A roof replacement is one of those jobs where the dumpster part sneaks up on you. You're focused on the crew, the shingles, the weather window. Then the tear-off starts and suddenly there's a small mountain of old roofing in the driveway. We haul a lot of these around Charlotte and Lee County, so here's what's worth knowing before the first shingle comes off.
Why do shingles hit the weight limit first?
This is the thing people get wrong. A pile of old shingles doesn't look like much, but it weighs a ton. Sometimes literally. Tear-off roofing is dense, and down here a lot of roofs have two or three layers stacked up from past redos. All of that comes off at once.
Every one of our roll-off dumpsters includes a weight allowance, from 2,000 pounds on the 7 yard up to 4,000 on the 20. That sounds like plenty until you're throwing wet, layered shingles into it. A single square of asphalt shingles can run 250 to 400 pounds depending on the type, and a roof has a lot of squares. Anything over the included allowance is $100 a ton, so the weight is the part to think about up front, not the volume.
Tile changes the math completely, and plenty of roofs around here are concrete or clay tile rather than asphalt. Tile runs several times the weight of shingles for the same area, so on a tile tear-off the weight allowance is what decides the size, not the volume. Tell us it's tile when you call. It's the single most useful thing you can say, and it changes which box we bring.
What size dumpster do you need for a re-roof?
For roofing, bigger isn't always the move, because you're more likely to hit the weight limit than fill the box. A 7 yard can work for a small section or a shed roof. For an average house re-roof, most folks land on the 15 or 20 yard, but mostly so the crew has room to toss debris without playing Tetris.
The short answer is that weight drives the cost more than the size of the container. So tell us roughly how many squares you're tearing off and whether it's one layer or three. Send a photo of the roof if you've got one. We'll point you to a size and give you a decent sense of where the weight might land before you book.
There has been a lot of this work around Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, and Cape Coral since Ian, and the pattern we see is that a re-roof rarely stays only a re-roof. Once the old layers are off, the crew finds soft decking, and then there's plywood and rotten fascia in the pile alongside the shingles. That's fine to mix in, and it's worth knowing up front because it shifts the volume even when the weight stays about the same.
Where should the dumpster sit during a tear-off?
A tear-off makes a mess fast. The old roof comes down in a hurry, and a good crew wants the dumpster sitting close so they're not hauling shingles across the yard all day. Let us know where it should go, and if your driveway's a concern we use driveway protection pads under the container.
If you've got other debris from the job, old plywood decking, ripped-out fascia, a few rotten rafters, that all goes in too. We handle construction debris removal all the time, so a roof job that turns into a little extra carpentry is no problem.
What about all the nails?
Here's the part nobody warns you about. A re-roof scatters nails and old fasteners across the yard, the driveway, and the street. We patch truck tires constantly after roofing season, and we run heavy-ply tires on purpose.
So after the crew leaves, do a slow walk of the yard with a magnet or just your eyes. Check where cars park. A roofing nail in a tire is a lousy way to end an otherwise good week, and they hide in the grass for months.
Pricing is $324.99 for the 7-yard with 2,000 pounds, $349.99 for the 15-yard with 3,000, and $424.99 for the 20-yard with 4,000. Three days and driveway protection come with each, extra days are $25, and overage is $100 a ton at the exact weight. On a re-roof the overage line is the one to watch, which is why we would rather talk through the squares with you first than surprise you at pickup.
A roof replacement is enough to manage without chasing down a dumpster too. If you've got a re-roof coming up around Charlotte or Lee County, call or text (239) 412-3283 with the rough size of the job and we'll get you the right container and a straight answer on the weight.