Aw, home renovations! You’re about to have a beautiful new room, a sturdy new roof, or new floors throughout your home, and it’s gonna’ be great! But first, you have a bunch of wood, metal, scraps, and other home renovation debris that you need to do something with. If you’ve hired a contractor to do the renos for you, hopefully they’ll just take it away with them when they go. But if you’re doing the project yourself, what are you supposed to do with it?
You do have a few options; and when it comes to garbage, most homeowners select the curb at the end of their driveway. This may be the location where all of your weekly household trash goes, but home reno trash is different. There’s most likely a lot more of it, and some of it could even be dangerous to anyone who handles it – including the garbage collectors. You don’t want to do that, so when your home reno trash fills more than two bins, or has all kinds of sharp (or otherwise dangerous) bits and pieces sticking out, you need to find another solution.
The next step for many homeowners is to take it to the city dump. This can be a good solution, and is a responsible one. Remember though, that you’ll still need to pay, most likely depending on the weight of your load, and you’ll still have to find a way to get it there – something else that can be really costly and impractical, if you have a small vehicle.
Usually the easiest solution for homeowners is to simply rent a dumpster and have it sit in their yards for the duration of the project. Just Junk and 1-800-GOT-JUNK are two of the biggest companies that rent dumpsters in Ontario, and they’re fairly affordable too. For a dumpster that would fit an entire household it costs about $500; and Just Junk will actually come, pick it up, and drive it away, too. For smaller sizes you can rent a dumpster or trailer for under $100. The cost can be relatively small depending on the size of your project, and the headache of figuring out what to do with all that stuff.
Keep in mind that if you’re going to be renting a dumpster that will sit in your yard, you need to check with the city to make sure you get any necessary permits. These are required in certain cities, and certain city centres, and if you don’t have them, it could cause you a world of trouble. Neighbours could complain, your dumpster could be removed, and it could even hurt your chances of renting another one in the future.
Whichever you choose it’s important that you have a plan, and that you think your home renovation project through completely. That means not only ensuring that your home renovation financing is in place, and that you’ve studied the blueprints and drawings a thousand times with an eagle eye – but making sure you have a place to put the trash throughout the project, and afterwards too.
