Five Skip Tips for Home Renovations

If you're gutting a house for a renovation, you will need to hire a skip. To keep your project on track, check out these tips.

1. Use the Removals Truck Loading Model

With a serious renovation, you are likely going to be throwing out broken appliances, old sinks, countertops, wall fragments and countless other items. Most rubbish removal companies charge by volume, and to optimise your hiring fee, you need to eliminate gaps and spaces in your skip.

If you just throw in big items, they will get jumbled and leave spaces. Instead, use the same loading model you would use for a removals truck. So that's possible, hire a skip with a side door. Open the door, load your heavy rubbish onto a dolly and arrange it precisely in the skip.

For example, imagine you throw a bunch of interior doors into the skip — they end up criss crossed and diagonal, preventing other rubbish from settling in those spaces. In contrast, if you make a stack of doors in the far corner of your skip, they don't take up as much room, and by extension, you have more space for the rest of the rubbish.

2. Cut Up Anything You Can

To cut down on big items, consider breaking up anything that you can. For instance, instead of throwing in large chunks of gypsum, smash it up and then put the pieces in the skip.

3. Use Bags or Dampen Dust

Windy weather can blow items out of the skip, but if you want to prevent your rubbish from spreading around the neighbourhood, there are multiple things you can do. In particular, you can bag rubbish, and a skip with a lid also helps. Alternatively, dampen sawdust, gypsum board particles and any other fine fibres with a bit of water to prevent flyaways.

4. Be Careful About Old Paints

In many cases, when you are gutting a home, you may find old paint or similar types of products. In most cases, you can't throw these items in a landfill due to the toxins. Arrange for recycling, or ask the rubbish removal company if they will handle it. Some companies are willing to take recyclables as well as rubbish.

5. Measure the House Before Starting

It's also essential to order the right size of skip. If the skip is too small, you have to pay for another one or scramble for another solution for your waste. If the skip is too large, you waste money on unnecessary rental fees.

Consider measuring the home. Then, jot down a few details about your project. If you have that information when you call for a quote, the skip hire company will have an easier time pointing you in the right direction.