Garage Essentials and clean out.

[Reverend_Jack]

I recently got my first place and its amazing to have my own garage.
The house was built around '43 so it needed some work anyway add to that the folks who lived here before me were addicts that used the garage as their own personal trash dump.
So I'm just now getting the house to comfortably livable and starting on the garage. It's wild how much potential the place has.

So as I'm digging through the piles of WEIRD that are in the garage I'm finding a few little bits and pieces that are amazing.
The original wood work bench that seems just as solid as it was when it first got built. A floor to ceiling glass doored cabinet about 4 feet wide full of old mason jars full of assorted stuff. And tons and tons of garbage.

So here's my questions. Do any of you from up in this corner of the world (Puget sound area of Washington) know of a cheaper way than the dump to get rid of all this trash? I'm planning on a dump run soon but that's a few hundred bucks I'd rather spend on getting the garage set up how I want it.

The other question is what do you consider essential for your garage?
I've been working on classic cars for a long time now so I've got things like my tool kits and such. But I've never owned my own garage.
I've been looking into parts washers and bench grinders and an air compressor but realistically I've got a pretty limited amount of space in an old one car space.

Alright. Rant over, lets see what ya'll think.

 

[rickairmedic]

JAck I think we need to know where " this corner of the world " is to be of much help on cleanout. I rented a dumpster when I moved into my house as it had been a rental and I got it as is .


Rick

 

[cowboyjosh]

Waste managemnt bagster available at Home Depot. Might also think about the got Junk outfits.

 

[bgott]

Do you have access to a dumpster at work? Dump one or two boxes of **** a week, the pile will disappear in no time.

 

[bczygan]

What is your normal trash pickup? You might be able to get rid of everything bit by bit through that. Here in Detroit we have black plastic 2 wheeled dumpsters that are like large trash cans with lids. Called Courville containers. We are supposed to just put kitchen and household waste in them and it's supposed to be in plastic trash bags. Paper bags are put out separately with yard waste. Fridays they have sorted recyclable bin pickup. Quarterly they have big pickup for brush, appliances and TV's etc, not to exceed 1CY. No construction debris allowed. You can also take big pickup items to their yards anytime. In the old days it was anything you could drag out to the curb each week and whole house remodels would appear every week. Got to be too much for the DPW.
Now, how it really works is this. Whatever you can fit in a Courville will get picked up weekly if it's not too heavy for the trucks hydraulics. If you collect some extra dumpsters from abandoned houses you can put out more (As I have). If you live near a corner you can put dumpsters out around the corner and across the street. Some weeks I can get 6 dumpsters out. I've gotten rid of shingles, broken concrete, wood of every kind including trees (Broken down to fit) and anything else that will fit. We do have one steadfast rule here in Detroit. Bodies cannot be disposed of whole.....they must be dismembered.

I just looked at your city setup and you have a can service. They have drastically increased the cost for commercial and residential service. Fill your cans completely. Compact materials as much as possible. Sort items and put resellable items in donation boxes for charity organizations. Burn what you can in a fireplace. See if you can mulch part of it (Shred paper). See if neighbors will let you top off their cans on trash day. As said above, take it to work. Ask commercial businesses if you can throw some in theirs (This works best on pickup day when they have thrown out all they intend to). I once filled a big dumpster with concrete block at an auto parts store this way.

 

[december45]

I know this is out there, however, I have many times taken stuff that was "marginal" ****, stuff I was going to take to the dump, and put it out in front of the house with "FREE" on it, you would be suprised to see what goes and how fast it goes, the last time I put a sh*tpot full of stuff on the curb, and left it for a weekend, about 80% disappeared and the rest I put in a black plastic bag with trash for the trash guys... it was all gone the next morning before the trash guys even got to our house. Amazing how free stuff goes.

 

[bczygan]

I know this is out there, however, I have many times taken stuff that was "marginal" ****, stuff I was going to take to the dump, and put it out in front of the house with "FREE" on it, you would be suprised to see what goes and how fast it goes, the last time I put a sh*tpot full of stuff on the curb, and left it for a weekend, about 80% disappeared and the rest I put in a black back with trash for the trash guys... it was all gone the next morning. Amazing how free stuff goes.

Here in Detroit it works even better to put a price on things and don't lock them down. They disappear even faster! (True story, I put some kids bikes out that way)

 

[jktruck150]

Can you burn it? Plastics are not the best to burn, and you have to be outside city limits, but papers, magazines, wood, cardboard, etc can be burned. Cheapest trash removal I know of. If you use a burn barrel (old 55 gal drum), it will just incinerate just about anthing non-metal you put in there. Post some pics of the trash, you never know what is useful!

