Category Archives: junk removal

Garage Clean Out

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It is another sunny, summer Saturday here in Los Angeles, California. I texted a friend to see if he wanted to watch the Kings game later. Much to my dismay I received back, “Can’t. Cleaning out the garage.” So sad.

And it is totally unnecessary. There is no need to spend a weekend cleaning out a garage, year after year. This dismal doom can be mostly avoided by taking control of your garage. Here are five ways to show your garage who is boss.

1. Keep Your Cars in Your Garage

This is a piece of advice that is so obvious it sounds counterintuitive. One of the best ways to keep your garage clean and organized is to use your garage for your cars. You can’t fill a garage with junk when your car is in the way. Right?

Right.

Not to mention storing your car in a garage spares your car’s paint job a pounding from the weather and will lower your car insurance premiums.

2. Hang Your Tools on a Peg Board

When of your dining room chairs has a loose screw that is threatening to collapse the entire chair. You say to yourself, Hey, I can fix that! I just need to grab a screwdriver from the garage! Two hours later you’ve located four stuffed animals, a pair of pliers, some loose bolts, and a hammer. But no screwdriver.

There is an easy and cool solution. Hang your tools on the wall. You can either arrange your tools on a peg board, a rack, or specialized hangers. This also gives you an excuse to bring that work bench you’ve always wanted. What else compliments a showroom of tools better than a work bench?

When you are finished organizing your tools grab a couple of empty coffee tins and start organizing your screws, nails, bolts, nuts, etc. One coffee tin for screws, one coffee tin for nails, and so on. Depending on the type of Do-It-Yourself jobs you do you may want to get even more granular — a coffee can for wood screws and another coffee can for machine screws.

You can also use store bought organizers to store fasteners and screws, but I tend to like coffee cans. There is something deeply nostalgic about fishing a screw out of an repurpose Folger’s tin.

3. Install Shelving

There are a ton of shelving solutions that are aimed squarely at getting your boxes off the floor. You can buy free standing shelving or shelves that screws (or bolts) directly to the wall. You can even find garage shelving that is designed to hang down from your garage’s rafters (this is an ideal way to store infrequently used stuff like ladders.

Another way you can get boxes off the floor is to install quarter inch plywood boards running across the rafters of your garage. This can serve as an “garage attic” where you can store seasonal items like Christmas decorations.

If you’ve made an effort to carefully install shelving do yourself another favor and buy some sealable plastic boxes. Plastic boxes will last a lot longer (possibly forever) than cardboard boxes and do a better job of protecting the stuff you are trying to store.

4. Label Everything

Either buy a label maker or a couple rolls of masking tape and a marker. Now label everything. Even if you know what is in a box today, label it. Why? This will prevent you from the, “Well I know the Christmas decorations are in THERE!” syndrome. Labeling keeps you from guessing and prevents you from making a mess when you guess wrong.

If you want to get really serious, after packing a box for storage, write out an inventory list of what’s in the box (1 Xmas wreaths, 4 boxes Christmas bulbs). This technique is particularly effective if you have multiple boxes filled with similar items (.i.e. Christmas decorations).

5. Don’t Store Used Chemicals

Paint, household cleaners, and automotive fluids are all considered household hazardous waste and you can’t put them in your normal curbside side trash. So many people store used chemicals in their garage. This is a bad idea on multiple levels of bad.

Firstly, an excess number of poorly store chemicals creates a fire hazard that can damage or destroy your home. Secondly, chemicals laying around your garage pose a hazard to small kids and pets. Instead of storing household hazardous chemicals drop them off at a city approved drop off center. Or call a hauling service like Green Clean Junk Removal Services to haul away old paints, cleaners, etc.

Getting control over your garage takes a little time, a little effort, and a lot of planning. But the results can be amazing. You not only reduce clutter but you turn your garage into another show piece inside your home.

Bulky Item Removal

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If you ever found yourself in a situation where you wake up one morning and you see a sofa or table on your driveway of front lawn that somebody just left there, then you’re pretty much screwed with it. Unfortunately, California law says that you are responsible for the junk and trash in your own property.

 

You could take the easy road and do the exact same thing to someone else and dump that thing in his or her property in the middle of the night. But if you’re someone with a conscience or someone with morals, then you wouldn’t. Like it or not, you have to get rid of the junk yourself.

 

One way to do it is to call the city and ask for a bulky item. This is probably the most affordable way to get rid of it. But there is a downside though; the city only picks up once a week. So if you missed your window then you will have to wait for a week.

