Oakland · Dumpster Rentals
10 Yard Dumpster
The low-sided box for heavy debris — concrete, soil, tile, brick and roofing — where weight runs out long before space does.
10 Yard Dumpster · Oakland
The Box You Want When The Debris Is Heavy
A 10 yard dumpster holds about ten cubic yards, roughly three to four pickup loads, in a box around twelve feet long, eight wide and only three and a half feet high. Those low sides are the reason it exists. Heavy material reaches its weight limit long before it fills the available space, so a big box loaded with concrete or soil would be over the road-legal limit while still looking half empty. This is the container the trade calls a low boy, and it is the one we send on every concrete removal, every patio breakout, every soil excavation, every tile job and almost every roof tear-off in the East Bay. The low sides do a second job as well: you can throw a lump of broken concrete over a three-and-a-half-foot wall all day, which is not true of a box twice that height. If your debris is bulky and light rather than dense — furniture, cabinetry, fencing, general clear-out — this is the wrong container and the 20 yard dumpster will hold far more for a modest amount extra. If it is dense, nothing else on the truck is close.
Why Use Us For Heavy Debris
Heavy loads are where a haulier either knows what they are doing or hands you a bill you did not expect. Overloaded containers cannot legally be driven, which means a driver either refuses the load or takes it and passes on an overweight charge, and neither is a good day for the customer. We size heavy jobs by estimated tonnage rather than by cubic yards, we tell you the included weight and the per-ton overage before you book, and we will tell you when separating the concrete from everything else turns a mixed-waste rate into a recycling rate. On a patio breakout or a foundation removal that difference is frequently the largest single saving available on the job.
- Heavy jobs quoted by tonnage first, cubic yards second, because that is what actually limits the load.
- Two tons included, with the overage rate stated up front rather than discovered on the invoice.
- Clean concrete, brick and soil routed to recycling rather than mixed disposal where the load allows.
- Low sides at about three and a half feet, so heavy material goes over the wall rather than up a ramp.
- Short enough at twelve feet to sit level on steep Oakland hills and Castro Valley driveways.
- Straight advice when a bigger box is cheaper for you, which happens more than you would think.
Reasons To Book The Low Boy
Weight rather than volume is what points at this container:
You are tearing off a roof
Composition shingle runs somewhere around 250 pounds per square of single-layer roofing, and older East Bay houses often carry two or three layers. A modest roof will use the whole two-ton allowance. This box is short enough to sit close to the house and low enough to throw into from a ladder.
Concrete or asphalt is coming out
A patio, a path, a driveway section, an old foundation. Concrete is the densest thing anybody puts in a container and a clean concrete load can be recycled rather than dumped, which changes the disposal rate substantially.
Soil or excavation spoil has to go
Trenching, a pool removal, a leveled garden, a foundation dig. Wet Bay Area clay is heavier than most people believe and this is the only container that makes sense for it.
A tiled floor or bathroom is being stripped
Tile, thinset and the mortar bed underneath are dense, and pre-war East Bay bathrooms with a sand-bedded floor are dramatically heavier than a modern one.
Plaster and lath are coming off the walls
Every pre-war house in Berkeley, Alameda and West Oakland is full of it, and it out-weighs drywall several times over for the same wall area.
The driveway is steep or short
At twelve feet this box will sit level where a 22-foot container cannot, which in the Oakland hills, El Cerrito and Castro Valley is often the deciding factor regardless of what is going in it.
Tell us the material and roughly the square footage and we will tell you the tonnage before you commit to a size. Call: (510) 916-3865
How A Heavy-Debris Job Runs
The sequence is the same as any roll-off; what changes is how carefully the weight is planned.
1. Estimate the tonnage, not the volume
We ask for square footage and material rather than “how big a pile”. Roofing, concrete, tile and soil all have known weights per unit area, and a two-minute conversation gets within a quarter ton of reality — which is close enough to pick the right container and price it honestly.
2. Decide whether to separate
A container of nothing but concrete or nothing but soil goes to a recycling facility at a recycling rate. Mix in the timber and the packaging and the whole load is mixed waste. On heavy jobs this decision is usually worth more than any other saving available.
3. Delivery and loading
Plywood down, box set level. Load heavy material flat across the floor and spread it evenly rather than piling it at one end — an unbalanced heavy load is harder to winch back on and can shift on the bed. Fill the floor before building height.
4. Collection and weighing
The load is weighed over a certified scale at a licensed facility and you get the ticket showing the tonnage and the destination. If the job is under a building permit, that ticket is the diversion evidence the paperwork asks for.
Heavy Materials, Weights And Where The Limits Sit
What each of the common heavy streams actually weighs, and how it changes the plan:
Concrete and masonry
Broken concrete runs around two tons per cubic yard, so two cubic yards is effectively a full load on the standard allowance. Clean concrete, brick and block are recyclable and are crushed for aggregate, so keep the rebar reasonable and keep the timber out. On larger breakouts we work to a dedicated concrete-only container and price it on that basis.
Soil, dirt and sod
Dry soil is roughly a ton per cubic yard and wet Bay Area clay is considerably more, which is why a January excavation costs more to haul than the same job in August. Clean soil has its own disposal route. Soil mixed with roots, rubble and plastic sheeting does not, and the difference is worth keeping in mind while the excavator is running.
