Roofing Tear-Off Dumpster Guide for Georgia Homeowners

Roofing is the job where sizing goes wrong most predictably, and it goes wrong for a reason that has nothing to do with anybody guessing badly. Shingles are bought by area and disposed of by weight, and those two numbers do not track each other.

Squares, layers and weight

Roofers measure in squares. One square is a hundred square feet of roof surface. A modest single-storey house might be twenty squares; a larger two-storey with complex rooflines could be forty or more.

A square of standard architectural asphalt shingles weighs in the region of two hundred and thirty to two hundred and fifty pounds. Three-tab shingles are somewhat lighter; heavier architectural and designer products are more.

So a twenty-five square roof with a single layer coming off is roughly three tons of shingles before you count underlay, flashing or any decking. Add a second layer and you are at six. Re-roofing over an existing layer was permitted for many years, and on older houses around Covington, Oxford and the surrounding towns two and occasionally three layers are common.

That is the whole problem in three paragraphs. The roof does not look like six tons. It is.

Why the container looks half empty

Every container has a tonnage allowance set by what the truck can legally carry and what the disposal facility accepts on a ticket. On roofing work you reach that allowance long before you fill the box.

A 20 yard with a three to four ton allowance will be at its limit with a heaped load that occupies perhaps a third to a half of the visible height. Customers look at it, see space, and reasonably assume they have been short-changed.

They have not. The scale ticket from the disposal facility is available on request and it is the document we bill from. It is arithmetic rather than judgement.

The useful response to this is not to order a bigger container. A bigger container has a higher allowance but the same underlying weight limit on the truck, and you will simply hit it slightly later with more unusable space above the load.

Working out the size properly

When you call, the two numbers that matter are the square footage of the roof and the number of layers coming off. Not how big it looks from the street.

As a rough guide, and subject to those two numbers:

• Up to about 12 squares, single layer: 10 yard
• 15 to 25 squares, single layer: 15 yard
• 25 to 35 squares single layer, or up to about 20 squares with two layers: 20 yard
• Larger roofs or multiple layers: a 20 yard swapped, rather than a 30

That last point is worth dwelling on. On a heavy tear-off, two 20 yard containers filled properly will usually cost less than one 30 yard that hits its weight limit and attracts overage. The instinct to order one big box is wrong here more often than anywhere else.

If a roofing contractor is handling the container, ask them what allowance is included and what the overage rate is. Those numbers should be in their quote to you.

Placement that speeds the crew up

A roofing crew works appreciably faster when the container sits directly below the tear-off rather than across a yard. Every yard of horizontal travel is repeated hundreds of times over a day.

Ask for the low-wall option when you book. A container with a lower rim makes a real difference when the crew is throwing material down into it rather than lifting it up over a high side, and on a roofing job that is most of the labour.

Discuss protection at placement. Shingles thrown from height do not always land where intended. A sheet of plywood against a wall, a tarp over a flower bed and some attention to gutters and downpipes will save a repair. Hardwood cribbing goes under the container as standard on every delivery, so the driveway itself is covered.

Storm season and the Georgia calendar

The roofing trade here runs on weather. When a hail line moves through Newton County the entire trade books out within days, and container availability goes with it.

If you are reacting to storm damage, call early and be flexible. If you are planning a re-roof by choice rather than necessity, book outside those windows and you will get a better slot and a less rushed crew.

Heat is the other factor. Asphalt shingles soften considerably on a July afternoon in Georgia, which makes them harder to handle cleanly and harder on the crew. Most roofers here start at first light in mid-summer. We will schedule delivery for the evening before so the container is in position when the crew arrives rather than mid-morning while everyone waits.

Rain, weight and timing

Wet shingles weigh appreciably more than dry ones, and an open container sitting through a Georgia thunderstorm can gain hundreds of pounds of water weight in an afternoon.

On roofing work this is a direct cost, because you are already close to the tonnage limit. Two practical responses: keep the rental period short so the container is collected promptly rather than sitting through the weekend, and consider tarping it if a storm is forecast before pickup.

It also argues for calling for collection as soon as the tear-off is complete rather than waiting until the whole job including the new roof is finished. The debris is the heavy part and it is done early.

Decking, underlay and the surprises underneath

Underlay, felt, flashing, ridge vents, drip edge and old decking all go in the container with the shingles. There is no need to separate them.

What matters is that decking replacement is the most common cost surprise on a re-roof. You cannot know how much rotten sheathing is under the shingles until they come off, and on an older Newton County house with a history of leaks it can be substantial. That is extra weight and extra volume that was not in anybody's original estimate.

Build some margin into the container plan for it. If the roof is old, damp-damaged or has had multiple repairs, assume some decking is coming off.

The other thing to be alert to on older properties is asbestos. Some roofing felts and shingle products manufactured before the 1980s contained it. If you are tearing off an original roof on a pre-war house and encounter material you are unsure about, stop and have it tested. It cannot go in a roll-off and it requires licensed handling.

Nails, landscaping and the clean-up

A tear-off scatters nails over a wide area and they will still be turning up in tyres months later if nobody sweeps.

A magnetic sweep of the driveway, paths and lawn is standard practice for any competent roofer and it is worth confirming it is included before work starts. Run it yourself afterwards as well if you have children or animals - magnetic sweepers are inexpensive to hire and they pick up a surprising amount after a crew has already gone over the ground.

Check gutters and downpipes for granules and debris before the job is signed off. And walk the perimeter looking for damaged planting, because that is the conversation to have while the crew is still on site rather than a week later.