Renovating an Older Covington Home: A Debris Guide

Covington has a lot of old houses and they are the reason we spend so much time talking people out of larger containers. A renovation in a house built in 1910 produces material that behaves nothing like the debris from a house built in 2010, and almost every sizing mistake we see comes from not accounting for that.

What you are actually opening up

The Covington Historic District takes in Floyd Street and the downtown square, and the North Covington Historic District centres on North Emory Street and Odum Street. Beyond those, Oxford's streets around the college, the Porterdale mill village and the Starrsville area all run to housing of similar age. Madison, out east, has one of the largest historic districts in the state.

The architecture is largely Greek Revival and Victorian, built when construction meant heavy timber framing, plaster over wood lath, brick chimney stacks and stone or brick pier foundations. Every one of those elements produces demolition debris that is denser than its modern equivalent.

There is a second consideration specific to this area. Covington has been a filming location for seventy years and productions still book the square regularly. If you are working downtown, it is worth knowing what is scheduled - a container in the wrong spot during a shoot week creates a problem for everyone.

Plaster and lath

This is the single biggest weight driver in an older-home renovation, and it is the one people underestimate most consistently.

Traditional plaster was applied in three coats over thin wood lath strips nailed across the studs. The result is a wall assembly substantially heavier than modern drywall. When you take it down it comes off in slabs with the lath still attached, and it does not compact - it stacks awkwardly and fills a container with dense, dusty material.

The practical effect is that a 20 yard container filled with plaster and lath will reach its tonnage allowance at somewhere around two-thirds of its visible height. You will look at it, see space above the load, and be entirely unable to use it.

This is why we recommend a 15 yard for interior demolition on older properties, and why customers frequently argue with that recommendation before the first swap proves the point.

A practical note: plaster demolition generates enormous quantities of fine dust. Seal off the rest of the house properly and wear real respiratory protection rather than a dust mask. On a property of this age the dust may also contain lead from old paint layers, which is a separate reason to take it seriously.

Heart pine and old framing

Old-growth heart pine is dense, resinous and considerably heavier than modern kiln-dried framing lumber. It is also, in decent condition, genuinely valuable.

Before you throw framing timber and flooring in a container, look at it properly. Reclaimed heart pine flooring, beams and boards have a real market, and architectural salvage operations will sometimes collect from a site if the volume justifies the trip. Wide-board flooring in particular is worth setting aside.

What you cannot salvage still goes in the container, and you should plan for it weighing more per cubic yard than you expect. A pile of old joists is not the same as a pile of new studs.

Masonry, chimneys and foundations

Old chimney stacks are the classic surprise. A house may have two or three, and taking one down produces several tons of brick from what looks like a modest structure. Brick runs to roughly a ton and a half per cubic yard.

Pier foundations, stone footings and old concrete steps are the same problem in a different form. All of it belongs in a dedicated 10 yard clean-fill container, filled level, and not mixed into a general demolition container.

The reason is financial rather than fussy. Clean masonry is processed into recoverable aggregate at a different rate from mixed debris. One timber offcut in an otherwise clean concrete load reclassifies the whole container and the price changes with it. On a renovation involving any real quantity of masonry, keeping the two streams separate usually more than pays for the second container.

Old brick in good condition also has salvage value, particularly the softer handmade brick from the nineteenth century. It is worth a look before it goes in.

The asbestos question

This has to be addressed properly rather than hoped past.

Asbestos-containing materials were in common use into the 1980s, so on a house of this age the possibility is real. The usual locations are pipe and boiler insulation, vinyl floor tiles and the black mastic beneath them, some textured ceiling finishes, cement board siding, and roofing felt and shingles on older roofs. Some plaster and joint compound formulations also contained it.

Asbestos cannot go in a roll-off container under any circumstances. It requires testing, licensed abatement and documented disposal at a permitted facility. Georgia regulates this and the penalties for improper handling are significant.

The rule is simple: if you are opening up a property built before roughly 1985 and you find material you are not certain about, stop and have it tested before disturbing it further. Testing costs very little relative to the alternative, and it is the disturbance that creates the hazard rather than the material sitting undisturbed.

Historic district approvals

Both Covington historic districts carry ordinances that preserve their character and regulate proposed changes to properties, and special permits are sometimes required. Maps and materials describing the districts are available through City Hall.

The distinction that catches people out is between the container and the work. A container on your own driveway inside the district does not need historic approval. The renovation itself may - exterior alterations, window replacement, roofing changes and similar work on a contributing property can require review before you begin.

Start that conversation with City of Covington Planning and Zoning early. The office is inside City Hall at 2194 Emory Street NW on (770) 385-2020, open weekdays eight until four. Reviews involve scheduled meetings rather than counter service, so the timeline is measured in weeks rather than days.

We have delivered containers to properties where the work then stalled waiting for an approval nobody had applied for. The container sits accruing a daily rate and achieving nothing. Sort the paperwork first.

Sizing and sequencing the containers

A full interior renovation on an older Covington home usually wants a sequence rather than a single container.

Demolition phase: a 15 yard, swapped as needed. Plaster, lath, old flooring and framing. This is the heavy phase and the one where the smaller container is correct.

Masonry phase, if there is one: a dedicated 10 yard for chimney brick, footings and concrete, filled level. Separate from everything else.

Fit-out and general phase: a 20 yard. Packaging, offcuts, old fixtures, cabinets and the general accumulation of a build. This material is bulky and light and the larger container suits it.

Trying to do all three in one 30 yard is the classic error. You will hit the tonnage in the demolition phase, pay overage, and still have two more phases to dispose of.

If you are working through a contractor, agree who is managing the containers before the job starts. Split responsibility is how a full box sits on site for four days with nobody calling anyone.

Salvage worth keeping back

Old houses contain things that are worth more out of the container than in it:

• Heart pine flooring, beams and wide boards - a genuine market exists
• Original doors, particularly panelled ones, and their hardware
• Mantelpieces and surrounds
• Handmade brick in sound condition
• Cast iron - radiators, bathtubs, guttering, pipe
• Period light fittings, rim locks, hinges and window hardware
• Newel posts, balusters and stair parts

Architectural salvage dealers operate throughout this part of Georgia and several will assess a property before demolition begins. Even where the value is modest, keeping this material out of the container reduces the weight you are paying to dispose of. On an older house that is not a trivial saving.