Hail, Wind and Tornado Debris: A Dumpster Guide for Dallas and DFW

What happens after a storm

The morning after, every street has shingles in the yard, limbs down and fence panels flat. The city programs are built for a few cubic yards on a schedule, not a neighborhood's worth of debris in a week: Dallas takes up to 10 cubic yards of brush and bulky once a month, Rowlett two cubic yards a week, DeSoto and Carrollton three, Irving four bulky items a week with brush cut to four-foot lengths — and none of them take roofing, construction debris or anything a contractor generated. The 2015 EF4 tornado that cut a 13-mile path through Rowlett and damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes is the extreme case; a bad hail year is the common one.

What a container takes that the curb does not

Everything, in one go: limbs and brush of any length, fence panels and posts, shingles and underlayment from a tear-off, broken gutters, screen enclosures, patio furniture, damaged drywall and carpet from a leak. No bundling, no four-foot cut lengths, no weight limit per item, no waiting for the monthly pickup. A 20 yard on the driveway clears a yard and a roof in a day.

Sizing storm cleanup

Limbs, brush and fence panels are bulky and light — a 20 yard is the usual call and a 30 if a whole tree came down. Roofing is heavy: a 20 covers a tear-off of about 30 squares, a double layer wants a 30 for the weight allowance. Water damage — wet drywall, carpet and insulation — is heavier than it looks and goes in a 20. If the job mixes a roof and a yard, say so and we size for the mix.

How fast we can get there

Call early the morning after and in Dallas, DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Grand Prairie and Irving we can often have a container on the driveway that afternoon. Farther out it is usually next morning. In the week after a big hailstorm, when every roofer in the metroplex is calling, we tell you honestly where you are in the queue rather than take a booking we cannot deliver. Containers are staged at the yard in south-west Dallas, not ordered from somewhere else.

Insurance, contractors and the city

Photograph everything before it goes in the container — your insurer will want it. If a roofer or contractor is doing the work, the debris is theirs to dispose of under most city rules, and the container usually goes on their account. Keep the container on your own driveway: Dallas treats a street placement as a right-of-way matter, and several suburbs bar it outright. And remember that several DFW cities reserve roll-offs to their own contracted hauler even after a storm — the city-by-city guide covers which.

Before the next one

Trim the limbs over the roof, anchor the trampoline, and know your city's bulk limits before you need them. If you are mid-renovation when a storm warning comes, call us to collect an empty container rather than leave it to fill with water — we would rather make the trip.