Pulling Up Old Flooring: Carpet, Tile, and the Haul

Pulling up old flooring is one of those jobs that looks simple until you see the pile it leaves behind. A few rooms of carpet, or a tiled kitchen and bath, and suddenly you've got a heap that won't fit in your truck or your regular cans. The trick is matching the dumpster to what you're tearing out, because carpet and tile are nothing alike once they hit the can.

Carpet and Pad: Bulky but Light

Carpet is awkward more than it is heavy. The carpet itself, plus the foam pad underneath, takes up a lot of room without adding much weight. The problem is volume. A roll of carpet wants to spring back open and eat half your dumpster if you let it.

So roll it tight. Cut the carpet into strips a few feet wide, roll each strip as snug as you can, and tape or tie it so it holds. Do the same with the pad. Tight rolls stack flat and you'll fit two or three times as much in the same space. Loose carpet is the fastest way to fill a can with air.

For a carpet-heavy job, a 13-yard usually handles a few rooms with room to spare. If you're pulling carpet out of a entire house and tossing furniture and old baseboards along with it, step up to the 17-yard or 22-yard. Carpet, pad, wood trim, and household junk all go in those sizes with no trouble.

Tile, Thinset, and Backerboard: This Gets Heavy

Tile is a different animal. The tile, the thinset mortar under it, and the cement backerboard below that are all dense. A small tiled floor doesn't look like much in a pile, but the weight adds up fast. People underestimate this every time. A can that looks half full of tile can already be carrying as much weight as a much larger load of carpet.

Because of that weight, tile and other dense material go in the 7-yard. That's our smallest can, and it's the only one built for heavy, dense debris. Tile, concrete, brick, dirt, rock, and sod all belong in the 7. The bigger cans are made for lighter material and can't take heavy loads, so don't plan on filling a 22 with tile.

If your tile floor comes up clean, meaning it's just the tile and mortar with no carpet or trash mixed in, that clean heavy load goes to the recycle plant. Keep it separated if you can.

Mixed Job? Plan the Split

A lot of flooring jobs are a mix. Carpet in the bedrooms, tile in the kitchen and bath. If that's you, think about keeping the heavy tile out of the same can as the bulky carpet. The tile needs the 7-yard, and the carpet and everything else fits better in a 13 or up.

You can run two cans on the same job, or knock out one part first and swap. On a bigger tear-out, we'll swap a full can for an empty one so you can keep working instead of waiting. That works well when you're going room by room across a entire house and the debris keeps coming.

If you're not sure which way to split it, call and describe the floor. Square footage, what's coming up, and whether it's clean tile or a mix. Tony answers his own phone seven days a week, and he'd rather talk it through before you order than have you stuck with the wrong can halfway through the job.

What We Can't Take

A couple of things to keep out of any can. No batteries, no chemicals, no electronics. Old adhesives and solvents from a flooring job count as chemicals, so set those aside and handle them separately. Everything else from a standard tear-out, carpet, pad, wood, tile, backerboard, and trim, is fine in the right size.

Getting the Right Can to Your Door

We're family-owned, based on James Island, and we've been renting roll-off dumpsters here since 2023. We cover Charleston and the towns around it, about a 40-mile reach. If you want to check that we run out to your spot, here are the towns we serve. Delivery, pickup, and disposal come with every rental, and you can keep a can anywhere from one day up to thirty.

Not sure whether your floor calls for a 7 for the tile or a 13 for the carpet? Take a look at our dumpster sizes, or just call and we'll point you the right way. Reach Tony at (843) 800-0689 any day of the week.

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