That is the useful reference point, and it surprises people in both directions. A garage that looks impassable is often less volume than it seems once the bikes and boxes are broken down, and a basement that looks tidy hides far more behind the shelving.
Garages and basements also hold the heaviest household items: paint tins, tiles left over from a job, offcuts of concrete board, weights, tools and the old washing machine. That is why a 14 yard rather than a 20 is often the right call, with the weight in mind.
Two of those are refusals rather than heavy items. Old paint and any tires stored in the corner have to go elsewhere, which the prohibited items list covers. Everything else, including appliances once drained, is on the accepted list.
Half a 14 ydSingle garage
14 ydTypical bin
7 daysRental
A Weekend Plan
Four steps that get a garage cleared into one bin
Bin comes Friday
On the driveway, boards down, so Saturday starts with it already there.
Sort the refusals
Paint, solvents, tires and propane out first, into a corner, not the bin.
Break it down
Shelving and flat-pack collapse to a third of their volume.
Collection Monday
Or any day that week. Seven days are included and early costs nothing.
The Corner Shelf
The prohibited items in a garage are always the same four
Half-used paint and stain. A can or two of solvent or thinner. Tires from a car sold years ago. A propane tank off a barbecue. Every garage clear-out in the city turns up some combination of those, and none of them can go in the bin.
The reasons are the same everywhere. Landfills refuse tires because they trap gas and take decades to break down. A sealed pressure vessel is a hazard in a compactor. Liquid paint leaks through a load and contaminates the rest of it.
Put them aside first and take them to a household hazardous waste depot. If one reaches the scale in the load it is pulled and billed as a separate disposal, which is the fee people are most annoyed by because it was avoidable. Prohibited items lists the rest, and avoiding extra fees covers the others.
