What a garage cleanout clears from a Los Angeles house
The clear runs from the back of the garage to the roll-up door. Shelves, boxes, old furniture, bikes, a workbench, an attic above when it is part of the clear. What the family wants kept stays; the rest leaves.
Boxes and shelves
Shelves line the walls. The boxes hold clothes that never got unpacked, books, holiday decorations, old paperwork and a bin of tools that lost their labels.
Old furniture and sports gear
A couch that was moved to the garage when a new one came home ends up in the pile. Furniture rides on its own page when a single piece is the whole job, and inside a cleanout it goes with the rest. Bikes and bike parts, exercise equipment, folding chairs.
Leftover household items that are not hazardous
Household items that drifted to the garage over the years: a lamp that stopped working, a kitchen chair with a wobbly leg, a stack of old picture frames. A kitchen or laundry appliance is on its own page.
The attic is a separate, smaller job
An attic cleanout is a smaller job: a few boxes, a trunk, a window-unit AC that stopped working, old lamps. The attics guide covers more.
What decides how big the job is
The size of a garage cleanout turns on how full it is from floor to ceiling, how far the pile sits from the door, the steps between the garage and the driveway, whether the roll-up or side door opens cleanly and whether the opener works at all. The attic above is a yes-or-no, and so is any shelf, pegboard or workbench that comes out with the rest. Sorting a garage first is a separate how-to that cuts the pile down before the pickup.
| Part of the garage | What it usually holds | What to tell us when you phone |
|---|---|---|
| Shelves along the walls | Boxes of clothes, books, holiday decorations | How many shelves, and whether they come out too |
| The floor and middle | Old furniture, bikes, exercise equipment, folding chairs | How full the floor is and how far from the door |
| The workbench area | A workbench, a pegboard, tools, random hardware | Whether the bench stays or goes |
| An old appliance in the garage | A dead fridge or freezer, a window-unit AC | Which appliance it is, and whether it still runs |
| The attic above | A few boxes, a trunk, old lamps, a window AC | What is up there |
Garage cleanout, a City pickup, or a S.A.F.E. drop
When a garage cleanout fits
The garage has furniture, boxes, bikes and household leftovers to clear. The rest of the house stays lived-in, or the garage is going along with a whole house. The yard sometimes rides with the garage work when bagged trimmings are already by the driveway.
When another service or drop fits better
A single old fridge or washer is an appliance pickup, not a cleanout. One couch is a furniture pickup. Household hazardous waste goes to a City S.A.F.E. Center1 as LA Sanitation states, not on a hauling call. S.A.F.E. Centers covers that drop.
Where garage items can go
Three routes a garage's contents can take.
The City's bulky pickup
- Furniture and mattresses are on its list
- Carpet rolled and tied, large wood pieces and doors
A S.A.F.E. Center
- Batteries, paint, light bulbs and chemicals go here
- Free for residents, up to 15 gallons or 125 pounds a visit
Phoning a hauling business
- Describe what is in the garage and where it sits
- Ask what it will and will not take
Sources: LA Sanitation & Environment, Schedule a Bulky Item Pickup; LA Sanitation & Environment, Weekly Curbside Black Bin Collection (Trash); LA Sanitation & Environment, Household Hazardous Waste Disposal (S.A.F.E. Centers).
What to have ready for the pickup
Have in mind how full the garage is from floor to ceiling, how far the pile sits from the door, the steps between the garage and the driveway, and whether the roll-up or side door opens cleanly. Add a yes-or-no on any shelf, pegboard or workbench coming out with the pieces, and whether the attic above is part of the cleanout.
Why a garage cleanout runs this way in Los Angeles
Detached houses make up about 36 percent of the city's housing units,2 and about 78 percent of the city's owner households live in a detached house.3 What a garage holds is what the family put in it over the years.
For the City's curbside service, household hazardous waste including batteries, paint, light bulbs, electronics and chemicals must be taken to a S.A.F.E. Center and does not go in the black bin,4 LA Sanitation says. The S.A.F.E. list may include aerosol cans, automotive fluids and products, household cleaners and chemicals, fluorescent bulbs, paints, stains and solvents, pesticides and herbicides, pool chemicals and propane cylinders.1
The City's bulky item pickup cannot pick up at the curb automotive parts or used oil, construction materials, commercial appliances, paints, solvents or chemicals, medicines or needles, fluorescent lights, and cardboard unless a Move In/Move Out service is scheduled.5 The same bulky pickup accepts furniture, mattresses and box springs, toilets and sinks, carpet rolled and tied, large wood pieces or doors, and electronic waste5 for the households it serves.