Attic and Crawl Space Cleanout Before a Move: Is a 10-Yard Dumpster Worth It for Clothes and Books?
Written by: Sal, The Longship Crew · Levittown, PA
Last updated: 9 min read
Table of Contents
For an attic and crawl space cleanout before a move, a crew and truck priced by the space you fill usually beats a rented dumpster. You don’t pay for empty container, and you don’t carry every box down the stairs yourself. We don’t rent dumpsters at Longship. We send the truck and the crew.
What to know before you decide
A dumpster is rented whole. Our truck load is billed as an eighth, a quarter, a half, or a full truck.
A 10-yard dumpster’s worth of stuff is about three-quarters of our 13-yard truck.
Our crew can go up to the attic and carry everything down, so you can leave the boxes where they are.
The price is confirmed before we load anything, and it’s the most you pay.
A dumpster still wins for very large loads or projects that run for days.
Dumpster or Crew and Truck: What You’re Paying For
A crew-and-truck cleanout is a service where a uniformed crew arrives with a 13-cubic-yard truck, carries your items out, loads them, sweeps up, and charges by the fraction of the truck your stuff fills. A dumpster is a container you rent, fill yourself, and pay for in full.
Plenty of people call Longship Junk Removal of Levittown asking for a dumpster. What they actually want is an empty attic by moving day. Those are different problems, and the second one has a shorter route.
A dumpster is rented whole, a truck load is billed by the space you fill
With a rental, the container is the product. Half full or all the way full, you’ve rented the whole thing for the whole window. Our truck works the other way around: we load what you have, see how much of the truck it takes, and the price follows that share.
Rental rates vary by provider, so we won’t quote any here. Ask for the all-in number, including delivery and pickup, and compare it with a truck fraction.
Where a 10-yard dumpster fits on a 13-yard truck
Dumpster sizes are in cubic yards, not cubic feet. A caller once asked us about a “10-cubic-foot” dumpster, and the unit mix-up is easy to make. Ten cubic feet is a small cabinet. The usual small dumpster holds 10 cubic yards, which is 270 cubic feet.
Our truck holds 13 cubic yards. Divide 10 by 13 and you get roughly 77%, so a full 10-yard dumpster equals about three-quarters of a truck. That’s the number to carry into any quote. Real loads never pack perfectly, so treat it as a ceiling for comparison, not a promise.
What an Eighth, Quarter, Half, and Full Truck Cost
The price depends on how much of the truck your stuff takes up, not on whether it’s a bag of sweaters or a box of paperbacks. As we tell people on the phone, it really depends on how much stuff you have.
Truck load
Approx. space (13-yard truck)
Price
Eighth
About 1.6 cubic yards
$150
Quarter
About 3.25 cubic yards
$250
Half
6.5 cubic yards
$375
Full
13 cubic yards
$650
A three-quarter load, the size of a full 10-yard dumpster, lands between the half and full prices. Where exactly depends on how it packs, and your photos settle that. These are the prices we quote on the phone. The firm number comes once we see the load.
Want a number for your attic load? Send a few photos or call us at (267) 609-9327 and we’ll tell you which truck fraction it looks like, before anything moves.
How clothes, books, and boxes turn into truck space
Bagged clothes are bulky and light. Boxed books are compact and heavy. Both take up space on the truck, and space is what sets your price.
The easy way to estimate: count the boxes and bags, then picture a quarter of a box truck. Fifteen or twenty bags and boxes is probably a quarter or less. A full attic plus a crawl space pushes toward a half. We’d rather you guess low and be pleasantly surprised than the reverse, which is why photos beat guessing.
Attic Cleanout Before a Move: Who Carries What
The real difference between the two options is labor. With a dumpster, you are the crew. With a truck, we are.
With a dumpster, every box comes down your stairs
Pull-down attic stairs are narrow, and a crawl space is a low, tight spot to haul anything out of. Then every load still has to reach a container in the driveway or at the curb. Fine for a handful of boxes. Tiring when you’re also packing a house.
Moving month is already crowded with tasks. Spending a weekend on attic stairs is a trade-off worth pricing out against a crew.
With a crew, they go up and bring it down
Our crew can go up to the attic and bring everything out for you. You point, and we carry. It may be easier for you that way, especially if the attic is the last unfinished room before the movers show up.
Crawl spaces vary a lot in height and access, and we haven’t spelled out how we’d handle yours here. Send a photo of the opening with your quote request so we can see what the crew is working with.
