Concrete, Brick & Dirt
Heavy material goes in its own container, and a smaller one than you would guess. In this city it is also where most of your recycling percentage lives.
(619) 658-9555Tell us the area and the depthSmall container, and keep it clean
Clean fill — concrete, brick, block, stone, soil — goes to a different facility from mixed waste, and it travels under a weight limit that fills long before the box does. Those two facts produce the only two rules here.
Rule one: 10 yard
A 10 yard filled with concrete is at its legal travelling weight when it looks around a third full. That is axle weight on Illinois roads, not caution on our part. For a garage slab or a walk, a 10 yard is nearly always right, and two of them beats one larger box every time.
It is also the container most likely to fit a bungalow driveway strip, which on these jobs is usually where it needs to go.
Rule two: nothing else in it
No bags, no timber, no plastic sheeting, no coffee cups. One item of general rubbish re-classifies the whole load as mixed waste and it goes somewhere else entirely.
On permitted work it hurts you twice, because the clean heavy container is where most of your 50 percent comes from. Say it out loud to the crew at the start of the day.
Chicago common brick
This is the one material in the city where working slowly genuinely pays, and it is specific to here.
Chicago common brick — the soft, variegated, locally made brick behind the face brick on an enormous number of buildings — has a real reclaim market. Taken down carefully it comes out whole, and whole salvaged common brick is wanted for restoration and for new work that needs to match. Run through a demolition and into a mixed container, it is rubble.
If you are taking down a garage, a chimney, a porch base or any structural masonry, it is worth asking whether the brick comes out intact before anybody swings at it. At minimum it belongs in a clean container rather than the mixed one, where it counts towards the recycling requirement by weight.
The same logic applies to limestone, which turns up on greystones constantly and which nobody should be putting in a mixed load.
Rough volumes for common Chicago jobs
| Job | Rough volume | Containers |
|---|---|---|
| Alley garage slab, 20 by 20 | about 5 cubic yards | One 10 yard |
| Bungalow driveway strip | about 3–4 cubic yards | One 10 yard |
| Rear walk and stoop | about 2–3 cubic yards | One 10 yard |
| Front steps, limestone or concrete | about 2–4 cubic yards | One 10 yard — salvage the limestone |
| Chimney taken down | about 3–5 cubic yards | One 10 yard — salvage the common brick |
| Basement floor, 800 square feet | about 10 cubic yards | Two 10 yard, plus a plan for the stairs |
| Basement dig-out spoil | varies widely | Ring — wet Chicago clay is the heaviest thing we carry |
| Patio or rear pad | about 4–6 cubic yards | One 10 yard, sometimes two |
Volume is the easy half. Depth is what catches people — a slab that turns out to be six inches rather than four is fifty percent more material. Chip a corner and look before you book.
Basement lowering, and Chicago clay
Lowering a basement floor to gain headroom is a common city project, particularly on two-flats and greystones where the extra foot turns a cellar into a usable unit. It is also the heaviest material we handle.
Chicago sits on glacial clay, and clay holds water. Saturated clay is roughly half again as heavy as the same soil dry, and basement spoil is almost always damp because basements are. A container that would take a full load of dry soil will reach its limit at two-thirds on a dig-out.
The other constraint is the route. Spoil from a basement comes up a stair or through a window well in buckets or a conveyor, which is slow, and it means the container needs to be as close to that exit as the alley allows. Tell us which side the spoil is coming out and we will set the container to suit rather than to look tidy.
What people ask when they call
Why can't I use a 20 yard and just not fill it?
You can, but a 10 yard is the right tool and far easier to place — especially on a bungalow driveway strip. The limit is weight, so a part-filled larger container gains you nothing.
Can asphalt chunks go in with concrete?
Usually yes as clean fill, but confirm when you book. Some facilities treat asphalt separately and the answer depends where the load is going that week.
Is it worth salvaging the brick?
For Chicago common brick, often yes — there is a genuine reclaim market and it comes out whole if the demolition is careful. At minimum keep it in a clean container where it counts by weight.
Can the garage and its slab share a container?
No, if you want the concrete treated as clean fill. The structure goes in a 20, the slab in its own 10. It is the most common sizing error on garage jobs.
What about soil from a basement dig-out?
Its own container and a smaller one than you expect. Chicago clay holds water and saturated clay is roughly half again as heavy as dry. We size these for weight every time.
Does clean fill count towards the city recycling requirement?
On permitted work, yes, and it is where most of your percentage comes from, because the measure is by weight and this is the heaviest material on the job.
Taking out concrete or digging in the city?
Give us the area and the depth, and tell us where it has to stand. We will tell you how many 10 yards it is.
(619) 658-9555Mon–Sat 6am–6pmWorth reading before you book
