Garage cleanouts that get the car back inside

It starts with a decision only you can make: what stays. Pull the keepers to one wall, or put tape on them. Everything else is fair game. The crew works from the door back, so the big stuff near the opening goes first and the space opens up fast.

Shelving units get emptied and broken down. Old bikes, a busted mower, the extra fridge, rolled-up carpet, boxes from three moves ago: it all goes in the trailer. When the floor shows, it gets swept. You stage it, we haul it, or you point at it and we take care of it. Either way the lifting isn't yours.

A two-car garage packed to the rafters is a bigger job than it looks from the driveway, because the stuff goes all the way to the back wall. That's why the photo from the back matters when you ask for a price.

If sorting is the part you're dreading, the garage cleanout checklist breaks it into an afternoon's work.

Most garages can be priced from photos. Take one from the driveway with the door up, and one from the back looking out. That shows how deep the stuff goes. The price is set by how much trailer space it fills.

If part of the pile is heavy material, like old pavers, loose brick or a stack of tile, that part is quoted on its own. Everything is agreed before loading. The pricing page has the details.

Every garage has one: old paint, pool chemicals, weed killer, motor oil. These need their own plan. Bryan says chemicals can't go in the trash cart, and leaving them at the curb for brush and bulky pickup can bring a citation.

TCEQ says a paint can less than one-quarter full can be opened and left to dry in a ventilated spot, then thrown away once it's dry. For the rest, BVSWMA runs a household hazardous waste collection event for residents of Brazos, Robertson, Leon, Burleson, Madison, Grimes and Washington counties. What it takes is posted on the Twin Oaks Landfill site. More in household hazardous waste in the Brazos Valley.

Those cans are part of a short list ME3 Junk Solutions can't haul: chemicals, solvents and pesticides, liquid paint and thinners, gas, oil and other fuels, asbestos, medical waste and needles, ammunition and fireworks, propane tanks and other pressurized cylinders, and anything radioactive. The full list of what we can't take spells it out.

Set those to one side before the crew comes, and they'll work around them. The household hazardous waste event above and TCEQ's list of local collection programs are where they belong.

Tires turn up in a lot of garages. Bryan's Used Oil and Tire Recycling Center takes up to eight passenger or light-truck tires per visit from Bryan residents, off the rim. Commercial and heavy-equipment tires are turned away.

If you don't live in Bryan or don't want to make the trip, ME3 Junk Solutions hauls tires too. Mention them when you send photos so they're part of the quote. Tires are charged per tire, by size, and the rates are on the pricing page. Tire disposal in the Brazos Valley covers the county options.

Garages collect electronics: the tube TV that wasn't worth moving inside, a dead desktop, a box of cords. Bryan's trash cart can't hold electronics.

Texas law requires TV and computer makers to offer recycling to consumers, and computers can be recycled free through TexasRecyclesComputers.org. Pull them aside while you sort, and the maker's program is an easy next step. Old TV and computer disposal in Texas has the details.

Garages hold a lot of things that still work: tools, a decent workbench, patio chairs. If you'd like them to go somewhere useful, a yard sale or a neighbor is the way.

Anything you want to sell or give away, pull it before the crew arrives. Once it's in the trailer, it's part of the load.