Bungalow Projects
Twenty thousand-odd brick bungalows, built to a pattern, now all reaching the same projects at the same time.
(619) 658-9555We know the driveway stripBuilt to a pattern, which makes sizing easy
Chicago bungalows went up in huge numbers in the 1910s and 1920s, in a broad arc through the north-west and south-west sides. Brick, a story and a half, low-pitched roof, full basement, and a garage on the alley at the back. Because they were built to a pattern, we can be more specific about them than about any other building type in the city.
The pattern also means they reach the same projects at the same time. A century on, the same four jobs come up again and again: finishing the attic, adding a dormer, doing something about the basement, and replacing the alley garage. We size all four in about a minute on the phone.
The four bungalow jobs
- Attic build-out — 10 to 15 yard
- Dormer addition — 15 yard, 20 with the roof
- Basement finish or dig-out — 10 yard if concrete, 15 if clearance
- Alley garage demolition and rebuild — 20 yard plus a clean 10 for the slab
And the constraint
The driveway strip beside a Chicago bungalow is frequently narrower than a container is wide. It was built for a Model A, not for a roll-off.
So on a bungalow the real question is nearly always the same: does the container go on the strip, on the pad in front of the garage, or in the alley itself? All three are common and they have different answers.
Three places a bungalow container can stand
The driveway strip. Private property, so no permit at all. The catch is width — measure it before you ring. A 10 yard usually fits; a 20 often physically will not. It also blocks the drive entirely for the duration, which matters if the garage is in use.
The apron or pad in front of the garage. Often the best of the three. Still private property in most cases, wider than the strip, close to the alley for the truck, and it keeps the front of the house clear. If your bungalow has a parking pad beside the garage, that is usually where we will suggest.
The alley. Public way, so a permit, which is ours to hold. The right answer when the private options are too narrow or the job is big enough to need a 20. The question then becomes alley width and whether neighbours can still reach their garages. How alley placement works →
What decides it is a two-minute conversation and a tape measure. Measure the strip at its narrowest point, including where the gate posts or the neighbour's fence pinch it.
The job that is always bigger than the hatch suggests
Finishing a bungalow attic is the most common project we deliver into on the north-west side, and it is consistently underestimated, for a simple reason: you cannot see most of it until you start.
- A century of storage comes out first Before any construction debris, there is whatever has been up there since the family moved in. It is bulky, it is awkward through a narrow stair, and it is usually a container's worth on its own.
- Then the old insulation Often blown-in and often decades old. Dusty, voluminous, and genuinely unpleasant to handle. Bag it rather than shovelling it loose.
- Knob-and-tube and old wiring Common in these attics and usually coming out. Copper has a scrap route worth taking it to.
- Then the actual demolition Old subfloor, kneewalls, whatever previous owners half-finished in the 1960s and abandoned. Panelling is the classic find.
- And everything goes down one narrow stair Which is the real constraint. Break material down upstairs, bag what you can, and stage at ground level before loading.
A 10 yard covers a clean attic clearance. A build-out that includes the storage, the insulation and the demolition is a 15, and occasionally two trips.
The alley garage, and the thing people get wrong
Bungalow garages are reaching the end of their lives across the whole belt, and replacing one is a two-container job that people routinely try to do with one.
The structure — timber framing, siding, roofing, the old door — is bulky and light, and goes in a 20 yard. Cut the framing down rather than loading full lengths and it takes considerably less space.
The slab is the other half, and it has to be its own clean container. Concrete goes to a different facility from mixed waste, a 10 yard reaches its legal weight at around a third full, and one bag of rubbish re-classifies the whole load. Trying to put a garage slab in with the garage is the most common sizing error we see on these jobs. More on clean fill →
If the garage is coming down entirely and something is going back up, think about the sequencing too — the alley needs to stay workable for the truck throughout, and a demolition pile in the alley is not the same thing as a container in the alley.
What people ask when they call
Will a container fit beside my bungalow?
A 10 yard usually; a 20 often not. The strip was built for a 1920s car. Measure it at the narrowest point, including where fence posts pinch it, and tell us the number.
What size for finishing the attic?
A 10 yard for a clean clearance, a 15 if you are taking out old insulation and doing demolition as well. The storage that is already up there is usually half the volume.
Do I need a permit for a container on my own driveway?
No. Private property needs no public way permit anywhere in the city. That is one of the real advantages of bungalow work.
Can the garage and the slab go in the same container?
Not if you want the concrete treated as clean fill. The slab needs its own 10 yard. It is the most common sizing mistake on garage jobs.
What about the old blown-in insulation?
It goes in, but bag it rather than loading it loose — it is dusty and it blows out of an open container. If the building is pre-1980 and you find anything you cannot identify, stop and have it tested.
Where is the best place to put it on a bungalow lot?
Usually the pad or apron by the garage: wider than the strip, close to the alley for the truck, and it leaves the front of the house alone.
Working on a bungalow?
Tell us the project and the width of the driveway strip. Those two answers settle it.
(619) 658-9555Mon–Sat 6am–6pmWorth reading before you book
