Dumpster Sizes in Roanoke, VA — 10, 15, 20, 30 & 40 Yard

The 20 yard, by a wide margin. It handles a crawlspace and attic cleared out in one go, a kitchen gut or a multi-room remodel, and it still sits on a normal valley driveway. The 15 yard is next most common because it is the sweet spot for a single room, one unit of a city rental turnover or a shingle tear-off on an average house. Anything with concrete, brick, block, crawlspace spoil or rotted sill plate and band joist in it goes the other way, down to a 10 yard. On a steep or curved hillside drive the 10 is often the only box that will sit level and come back up loaded.

For a Roanoke house on asphalt or dimensional shingle, a 15 or 20 yard. Roofing is weight-driven rather than volume-driven, so squares and layers decide it, not roof area — and it is common to find a second course still sitting on the deck, which doubles the tonnage. Asphalt shingles are not on any Virginia ban list, because Virginia does not really have one: 9VAC20-81 regulates disposal facilities rather than materials. What does decide who pays for the haul is local. The City of Roanoke does not collect construction and demolition debris under its solid waste chapter, City Code Chapter 14.1, so a tear-off is on the contractor or on you. Roanoke County will take small amounts of homeowner remodeling debris with bulk collection, which is the opposite answer four miles away. There is also a placement rule worth planning around: under Virginia’s Statewide Fire Prevention Code, 13VAC5-51, which adopts the 2021 International Fire Code effective 18 January 2024, § 304.3.3 keeps a container over 1.5 cubic yards at least five feet from combustible walls, openings and combustible roof eave lines. Every roll-off is bigger than 1.5 cubic yards, so five feet applies to every box we set. Older roofing felt, mastic and cement-asbestos shingle can contain asbestos, which stops the job until it is tested — in Virginia that runs through a DPOR-licensed contractor with DOLI notification, and the waste goes to a facility permitted by DEQ to take it. Our tear-off sizing guide has the full math.

No, and treating it that way is an expensive mistake here more than most places. The 40 yard is a volume container for bulky light debris — framing, cabinetry, porch lumber, packaging and whole-house cleanouts. Put anything dense in it and you will exceed legal transport weight long before it is full. It also needs the most room and the flattest ground of anything we run, which rules it out on a driveway cut into a hillside, on a narrow street in Old Southwest or Wasena, and on the long gravel lanes out toward Bent Mountain, Catawba and Back Creek. A big open box of light material has to be loaded below the rails and covered, or the wind redistributes it down the street and the rain fills it with weight you pay to haul. On a sloped approach we will usually put two smaller boxes through rather than one 40, and it works out better for everyone.

Yes, as long as the truck has not been dispatched. If you describe the job and we think you have ordered wrong, we will say so before delivery rather than after. Changing on the phone costs nothing; discovering it at the scale house costs a great deal.

Roughly the container footprint plus working room: about 60 feet of straight approach for the truck, around 10 and a half feet of width, and 20 feet or more of overhead clearance while the hoist operates. Grade matters as much as space. On a steep or curved drive tell us which way it falls and how tight the turn off the street is, because that decides the size and sometimes the answer. There is also a fire code rule worth planning around. Virginia’s Statewide Fire Prevention Code is 13VAC5-51, adopting the 2021 International Fire Code effective 18 January 2024, and § 304.3.3 keeps a container larger than 1.5 cubic yards out of a building and at least five feet from combustible walls, openings and combustible roof eave lines. Every roll-off exceeds that threshold, so five feet is the number for every box. There is no state fire permit for an individual container — the fire code’s waste handling permit covers facilities, not the box in your driveway — but your local fire marshal can still have a view, so ask if you are placing on a commercial site. Keep hydrants, exits and fire-apparatus access clear. Look up before you decide: an oak or maple limb, a porch roof, a low gutter or the service drop into the house will stop the arm cold. Tell us what the approach looks like and we will bring the right box.