If there is one downside of a dumpster rental, it is that the average dumpster can weigh an absurd amount once it is full of refuse. When you place a dumpster on a concrete, stone, or asphalt driveway, there is always a chance that this added weight can lead directly to driveway damage. But how do you protect your driveway from this weight damage without getting in the way of the dumpster rental service?
How can a dumpster damage my driveway?
When you protect your driveway from a dumpster, you are usually preventing a range of different issues. However, the most common – and most obvious – is cracks or splits caused by the heavyweight of the dumpster rentals themselves. If you have part of a driveway that isn’t flat, such as a curved section, a dumpster can end up pushing down on specific points rather than lying flat against the ground. This can slowly damage those points and lead to the surface cracking or denting, and might even break through the driveway entirely.
Choosing a Spot
The best way to protect your driveway from the beginning is to choose the right dumpster delivery point. Ideally, your dumpster rental should be able placed on a tough driveway material such as thick asphalt or concrete. However, you shouldn’t place the dumpster on soft grass just to avoid property damage, since this can make it far harder for the dumpster companies to collect it.
Try to place the dumpster in a level area of your driveway, avoiding any bumps or curves that might put most of the weight on two or three points. The more contact the dumpster has with the ground, the less dumpster damage it will cause since the weight is being spread out across the concrete evenly. Remember that adding more items to a dumpster increases its weight, meaning that it might only cause dumpster damage to the ground after it is partially full.
Keep in mind that you also need your dumpster rental to be in a convenient place. Avoiding driveway dumpster damage is always good, but in some cases, it is worth having the dumpster close to your home or work site even if that could lead to slightly more property damage. Having to carry debris all the way to the bottom of your driveway can be much more of an annoyance than mild driveway damage from a heavy dumpster.
Protect Your Driveway
Before the dumpster rental service actually delivers your dumpster, there are certain ways to prepare ahead of time. You won’t usually need to tell the rental company about this, although you should still be there when it arrives to make sure that they place the container in the right spot. There are no ‘perfect’ ways to protect driveways from damage like this, and it all comes down to the situation you are in.
Whether your drive is made of brickwork, solid materials, or even just gravel, finding the best solution ahead of time always helps. The more prepared you are for the delivery truck, and the more precautions you have in place, the easier it becomes to make sure that your driveway stays in one piece and doesn’t crack or warp from long-term dumpster use.
Distribute Weight
One way that you can reduce direct damage to the driveway is by using something to spread the weight out. When a dumpster rental company arrives with your dumpster, you generally get to tell them where to place the dumpster – in this case, rather than just telling them to put it on the driveway, you can prepare a specific place for them to deliver it.
A common method of preventing property damage is to place plywood boards underneath the dumpster wheels, spreading out the weight and putting another layer between the dumpster and the driveway. When you place plywood boards or other solid layers beneath a heavy object, the weight is distributed into the plywood first, then the driveway, meaning that it isn’t coming directly from the wheels.
Variations on this plywood trick are the best way to avoid damage in general. Most driveway damage from a dumpster rental is caused by a lot of weight concentrated into a small area, such as the wheels of a dumpster that is full of heavy debris. This can be even more noticeable with a roll-off dumpster since the average roll-off dumpster rental option will be built entirely around the wheels rather than having any solid bottom pieces.
Avoid Heat
In hotter conditions and bright sunlight, certain driveway materials can actually begin to soften or become less resistant to weight. As you might expect, a dumpster rental company placing a heavy container on a hot surface can sometimes lead to near-permanent damage, causing it to warp underneath the wheels.
To make this easier, you can specify a shaded area to the dumpster rental services when they deliver. Even the shade of a tree can be enough: anything to reduce the excess heat and brightness. Watch out for other sources of heat, too, and make sure that nothing in the dumpster catches fire: if it does, the heat might spread to the dumpster itself, then to the wheels, which could lead to certain driveway materials scorching or even melting.
Avoid Overfilling
One of the biggest mistakes you can make with a dumpster is ignoring the rules of the rental company. Most dumpster rental companies have restrictions on certain material types and overall load in the dumpster. This isn’t just so that the dumpster rental can limit how you use their products: it is to prevent excessive damage or issues with using the container.
When dumpster rental companies place limits on how you can use the disposal dumpster, it is because they know that exceeding these limits can be a bad thing. Sometimes it can cause damage, and in other cases, it can lead to the dumpster itself being almost impossible to retrieve. Certain materials might even corrode through the dumpster itself and start eating away at the driveway materials.
Even without restrictions from a dumpster rental company, though, you should take the heaviness of each item into account. A project might produce a lot of bricks, for example, and while they are not individually heavy, they can quickly add up into a very hefty pile of trash and waste.
Use The Right Dumpster Type
Sometimes, avoiding surface damage can be as simple as choosing the right container for your location or project. A large roll-off dumpster is excellent for situations where you need to collect a lot of debris, but if you only need something relatively small and compact, then you are putting more pressure on your driveway for no real reason. Many people will gravitate towards larger dumpsters even if they are not necessary, and it is easy to overestimate just how much space you actually need for a given project.
Of course, if you do need a larger and more damaging dumpster, then preparing the space can still help. The trick of putting plywood beneath the wheels works with any kind of dumpster and can generally always work as expected, meaning that it is worth trying even if you don’t think you will need that extra protection.
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