Dumpster Rental in Albany Park
Bungalows and courtyard buildings side by side, one of the denser bungalow areas, with a lot of two-flat conversions behind the front elevation.
(619) 658-9555Northwest Side · 60625Bungalows and courtyard buildings on the same block
Albany Park is unusual in how directly it mixes two building types that elsewhere get their own neighbourhoods. A block here will run brick bungalows for half its length and then a courtyard apartment building, and the two need completely different answers.
On the bungalow side the container usually goes on private ground — the driveway strip if it is wide enough, more often the pad by the alley garage — and no permit arises at all. On the courtyard side there is no private ground to speak of, the building is managed rather than owned by the person ringing us, and the container is going in the alley or on the street with a permit.
So the first question here is not the neighbourhood, it is the building. Tell us which of the two you are in and the rest of the call is short.
What is actually behind the bungalow front
A lot of Albany Park bungalows are not single-family dwellings any more and have not been for decades. Behind an unchanged front elevation there is frequently a second unit in the basement or the attic, added at some point when the building needed to earn more, and often added without much ceremony.
That matters because it is the thing we most often find under-described on the phone. A job booked as “clearing out the basement” turns out to be removing a whole small apartment: a kitchen, a bathroom, partition walls, dropped ceilings and flooring laid over the original slab. The volume is two or three times what was described and the material is mixed rather than simple.
If what you are removing was once somebody's home rather than storage, say so. It changes the container from a 10 to a 15 or 20, and on a deconversion of this kind it frequently changes it to a 15 plus a swap, because the plaster in the original structure is heavy and the added material is bulky.
The reverse case is worth mentioning too: if the basement genuinely is just storage, it will still be heavier than it looks, because Albany Park basements take water and damp storage weighs a multiple of its dry weight.
The river, and the blocks that flood
The north branch of the river runs along the edge of this community area, and the blocks nearest it have a flooding history that is not theoretical. Properties here have taken water in basements more than once, and that leaves a specific kind of job behind it.
Flood clearance material is the heaviest household debris we handle. Saturated carpet, drywall that has wicked water up from the slab, soaked insulation, cardboard storage and upholstered furniture all weigh several times their dry weight. A 15 yard container will reach its legal travelling weight on a basement that looks like a 10 yard job.
So we size these for weight without exception, and we would rather you told us the basement has flooded than described the square footage. The other thing worth doing is getting it out promptly — material that sits wet gets heavier and starts being a different problem.
Appliances are the usual complication on a flooded basement. A freezer or a utility fridge that has been under water still has its refrigerant and its regulated components in it, and Illinois will not landfill a white good until those are removed. Set it aside rather than putting it in.
Where the container goes in Albany Park
In Albany Park it is usually the alley behind the building. Alley placement is public way, so the dumpster permit is ours to hold under the city code rather than yours to chase. What we need from you is the cross streets, so we can check the width, the surface and what is overhead before the truck is committed. More on permits and placement →
What we deliver to Albany Park
What can go in
Illinois bans a specific list from landfill. Electronics are on it.
Illinois has no bottle deposit but it does ban electronics — the opposite of some neighbouring states.
Read more →
Home cleanouts
Whole-unit, estate and move-out clearances across the city.
Chicago basements and bungalow attics hold far more than the floor plan suggests.
Read more →
Bungalow projects
Attic build-outs, dormers, basements and alley garages.
The driveway strip beside a bungalow is usually narrower than a container is wide.
Read more →What people in Albany Park ask us
Bungalow or courtyard building — does it change anything?
It changes everything. A bungalow usually has private ground and needs no permit at all. A courtyard building has none, is managed rather than owner-occupied, and the container goes in the alley or on the street with a permit.
I am clearing the basement of a bungalow.
Tell us whether it was ever a separate unit. A great many Albany Park bungalows have a second dwelling behind an unchanged front, and removing a kitchen, a bathroom and partitions is two or three times the job people describe.
My basement has flooded before.
Then we size for weight, not floor area. Saturated carpet, drywall, insulation and stored cardboard weigh several times their dry weight — a 15 yard reaches its limit on what looks like a 10 yard job.
Can the old chest freezer go in?
Not until its refrigerant and regulated components are removed by someone qualified. Illinois will not landfill a white good with those still in it. Set it aside and mention it when you book.
Other neighborhoods we cover
Container delivery in Albany Park
Tell us the cross streets, what is coming out and where it should sit. Size, placement and the permit answer in one call.
(619) 658-9555Serving Albany Park · 60625