumpster drops on your date, swaps on one call, and ends with one call. A porta potty for the crew and a storage container for the materials go on the same quote and the same invoice.

Not every 20 yard goes to a contractor. When a family clears out a parent's house in the Northeast, a landlord empties a three-unit building between tenants or a homeowner gets ready to sell, the 20 is usually the right size. It holds the furniture, the carpet, the boxes in the basement and the old appliances without refrigerant, and a week on site is usually enough.

A cleanout is lighter per yard than a renovation, so the 20 tends to fill by volume, not weight. Furniture takes up more room than it looks, so break down what you can, and leave the dumpster's rear door for the big pieces. If it's an estate with things worth keeping, a storage container in the driveway next to the dumpster gives you somewhere to put them while the house is cleared.

The rear door is the 20 yard's best feature: open it, roll the wheelbarrow in, dump it at the far end and work back toward the door. Lay flat material like drywall and plywood on the floor, fill around it with smaller debris and close the door before the load reaches it.

Keep heavy debris low and spread out, and keep the whole load level with the top rail. A dumpster loaded over the top has to be leveled before it can be tarped and hauled, which means a return trip for the truck. If the job is outrunning the dumpster, call for a swap a day early rather than piling it high.

Most rowhomes in the city have flat or low-slope roofs: layers of built-up roofing, modified bitumen, tar and sometimes gravel, often with an older roof underneath the current one. That material is dense, and a two-layer tear-off on a rowhome can be heavier than its size suggests, so tell us how many layers are up there and whether there's gravel.

The twins and singles in the Northeast, Roxborough, Germantown and Mt. Airy usually have pitched shingle roofs, which are lighter per square but bulkier. A full shingle roof on a twin is a classic 20 yard load. Either way, roofing on its own in a dumpster keeps the load clean and the cost down, so keep the gutters, the old satellite dish and the attic junk out of it.