Roofing Dumpster Rental in Bloomington, IL

Roofing is the one dumpster job where volume is almost irrelevant. Asphalt shingles are heavy - a single square of standard three-tab, which is one hundred square feet of roof, runs somewhere around two hundred and fifty pounds, and architectural shingles run heavier still. Add the felt, the drip edge, the old flashing and whatever the previous roofer left behind, and a tear-off container hits its weight limit while it still looks like it has room. Ordering a roofing box by how big it looks is how crews end up with a load that cannot legally leave the driveway.

So we size roofing by two numbers: how many squares, and how many layers. Everything else is detail. A twenty-square ranch with one layer of three-tab and a twenty-square ranch with three layers of architectural over a cedar shake base are not the same job and should not get the same container. If you know your roof area and your layer count when you call, we can get the size right on the first try. If you do not know the layer count, the roofer will after the first ten minutes on the deck - and if it is an older home west or south of downtown Bloomington, assume more layers than you hope for.

The second thing that decides how the day goes is placement. A roofing container wants to sit as close to the tear-off side as the property allows, so shovel crews tip debris straight over the edge into the box instead of walking it. Six feet of extra distance multiplied by a few hundred trips is a genuine cost. Getting that right takes a two-minute conversation about which slope comes off first, where the ladders and the ground crew go, and what is underneath - gutters, downspouts, landscape beds, an AC condenser and the driveway apron all need thinking about before the truck sets the box down.

The third factor is peculiar to Central Illinois: hail. This is genuine severe weather country, and a single storm can put hundreds of roofs in McLean County into claim at once. When that happens, containers get scarce fast. We plan for it, but the crews who call early get the boxes. Reach us at (309) 503-0748 or through our contact page.

Here is how tear-offs actually land, assuming standard asphalt shingle. Cedar shake, slate, tile and anything with a mortar bed change the math completely - call us on those.

Things that push you a size up: architectural or laminated shingles rather than three-tab, ridge vent and cap in quantity, wet material after rain, decking replacement, and cedar shake underneath a later asphalt layer. Things that pull you down: a simple gable with no valleys, a clean single layer, and a crew that loads flat rather than tossing.

Note what the table does not include. There is no 40 yard column, and that is deliberate. A 40 yard is built for bulky, light material - siding, insulation, framing offcuts, packaging. Fill one with shingles and you will be at the weight limit with the box a third full, having paid for capacity you physically cannot use. On roofing, smaller boxes swapped more often beat one big one every time.

Detailed worked examples are in our roofing tear-off sizing guide, and capacities are on the 15 yard and 20 yard pages.

The damage claims that follow a tear-off are almost never about the roof. They are about everything under it, and nearly all of them are avoidable with an hour of setup.

• Gutters. A shovel load of shingles dumped over the edge lands on the gutter first. Crews either pull the gutters that are being replaced anyway, or hang the tear-off so debris clears them. Bent and torn-loose gutters are the single most common post-roof complaint.
• Landscape beds and shrubs. Tarp the beds along the drip line and lay plywood over anything that will get walked on. Falling shingle bundles destroy foundation plantings that took ten years to fill in.
• The driveway apron. This is where the truck's weight concentrates when the container comes off and goes back on. Boards spread it. Older aprons on the west and south sides are often thinner and already cracked, so point those out at delivery.
• AC condensers, meters and window wells. Cover the condenser and keep debris off it. Granules in a coil are a service call.
• Windows and siding. Plywood leaned against the wall below the work area stops a bouncing shingle from breaking glass.
• Vehicles. Everything moves off the drive and out from under the eaves before the first shovel goes in.

One more Central Illinois specific: keep the container covered overnight if rain is coming. Wet shingles absorb a surprising amount of water and a load that was comfortably inside its weight allowance on Friday can be over it by Monday. Snow does the same thing in a winter tear-off.

A tear-off is not finished when the last shingle goes in. It is finished when the yard is safe to walk on barefoot and the driveway will not eat a tire.

The magnet sweep

A single square of shingles is held down by hundreds of nails, and a tear-off scatters them everywhere - the drip line, the beds, the lawn, the driveway and the street edge. Run a rolling magnet over every surface the debris passed over, and run it twice in opposite directions. Then check the beds by hand, because a magnet does not reach into mulch. This is the part homeowners judge you on months later, when a nail turns up in a lawn mower or a tire.

Load it flat

Shingles laid flat in layers fill a container far more efficiently than shingles thrown in loose. It also keeps the weight distributed so the box rolls on cleanly. Nothing above the top rail, ever - the container has to be tarped for the drive.

What stays out

Keep old skylight glass and metal flashing separate if you want the metal scrapped. Solar panels are electronic waste and cannot be landfilled in Illinois. Any suspicion of asbestos in old roofing felt, cement shingle or transite on a pre-1980 building means stop and bring in licensed abatement - it never goes in a roll-off. The Illinois EPA sets those rules.

When you are done, call us and we will pull it. Boards come up, the placement area gets checked for stray nails, and the box goes.