Cabin and home cleanouts

Planning a cleanout room by room

Think in rooms. Walk through the garage, the storage shed and each room, and decide what stays, what goes to family or donation, and what is trash. A cleanout that also pulls up old carpet or empties a crawlspace takes more loading, so give it more days.

The rental is a flat price with the first 24 hours included, and extra days are billed at a flat daily rate if the cleanout takes a few weekends. Disposal is billed by weight after the load is dumped: furniture and boxes are bulky but mostly light, while wet carpet, books and anything soaked add weight.

Text Robert a photo of the rooms or the pile, plus your town, and he will help you plan the dates and the load.

Dumpster or junk removal?

Rent a dumpster if you want to work at your own pace, sort as you go, or have family helping over a weekend. You load it, and we pick it up on the day you choose.

Book junk removal if you want everything gone in one visit and would rather we do the lifting. Junk removal is quoted per job: call, text or send a request with a few photos.

Planning a cleanout from down the hill

A lot of mountain homes are second homes. Census figures show about half of the homes in Lake Arrowhead, and nearly three in four in the city of Big Bear Lake, are held for seasonal or occasional use. So plenty of cleanouts get planned from the valley or out of state.

You can set the whole thing up by phone, text or the online request. Send photos of each room, the driveway and where the dumpster could sit, and tell us about stairs, steep paths and anything heavy. We talk through access and timing with you before anything is scheduled.

Tell us if the road in is private, dirt or steep. The County and Caltrans do not plow private roads, so in winter those can be the hardest part of the job.

Set these aside before you load

California keeps some household items out of the trash, and cleanouts turn up plenty of them. None of these go in the dumpster:

• Paint, thinner, solvents, pesticides, pool chemicals, antifreeze, motor oil and oil filters
• Propane tanks and other gas cylinders, and aerosol cans that are not empty
• Batteries, fluorescent bulbs and tubes, TVs, computers and other electronics
• Fireplace or wood-stove ashes, or anything else that could still be hot

Where the leftovers go

Household hazardous waste is free for residents to drop off at San Bernardino County Fire collection sites, up to 15 gallons or 125 pounds per trip. In Big Bear the site is at 42040 Garstin Drive, open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. From Crestline to Running Springs there is no permanent site, so call 1-800-OILY-CAT (645-9228) for the nearest one and upcoming collection events.

Ask before you load refrigerators, freezers or air conditioners. Their refrigerant has to be removed by a certified technician first, and County disposal sites take refrigerators only with no Freon left in. Ask about tires and mattresses too.

Winter cleanouts

Snow rules on the mountain generally run from October 15 to April 15. Storms can move delivery days, and plows leave berms across driveways. Plan a shoveled, level spot for the dumpster on your driveway or property, and keep the path to it clear for pickup day.

Keep the dumpster off the street. A dumpster in a County road or a Big Bear Lake street needs an encroachment permit from whoever owns the road, and in the city of Big Bear Lake no vehicle may be left unattended on a city street during snow conditions from October 15 to April 15.