How to Lock In the Price Before Anything Is Loaded
The common worry is a different price once the crew shows up. Here’s how it works with us: you get a firm, all-in price before we load a single box, and that price is the most you pay. No fees added at the end.
A few photos are enough for a quote, or we can look on-site. The sharper your information, the tighter the number.
Have this ready when you ask for a quote
When to Book if Moving Day Is a Month Away
You don’t need a truck yet. A dumpster gets dropped off for a window and sits in your driveway while you fill it. A crew arrives on a set day, hauls everything in one visit, and leaves nothing behind.
We offer same-day and next-day pickup, so waiting works. Spend the coming weeks sorting. Stage everything in one spot, with the keepers separate from the pile. Then call when the pile is real, not when you’re guessing at it.
Sorting Clothes and Books Before They Leave the House
Split the pile into three: keep, usable, and junk. Usable clothes and books don’t need to go to a landfill. We donate what’s usable and recycle the rest. Every item you send to donation instead of the trash is the same space on the truck, so sorting doesn’t shrink the load by itself, but it does decide where everything ends up.
One caution from attics in general: they collect paint cans, solvents, and other chemicals. We can’t take those. Paint, oils, and household hazardous waste go to Bucks County collection events, so set them aside before the crew comes.
Pull everything you’re keeping and move it out of the attic first.
Bag clothes in sturdy bags and tie them shut.
Box books in small boxes so nobody has to lift a heavy one down a ladder.
Set aside paint, chemicals, and anything flammable.
Stack what’s left near the hatch or the front door.
When a Dumpster Is Still the Better Choice
If you’re clearing far more than a full truck, a rental can come out cheaper. The same goes for a renovation or whole-house purge that will take days, or when you want to toss things at your own pace over weeks. We don’t rent them, and we’d rather tell you that than talk you out of the right tool.
For a light load of clothes and books from an attic and crawl space, though, we think the truck wins. You pay for the share you use, and nobody carries boxes but the crew. Seniors and veterans get 10% off the quote.
What to Do Next
Count your bags and boxes and take the photos from the checklist above.
Decide how many weeks you need to finish sorting.
Send the photos in or call, and get the firm price before anything is loaded.
Pick a day. We carry it out of the attic and sweep up.
Moving soon with an attic and crawl space to empty? Call Longship at (267) 609-9327 or send photos for a free quote. We load the longship, your junk sails away.
FAQ
Do you rent dumpsters?
No. We don’t have rentals. What we offer is a truck and a crew who come to your home, carry everything out, and load it themselves. You never fill a container, and nothing sits in your driveway waiting. If you want a container you fill yourself, a rental company is the right call.
Is a “10-cubic-foot” dumpster the same as a 10-yard one?
No. A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so a 10-cubic-foot container would be tiny. The usual small dumpster is 10 cubic yards, or 270 cubic feet. Compared with our 13-cubic-yard truck, that’s about three-quarters of a load.
How much does a quarter, half, or full truck load cost?
We quote an eighth truck at $150, a quarter at $250, a half at $375, and a full truck at $650. The price follows how much truck space your stuff takes, so a quote from photos or an on-site look gives you the firm number before we start.
Is a truck really cheaper than a dumpster for a small load?
Usually, for light loads. A dumpster charges for the whole container whether you fill it or not, while the truck charges only for the fraction used. If your pile would fill a big container to the brim, the rental can come out ahead. For a few bags and boxes, the truck tends to win.
Will the crew go into the attic to get the stuff?
Yes. Our crew can go up to the attic and bring everything down, so you don’t have to carry it. Crawl spaces differ in height and access, so send a photo of the opening with your quote request and we’ll tell you how we’d handle it.
Could the price change once the crew arrives?
It won’t. We confirm a firm, all-in price before loading begins, and that quote is the most you pay. To get a number you can count on, send photos of the attic and crawl space or let us come look. Nothing gets added at the end.
What happens to my old clothes and books?
We donate what’s usable and recycle the rest. Wearable clothes and readable books go to local charities and shelters, and the leftovers get recycled instead of sent straight to the landfill. Sorting them ahead of time makes the job go quicker on the day.
Sal is the voice of the Longship crew — 15+ years clearing garages, basements, attics, and whole estates across Levittown and Lower Bucks County. His rule: you get one upfront price before anything moves, and that price is the most you pay. He writes here about what the crew actually meets inside Levittown homes, and what a job really costs. Sal is Longship's illustrated crew character — the brand's voice, not a staff member.
