Renovation debris removal in Seattle

The prices

Or buy it by volume: quarter truck $241, half $431, three quarters $587, full $732. Minimum visit $95, disposal included.

Why staged removals beat a skip here

On a lot of Seattle jobs there is simply nowhere to put a container.

City lots are narrow and most houses have no driveway to spare, so a skip has to go in the street. On the residential blocks of Capitol Hill, Ballard, Fremont, Wallingford and the Central District, parked cars on both sides already leave one travel lane — and a container in that lane is a genuine problem for neighbors and for refuse collection. Putting one in the roadway also means dealing with the permit and the restricted-parking situation on your block, which takes time you may not have.

The alternative is to have debris taken as it is produced. The strip-out goes on one truck, the framing offcuts on another a week later, the packaging at the end.

Two practical advantages beyond the parking. Nothing sits in the weather absorbing water — and wet drywall and wet carpet are heavier and messier than dry. And the site stays workable, which on a small Seattle lot with no staging area is worth more than it sounds.

Old-house demolition: what actually comes out

Renovating a hundred-year-old Seattle house produces a different debris mix from renovating a newer one, and it is worth planning for.

Lath and plaster, not drywall. Taking a wall out in a 1915 Craftsman produces dense, dusty, heavy rubble plus a huge volume of thin timber lath. It is far more weight than the same wall in a modern house.

Cast iron. A cast iron bathtub is $185 and it is not coming out in one piece up a narrow stair without a plan. Cast iron radiators are $123 each in the houses that still have them.

Layered flooring. Old houses here frequently have carpet over lino over the original fir, sometimes several times over. Carpet removal is $71 a room and flooring bundles are $41.

Original timber. Fir trim, doors and flooring from these houses has genuine salvage value, and there is a real architectural-salvage market in this city. Set it aside before demolition rather than after — an interior door is $41 to dispose of and worth considerably more to somebody restoring a house three streets away.

The ADU conversion job

Seattle builds a great many basement and garage accessory dwellings, and they follow a predictable debris sequence.

1. Clear the space first. A basement or a garage that has been a dumping ground for twenty years is a half truck at $431 or a full one at $732 before any building starts. Do it before the contractor's start date, not during.
2. Demolition. Old framing, panelling, a redundant furnace at $131, sometimes an old oil tank at $461 empty or $847 full of oil.
3. Construction waste in stages — offcuts, drywall, packaging.
4. The finish-out load — cardboard, protection, the last of it, before the space is handed over.

Booking these as separate visits rather than one heroic clearance at the end is what keeps a small site working.

Kitchens and bathrooms

The two most common Seattle renovations, and both have a defined debris shape.

A kitchen strip-out: a full cabinet set rip-out is $293, or individual units at $67 for a base and $48 for an upper. A stone or granite countertop section is $111, a laminate section $56, a sink $61, and a range hood $53. If the appliances go at the same time, a standard fridge is $164 and an electric range $134.

A kitchen rip-out with the old fridge and range on the same load is $293 + $164 + $134 = $591.

A bathroom: a cast iron bathtub $185 or a fiberglass one $90, a detached toilet $64, a bathroom vanity $69, a shower door or glass enclosure $71, a medicine cabinet $41.

A full bathroom strip — cast iron tub, toilet and vanity — is $185 + $64 + $69 = $318.

Access, and why it is inside the price

Debris has to get out of the building, and in Seattle that is usually the hard part rather than an afterthought.

A basement conversion means every bag and every length of timber comes up a narrow stair with a turn at the bottom. A hillside house in Magnolia, Queen Anne or West Seattle means it then goes down a long exterior stair run to the street. And the truck is frequently parked well down the block because there is one lane and nowhere to stop.

None of that is charged for. There is no stair charge, no walk-up fee and no long-carry fee, which is the reason a flat published price can survive contact with a hundred-year-old house on a slope.

What needs flagging before the day

• Anything possibly containing asbestos. Pre-war Seattle houses can have it in old insulation, floor tiles, pipe wrap and some sheet materials. That requires a licensed abatement contractor, not a removal crew. If in doubt, have it tested before demolition starts.
• Paint and solvents. Paint is $30 a one-gallon can and $52 a five-gallon bucket. Say what you have rather than boxing it up.
• Old oil tanks. Common in pre-war houses. $461 empty, $847 full.
• Concrete and masonry. Dense and priced separately at $219 per quarter truck — it does not mix with general debris on the same truck by volume.
• Anything salvageable. Set original doors, trim, fixtures and hardware aside before the demolition, not after.

Frequently asked questions