 

[timewarp]

You are close to the Tide flats in Tacome, here's the website of the place I drive all the way from Silverdale to get rid of my scrap metal, they pay better than any other place I've found and they are very professional, a lot of scrap places are very dirty. They have pretty good information on their website about what they will take, the money you get for the aluminum, copper, whatever else you have will probably pay for the rest of the stuff at the dump.

http://www.calbag.com/

 

[thrifty bill]

Anything with any potential value, post a curb alert on C/L. I have put a variety of stuff on the curb with a free sign, most does not last more than one hour.

+1 Try to get some $$ for decent scrap materials, copper is close to an all time high, whatever. That should offset the dump charges.

+Anything with good value, consider selling via Craigs List. I had a friend remodeling his kitchen. He put his entire existing kitchen (cabinets and appliances) for sale on Craigs List. Sold it for decent $$. I would not waste my time with $10/$20 items on Craigs List, but more valuable stuff I would. Also consider a garage sale. Post it as a cleaning out a 70 year accumulation (estate sale), will get interest!

+1 Manage your garbage on the curb. We typically have about a quarter of a garbage can (we recycle everything else). This leaves room to ease various trash into the can.

+ Check with locals on someone that hauls to the dump. I have a local guy around here that is $75 plus the dump charge, cheaper than renting a dumpster, and if I have less than a load (and am patient), he splits the charges among multiple customers. I have my garage full right now of various demolition debris, that he is going to haul off.


As far as setting up a garage, my priorities start as follows:

1. Adequate electrical outlets and lighting. Without adequate electrical or lighting, it is hard to work on anything. Consider a small subpanel, Lowes sells them for around $25, can handle all of your garage circuits through there.

2. Work bench with a good vise.

3. Air compressor.

4. Decent home made shelving.

Everything else can be added later.

 

[Catalyze]

Somehow, I really like bczygan's posts. I can visualize most of his ideas easily. Here in my town, it goes like this:
1. Since we use dumpsters in alleys.....drive down an alley Not in your hood and fill them up....that way you can still smile at your neighbors
2. Anything that can fit in a dumpster is fair game....in the summer at least half a dozen times a trash truck blows a hydraulic line trying to pick up concrete.....and at least once a summer the fire department will come and put out a shingle fire in a dumpster
3. Minor housewares.....sinks....toilets....bathtubs.....you take them down to the Softball Complex and use their dumpsters (and they are bigger than a normal dumpster)....It's on the way to the dump so if you get caught...you just load it up and head on out there anyway....plus the City picks up those dumpsters every other day.
4. Really large items like refrigerators....furniture that is too big for the Softball Complex....you take to the Goodwill Center when it's closed...the loading area is around back in a shopping mall so you just kick it off the trailer bed or truck tailgate ....if anyone sees you back there they just assume you will realize that Goodwill is closed and head back home....once it's dumped "what refrigerator? "
5. Bonus Tip!!! If you catch someone driving down your alley....just act like you are writing down their plate number.....they will head on down to the Softball Complex.
Craig (dreaming of living in Detroit)

 

[dladcock]

Be good to your trash men. Couple of times a year I turn them on to cigarettes, cold water or hot coffee. They never forget and will always look after me. Sometimes if it's really hot and late in the day I'll "throw" away a cold six-pack on top of the can. I can set out engine blocks now.

 

[rwhite692]

Somehow, I really like bczygan's posts. I can visualize most of his ideas easily. Here in my town, it goes like this:
1. Since we use dumpsters in alleys.....drive down an alley Not in your hood and fill them up....that way you can still smile at your neighbors
2. Anything that can fit in a dumpster is fair game....in the summer at least half a dozen times a trash truck blows a hydraulic line trying to pick up concrete.....and at least once a summer the fire department will come and put out a shingle fire in a dumpster
3. Minor housewares.....sinks....toilets....bathtubs.....you take them down to the Softball Complex and use their dumpsters (and they are bigger than a normal dumpster)....It's on the way to the dump so if you get caught...you just load it up and head on out there anyway....plus the City picks up those dumpsters every other day.
4. Really large items like refrigerators....furniture that is too big for the Softball Complex....you take to the Goodwill Center when it's closed...the loading area is around back in a shopping mall so you just kick it off the trailer bed or truck tailgate ....if anyone sees you back there they just assume you will realize that Goodwill is closed and head back home....once it's dumped "what refrigerator? "
5. Bonus Tip!!! If you catch someone driving down your alley....just act like you are writing down their plate number.....they will head on down to the Softball Complex.
Craig (dreaming of living in Detroit)

That's all really nice, especially the part about burdening the Goodwill people, with your trash.