 

Another way to do it is if you have a pick up and the muscles to do some heavy lifting, then load up the junk and take it to the dump and pay for the disposal. I’m sure this sucks but at least you got rid of it.

 

Now if you can lift the trash or don’t even want to touch it, there are companies out there that specialize in these bulky item pick-ups. They have guys that can do the lifting for you then they load it up in their truck and dispose of it. It not free of course, but then again so is most of everything else.

Junk Removal Trash Out

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If you are buying or just bought a foreclosed home in Calabasas, congratulations! Foreclosed homes provide a great value. You can often get three times the home for about half the price. But foreclosed homes come with a few immediate disadvantages. The main disadvantage is that foreclosed homes often need to be completely cleaned out before you can move in. But cleaning out a foreclosure doesn’t have to be a nightmare. There are many junk removal services in the Calabasas area that specialize in foreclosure clean outs.

When foreclosed homes became an issue for neighbors, realtors, and banks in 2008 there were an array of junk removal companies that rose up to solve the problem of junk collecting in and around foreclosed homes. Even today in 2013 those same junk removal companies do a brisk business in foreclosure clean outs.

Junk Removal & Hauling

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Most of the time we don’t think of junk removal companies and junk haulers as environmentalists. We often see those junk removal dump trucks roaming around your neighborhoods in Los Angeles and think, ew, just another garbage truck. But in reality junk removal services in Los Angeles are spearheading the way for garbage recyclers. Most junk removal services in Los Angeles actually recycle a majority of the items they haul away.

When a junk removal company hauls away household or commercial junk they don’t take it to the landfill immediately. A good junk removal company sorts through all the household and commercial junk they collect, organize it, and then separate it.

Most junk removal companies recover some fairly useable items. Many are things like small appliances, or old toys, or even clothes that can be donated to charity. Many junk removal companies in Los Angeles support local charities and those charities’ thrift shops by donating useable items to those same thrift shops.

In cases where something isn’t in any condition to donate to charity junk removal companies can and still do recycle. Take a box spring mattress for instance. Junk removal companies can recycle the wood and metal springs. Sometimes they can even recycle the fabric.

On average junk removal services in Los Angeles recycle between 50% to 90% of the items they haul away. Junk removal companies are blazing the path towards a greener, more recyclable and reusable future.

Protect Our Planet

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Protect Our Planet

We have all been left with the task of having to care about our planet to help and make it greener and safer for our future generations. That is why we need to make sure that we recycle whatever objects we can and keep them out of our ecosystem. With so much junk that gets disposed of everyday it might be a little daunting to try and recycle as many objects as possible. With a knowledgable and great staff at a local junk removal company getting your carbon footprint to be smaller than what it is now can be a huge and vastly improvement. Plastics, glass and many other objects are but a few that can be taken into account and should be separated for recycling purposes at all times. Not only will it help out our environment but make planet earth a very enjoyable and pleasant place to be living on for all of us. So help us protect our planet and get rid of that trash, clean out, garage clean out etc and many other tasks.

Los Angeles Junk Removal

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Junk removal in Los Angeles is a growth business. Since 2008 and the implosion of the housing market in Los Angeles junk removal has experienced a growth spurt. More and more real estate agents are turning to junk removal companies to help them clean up properties, more contractors are relying on junk removal to clean up their job sites, and individual homeowners are turning to junk removal services to help them de-clutter.

But junk removal in Los Angeles also comes with its dark side and with its bad apples. Luckily, you can avoid these bad apples (mostly) and we’ll show you how.

The most common way junk removal companies in Los Angeles scam customers is the tried and true bait and switch. You call up a junk removal company and say, I have This, That, and This Other thing. And they say, Great! That will be $170. Then a couple hours or a day later that junk removal company arrives at your door, they look around at your stuff, and then say, “Oh that will now be $500.” Because of stairs, because they had to park the truck on the street, because one of the workers stubbed their toes…

So how do you avoid this tactic?

First and foremost know who your junk removal company is before you hire them. How? There are dozens of internet review sites online like Yelp and Angie’s List. Chances are your junk removal company has been review by other customers. You can also check with the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau to see if your junk removal company has had any recent complaints.

When you book your appointment ask the junk removal company you called if their price quote includes labor. Junk removal companies frequently provide low junk removal quotes, but conveniently leave off the labor charges. If you plan on having your junk removal service dispose of hazardous materials, ask how much extra they’ll charge for disposal of toxic materials.

If your junk removal company in Los Angeles does try the bait and switch, send them packing. Bait-and-switch companies rely on psychology to bully you into paying extra. Don’t give in. Hold firm to a quoted price and if they don’t want to do a job for that price, send them packing and find a new junk removal company that honors their original price.

