A home renovation is an exciting project. It’s also something that you spend the majority of your time stressing about until it’s completed. You’ll have to deal with a variety of things including the dirt and waste caused by the renovation before you can actually enjoy it. There are a few things you need to consider as well as several different methods you can utilize in order to deal with the mess. Let’s take a look at a few.
1. Hire a Skip or Dumpster
One of the most popular ways to clean up is to rent a skip or a dumpster. When you rent a dumpster or a skip, you’ll need to keep a few things in mind. The most important thing is that you’re going to have to make sure that you apply for a permit if you need one. When it comes to skips, they range from 10-40 cubic yards and tend to take up quite a bit of space. You’ll also need to make sure that you have enough space for either of the two in your yard. Also, make sure that you are aware of any limitations you might have concerning what sort of materials you can throw in them.
2. Professional Clean-Up Services
Whether you redid a portion of your home, or the entire thing, getting rid of leftover debris is something that has to get done. The clean-up doesn’t end at rubble removal though. You’ll need to do a thorough cleaning of the entire space. When you hire a professional clean-up service they do just that. Post-construction deep cleans get rid of all of the dust and any construction mess left behind. The price of the clean depends on the level of the mess they have to deal with. Minimal mess in a 3-bedroom home could be cheaper than the excessive mess in a smaller home. They can be quite expensive but are definitely worth it for that “wow” moment when you walk into a beautifully finished space that you don’t have to clean yourself.
3. Donate It
Leaving things on the curb can make your home, and by extension, your neighborhood, look really untidy and unappealing. You might think that garbage removal services will take it away, but this is often not the case. They are unable to remove a lot of what is left behind after building, which is why it is your responsibility to figure out how to remove things. If you live too far away from a waste removal site, or it would feel like a waste to just throw away things of value after the build is completed, consider donating it. You can donate things to an organization, or even a neighbor. By donating things, you can get rid of them in a safe, sustainable way. This includes unused building supplies as well as old appliances that were replaced during the reno.
4. Restore Pieces of Value
When doing a reno, you tend to find all sorts of gems and hidden treasures within the home. Rather than disposing of these things, consider restoring them. Old lamps, doorknobs, cast iron tubs, basically anything of value that you were considering throwing out has the potential to be restored. Old homes are filled with a variety of things that are more valuable than you might think. Be sure to carefully sort antique furnishings and have them valued before you make the brash decision to throw anything away.
5. Repurpose Some Items
If you can’t, or don’t want to restore something, consider if it can be repurposed in some way. This is a great way to turn throwaways into something new. For example, you could turn your old windows and doors into a greenhouse, or you could turn an old bathtub and shower into a fishpond, or an outside tub and shower. You can use salvaged things from your home with unused building materials to create some really cool additions.
6. Implement Proper Waste Disposal
Proper waste disposal is important. You can’t simply throw everything away into one big bin. You need to separate different materials. Some things need to be put aside for reusing and recycling, and some things need to be disposed of in a very particular way. For example, you can’t throw concrete in the trash. It needs to go to a specific landfill site. Keeping things of a similar composition together makes it a lot easier when it comes to having to dispose of them correctly later, so remember to keep recyclable things away from building materials.
Renovating your home can be really satisfying, but you need to think about how you’re going to dispose of leftover debris and building material. There are a variety of different things you can do, so be sure to consider this before your renovations are complete. You can do a combination of quite a few things on this list, so keep that in mind, too.