Classy.

 

[jmauld]

Take everything that you consider to be trash, and set it on the curb. Take a picture of it, and post it in the "free" section of Craigslist with the name of your street. It will all disappear very quickly.

 

[Todd1803]

In Puyallup, Murrey's / DM Disposal should be your trash handler, and I know I've seen them doing residential dumpster service. Not sure what it costs, but they drop it off, you fill it up, and call them when you want it picked back up. Getting rid of stuff through the regular trash pickup can be tough because you're not allowed anything larger than a 32 gallon can weighing 45 lbs. When I moved to Bonney Lake recently, I dealt with them a couple times getting my service set up, and they were very helpful. Give them a call and check out your options.
http://www.murreysdisposal.com/

Good luck on your clean out, and congrats on the new home!!

 

[Buxfan]

Somehow, I really like bczygan's posts. I can visualize most of his ideas easily. Here in my town, it goes like this:
1. Since we use dumpsters in alleys.....drive down an alley Not in your hood and fill them up....that way you can still smile at your neighbors
2. Anything that can fit in a dumpster is fair game....in the summer at least half a dozen times a trash truck blows a hydraulic line trying to pick up concrete.....and at least once a summer the fire department will come and put out a shingle fire in a dumpster
3. Minor housewares.....sinks....toilets....bathtubs.....you take them down to the Softball Complex and use their dumpsters (and they are bigger than a normal dumpster)....It's on the way to the dump so if you get caught...you just load it up and head on out there anyway....plus the City picks up those dumpsters every other day.
4. Really large items like refrigerators....furniture that is too big for the Softball Complex....you take to the Goodwill Center when it's closed...the loading area is around back in a shopping mall so you just kick it off the trailer bed or truck tailgate ....if anyone sees you back there they just assume you will realize that Goodwill is closed and head back home....once it's dumped "what refrigerator? "
5. Bonus Tip!!! If you catch someone driving down your alley....just act like you are writing down their plate number.....they will head on down to the Softball Complex.
Craig (dreaming of living in Detroit)

Wow. I didn't know people made an effort to be a douche bag.

No wonder Detroit is such a nice place to live these days.

 

[Catalyze]

LOL.....not me. These are just my observations being a letter carrier in this town for 24 years. I see folks doing things that make me just shake my head.
Craig (really....I'm a nice guy)

 

[Bookworm]

I had a rental maybe 20 years ago, the tenants moved out and I was cleaning up the mess (don't even get me started on that subject...). I dragged an old fridge out of the garage and put it on the curb. It was a warm day, I decided to walk down to the corner to get a cold one, a half block away at the quikstop. I was gone no longer than 15 minutes, when I got back the fridge was gone.
I wish them folks had backed up to the house when I was there, it would have saved me dragging it out to the curb. And perhaps they would have found more **** in that house they wanted.

 

[KEH]

Around here, paper, glass, and plasric can be recycled. County has dumpsters in rural areas. Metal can be recycled or sold for scrap. If you have curbside pickup put what you consider garbage in plastic bags and gradually get rid of it at the curb. If you are is a rural area you may can burn some stuff. Do it on a rainy day so the fire won't spread. If you have a wood burning stove or fireplace get rid of stugg that way. CAUTION. Don't have a big blazing fire or it may catch the soot in the chimney on fire, which may catch the house on fire.

KEH

 

[GarageEnvy]

Two suggestions, Craigslist and dumpster (your own)
I did my garage the craigslist way and I did sell my old garage door and the guy took the whole front wall (header, studs, siding and all). People came and gathered up broken and split studs like they were made out of gold. The pros: it saved a lot of stuff from going to the dump, saved other people a ton of money and saved me some money getting rid of it. The cons: people just want to come and pick through stuff and kill your whole day.

Dumpster
This is how I've started clearing out flips and foreclosures. Time is money and you don't have time to let people doddle through things while they tell you their life story. Average size mess = 20 yard dumpster (about $200-300 in my area). Big mess with some interior remodel = 30 yard (packed tight) dumpster. Pros: It's done quickly and you can move on. Cons: As you mentioned, price........and having a giant graffiti covered metal bin in your yard.