A garage cleanout goes fastest when you book the haul first, then sort everything into five piles: keep, sell, donate, hazardous and haul. Paint, oil and chemicals go to your city's household hazardous waste program, not the trash or a junk trailer. In McKinney and across Collin County, a cleanout crew can clear the rest in one visit, priced by trailer space.
Why should you book the haul before you start?
A haul date gives the job a deadline. Without one, a garage cleanout tends to turn into a garage rearrangement.
It also keeps the haul pile from sitting in the driveway for a week. Piles that sit have a way of drifting back inside.
- Pick the day and book whatever is taking the junk: city bulk pickup, a borrowed trailer, or a crew.
- Clear a staging area in the driveway and mark five spots: keep, sell, donate, hazardous, haul.
- Get contractor bags, boxes, work gloves, a dust mask and a broom.
- Check your city's bulk rules before you plan on the curb. Size, weight and scheduling limits decide what the city will take.
What do the city bulk rules mean for a garage?
City bulk pickup can take some garage junk, but rarely a whole garage at once. In McKinney, bulky item collection is by appointment only, with up to 12 free collections a year.
Each McKinney set-out must fit within 3.5 ft tall by 3 ft deep by 9 ft long, or be two large household pieces. Tires and household hazardous waste are excluded.
Other cities run on fixed calendars and their own limits. Our McKinney bulk trash guide and the county-wide bulk pickup rules cover the details city by city.
How do you sort a garage without losing the weekend?
Start high and work down, then go wall by wall toward the door. Pull everything off a shelf before you decide on any of it.
Decisions go faster when the whole shelf is in front of you. Make each call once and put the item straight in its pile.
- If it hasn't been used since the last move, it's a candidate to go.
- If it's broken and the fix has been "someday" for a year, it goes.
- Duplicate tools go to the donate or sell pile.
- Boxes taped shut since the last move get opened once, then decided.
- Paperwork and photos go in their own box to sort indoors later, so they don't slow the garage down.
What goes in the hazardous pile?
Paint, stains and thinners, motor oil and filters, antifreeze, pesticides, pool chemicals and car batteries. TCEQ's household hazardous waste page says household hazardous waste can include paints, pesticides, fuels, pool chlorine and acid, and wood stains.
TCEQ advises keeping these products in their original containers with readable labels. Transport them upright and secured, and never mix products together.
A paint can less than a quarter full can be opened and left in a well-ventilated area to dry, per TCEQ. Once it's dry, the can may go in the trash.
Where does the hazardous pile go in Collin County?
Most cities run their own program, and they work very differently. These come from each city's own page. Our household hazardous waste guide covers more cities.
- McKinney: household hazardous waste pickup is curbside on your regular collection day, by request before noon the prior business day.
- McKinney allows up to 12 hazardous waste pickups and 12 e-waste pickups a year at no charge. Each pickup is limited to 2 boxes of 20 by 20 by 20 inches, up to 5 gallons or 50 lb each.
- McKinney's Municipal Service Center does not accept walk-in drop-offs.
- Allen: residents schedule a pickup through the MyAllen app or by calling Community Services at 214.509.4551. Each collection is capped at 50 pounds.
- Frisco: residents can drop off household chemicals and electronics at the Environmental Collection Center at 6616 Walnut Street, Tuesday through Saturday during posted hours.
- Prosper: each resident gets one free hazardous waste door pickup a year through Republic Services. Paint, oils, batteries, solvents, pesticides, gasoline and antifreeze are among the accepted items.
What about mowers, electronics and tires?
Old mowers and weed eaters are a common garage catch. Allen's bulk pickup takes lawn mowers only with the oil and gas removed. Frisco won't take anything with fuel or oil inside at its collection center.
Dead TVs and computers usually have a recycling path. TCEQ points households to TexasRecyclesComputers.org and TexasRecyclesTVs.org to find free or local options. Our TV and electronics disposal service pulls them for recycling as part of a load.
Tires are the hard one. TCEQ lists whole used or scrap tires as prohibited from disposal in any municipal landfill, and we don't take them either.
What should you watch for while you clear?
- Leaking containers: if a can is rusted through, set it in a bucket and keep it with the hazardous pile.
- Heavy items on high shelves: get a helper before you pull down anything you can't hold at chest height.
- Wasp nests and rodents in back corners: check before you reach in.
- Items that belong to someone else: a borrowed ladder or a relative's boxes should go back, not out.
- Anything wired in, like a garage fridge on a dedicated outlet or a mounted shelf unit: decide whether it stays before you start pulling.
Haul it, then sweep
Once sorting is done, get the haul pile gone the same day if you can. Then sweep down to bare concrete before anything from the keep pile goes back in.
The sweep is the step that makes the garage feel done. It also shows any oil stains or cracks you'll want to deal with while it's empty.
Put the keep pile back in zones. Weekly items go near the door, seasonal things go up high, and long-term storage goes in the back.
When does it make sense to hire it out?
Hiring makes sense when the garage is packed wall to wall, the items are heavy, or you need the space back before a closing. One of our posted jobs was a Garland garage cleared for a family with 3 days left before closing.
Our garage and attic cleanout service works top shelf to back corner in one visit, then sweeps before we pull out. You walk it with us first and point out what stays. Here's what a packed garage bay looked like before and after.
One bay of a two-car garage is typically a Half Trailer Load, starting at $515. A two-car garage packed floor to ceiling is more like a Full Trailer Load, from $759. The firm quote is confirmed on site before anything is loaded, and same-day service is available when the schedule allows.