Lastly, if a quoted price seems too good to be believed, it probably is too good to be true.

Yard Waste Removal

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The city of Los Angeles generally supplies green trash bins for yard waste and debris. But what happens if you need to get rid of a lot of yard waste? For instance, trees knock down from a Santa Ana wind or clear brush? You have two options: you can call a junk removal service in Sherman Oaks, or you can rent a dumpster.

Dumpster rental is often the cheapest solution. You can rent a smallish dumpster for a few hundred dollars and keep it for a week. However, dumpster rental may require a permit if you need to place a dumpster on a street. You are also required to do all the labor if you rent a dumpster.

Using a junk removal service in Sherman Oaks is more expensive but its a quicker method of getting rid of yard debris. A junk removal service supplies both the truck and labor. 

Get Rid of Hoarding

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Hoarding is sometimes hard to recognize. People often confuse being messy with being a hoarder, or vice versa. People often make excuses for hoarders or they tend to ignore the problem altogether. “She’s not a hoarder!” I once heard a cousin of a hoarder declare, “She’s just artistic!” 

Hoarding is not a problem that should be ignored or written off as “being messy” or “being unusual”. Here are five warning signs:

1. Collecting Odd Items, Junk, and Trash 

If a person goes out of their way to collect items that are broken beyond repair, serve no real use, or that are simply trash is a very large warning sign that someone is hoarding. Dragging garbage out of a dumpster or off a curbside and bringing it into a house is not normal behavior for any person.

2. Inability to Throwaway Items

Throwing things away is part of our every day life. We throw away garbage, trash, and broken items every day. But a hoarder often times can’t throw anything away.  They’ll make excuses, “Oh I’ll fix that toaster.” They’ll rationalize, “But this food isn’t spoiled!” And a lot of times hoarders will simply refuse to throw anything away. 

3. Distancing Oneself from Friends and Family

Hoarders often feel great shame about their hoarding behavior. They are often so ashamed of their hoarding they refuse to let anyone into their homes. Frequently hoarders cut themselves off from friends and family. And they’ll also use every opportunity to avoid having visitors inside their homes.

4. Collecting Too Many Animals

Does a person have a lot of cats or dogs? Ten or twenty? Do they all seem cared for or do they seem left to fend for themselves? Animal collection or animal hoarding is a very serious sign of hoarding. Animal hoarding should be reported to your local animal control or ASPCA.

5. Parts of a Home Become Unusable  

Hoarders can fill up rooms and rooms with junk and trash. Are their parts of a house that have been rendered unlivable and un-passable by accumulation of junk? This is a sure sign that you are dealing with a hoarder who has a very advanced hoarding problem.

If you need help with cleaning up after a hoarder or advice on where to go next click here … 

Staying Green

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Sometimes staying green can be a very difficult task. It is more expensive to recycle an old cellphone than it is to chuck it and just be rid of it. The sad truth is, that being green can all add up in the end and sometimes be even more expensive. It shouldn’t matter as long as you are doing right by the environment and doing good for all of us involved in this planet.

Electronics such as cell phones contain lead and cadmium and mercury. All of these are harmful to the environment because they can leak and dissolve into the groundwater or even worse into the air if they were to catch fire.

When contacting a Junk removal Company to hire for services, always make sure that they recycle all E-Waste that can be harmful to the environment. Companies should usually state this as a badge of honor so you won’t have to look too much but in the case that it’s not stated it’s always a good idea to ask.

To save you the trouble, we have found one of the best Junk Removal Companies that deals with E-Waste and the recycling of most of the material that they will haul off. Contact them and be sure that your junk removal services will go smooth as planned.

Clean Out an Apartment

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I manage several apartments in the Northridge area. Northridge is a great section of the San Fernando Valley. It has a nice mix of families, middle class professionals and students. I rent mostly to students who go to Cal State Northridge. So I end up turning over units pretty frequently. About half my apartment units are vacant at some point during the year. So I spend a lot of time cleaning out apartments and getting them to rent again. 

If you manage or rent apartment units I’d highly recommend using a junk removal company in Northridge to reduce time spent turning over units.

I am pretty careful about who I rent to and most of my tenants are good, hardworking kids, but when they move out they always leave something behind. Without fail. And typically its big and heavy and impossible to put into my normal dumpster. This is the right moment to call a junk removal company. They’ll come in, remove all the junk and any trash from the unit, and after that its just a matter of sending in my super to clean and make any small repairs that need to be made.

I would estimate that junk removal companies in Northridge have saved me hours and hours of labor. And cut down my turn around time by days.