Roofing tear-offs
A square of single-layer composition shingle is around 250 pounds and older East Bay roofs frequently carry two or three layers. Twenty squares of a two-layer roof is comfortably over two tons. Roofing is the job we most often see under-sized, and the fix is not a bigger box — it is the right tonnage and, on big roofs, a second haul.
Tile, plaster and lath
A pre-war bathroom floor bedded in mortar can weigh several times what a modern tiled floor does, and plaster and lath out-weighs drywall by a wide margin. In Berkeley, Alameda and West Oakland this is the single most under-estimated material there is.
Why the sides are low
Partly to keep a full box inside the legal road weight, and partly for loading. Three and a half feet is about chest height, so broken concrete can be lifted over the side rather than wheeled up a ramp. On a demolition where every piece is lifted by hand, that is the difference between a day and two.
Mixing heavy and light
It is allowed and it is often a mistake. Filling the space above a heavy floor with light bulky debris means paying mixed-waste disposal on material that could have been recycled, and it wastes the tonnage. On a job producing both, two boxes are frequently cheaper than one.
Rain and the weight you did not load
An open box left uncovered through a wet East Bay week can take on a serious amount of water, and porous debris like soil and shingle holds it. From November to March, tarping a heavy load is worth doing on the first day rather than the fourth.
When to go bigger anyway
If the job is mostly bulky and light with a small heavy component, the low boy is the wrong choice: you will fill it in an afternoon and pay for a second haul. That is a 20 yard dumpster job with the heavy fraction kept out, or a construction dumpster on a swap schedule if the site is still running.
What A 10 Yard Dumpster Costs In Oakland
Expect roughly $375 to $500 for a 10-yard delivered, rented for the week, collected and disposed of, with about two tons included. On heavy jobs, the disposal is a much larger share of that number than on light ones. What moves it:
- The tonnage. This is the whole game on a heavy job — the box is a container, but the weight is what you are really buying.
- Whether the load is clean. Concrete-only, soil-only and brick-only loads are recycled at a materially lower rate than mixed debris.
- How many hauls. Big roofs, long driveways and full patio removals are frequently two loads, and knowing that up front beats discovering it at the top of the drive.
- Rain. Wet soil and saturated shingle weigh substantially more than the same material dry, and the scale does not care why.
- Placement. Driveway is included; a street position adds the city permit and posting at cost.
- Access. The short body is what gets this box onto steep and awkward drives, and where a smaller truck is needed the quote reflects it.
- Rental length. Seven days included, flat daily rate after, which on a phased demolition is worth planning around.
We quote the tonnage as well as the price, so there is nothing to find out later. If the material turns out to be lighter and bulkier than you thought, we will point you at a bigger box instead — every size sits side by side on the Oakland roll off dumpster rental home page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What size dumpster do I need for a roof tear-off?
A 10-yard for most single-family roofs, and the deciding number is squares rather than area. A square of single-layer composition shingle weighs roughly 250 pounds, so twenty squares of single-layer is about two and a half tons and twenty squares of a two-layer roof is around five. Older East Bay houses very often have two or three layers. Tell us the squares and the layers and we will tell you whether it is one haul or two.
Can I put concrete and dirt in a regular dumpster?
You can put them in a container, but not in a large one and not mixed with everything else if you want the price to make sense. Concrete runs about two tons per cubic yard, so a 20 or 40-yard box loaded with it would be far over the road-legal weight while still looking half full. Heavy material goes in this low box, and a clean single-material load goes to a recycler rather than to landfill at a better rate.
How much is two tons in practical terms?
Roughly one cubic yard of concrete plus a bit, or two cubic yards of soil, or around fifteen to twenty squares of single-layer roofing, or the tile and mortar bed from a couple of pre-war bathrooms. It sounds like a lot and it is reached faster than almost anyone expects when the material is dense.
Why is it shorter than the other containers?
Two reasons. A full box of heavy material has to stay inside the legal weight for the road, and a taller box would be over the limit long before it was full. And the low sides make loading heavy material by hand possible — you lift broken concrete over a three-and-a-half-foot wall rather than wheeling it up a ramp.
Will it fit on a steep driveway?
More often than anything larger will. At about twelve feet it can sit level on ground where a 22-foot box would be resting on two corners, which is why it is the container we send most often into the Oakland hills, Castro Valley and the streets above Arlington in El Cerrito. Send a photo of the drive if you are unsure and we will look before we send a truck.
Should I separate the concrete from the rest of the debris?
If there is enough of it, yes. A container of nothing but concrete or nothing but soil goes to a recycling facility at a recycling rate; the moment timber, plastic and packaging go in, the whole load becomes mixed waste at a higher rate. On any real breakout this is usually the largest saving available on the job, and it costs nothing but a bit of discipline on the ground.
What happens if I overload it?
A container filled above the top rail cannot legally be transported, so it has to be leveled before the truck can take it — which on a heavy load means somebody unloading it by hand. On weight, an overloaded box either has to be partially emptied on site or comes with an overweight charge. Neither is a good outcome and both are avoidable by talking about tonnage before delivery.
Book A Dumpster In Oakland
Tell us the project and the address and we will come back the same day with a flat rate and a free estimate.
Or call us now: (510) 916-3865