Roofing

Sizing a Dumpster for a Roof Tear-Off in the South Metro

Roofing is where sizing goes wrong most often, and it is always the same mistake: sizing by how the pile looks instead of what it weighs.

The one number that matters: squares

Roofers measure in squares. One square is 100 square feet of roof surface. A typical single-storey house around Apple Valley is somewhere between 20 and 35 squares depending on footprint and pitch; the larger properties in Eden Prairie, Mendota Heights and the newer Lakeville developments can run well past 50.

If you do not know your square count, your roofer does, and it is the first thing to ask. Everything downstream — container size, weight allowance, whether you need a swap — follows from it.

What a square of roofing weighs

Run the arithmetic. A 28 square architectural shingle roof at 350 lb per square is roughly 9,800 pounds — just under five tons before underlayment. That is already at or past the included allowance on a 20 yard.

Shingle sizing table

Note the wording on the 25-35 row. A 20 yard has the volume for that job comfortably. It is the weight allowance you need to watch, which is why we quote the overage rate and often suggest the 30 for the top end of that band.

Metal roofs are a different problem

Metal roofing turns up on outbuildings, pole sheds, agricultural property out past Farmington and Northfield, and an increasing number of new residential builds. It flips the usual sizing logic completely.

Metal is light. A 30 square metal roof might weigh under two tons. But the panels are long, awkward and full of air, so a container of loose sheeting fills up astonishingly fast while weighing almost nothing. Size by volume, not weight — go bigger than the tonnage suggests.

Two practical notes. Flatten or nest the panels as you load, or you will waste half the container on empty space. And if the volume is substantial, metal roofing is scrap with real value — pulling it out as a separate stream can offset a meaningful part of the job cost.

The second layer problem

Plenty of houses around here have a second layer of shingle laid over the original. It roughly doubles the tear-off weight, and people often do not know until the crew is up there.

Two practical steps: look at the rake edge from the ground, where a double layer is frequently visible as a thicker band, and ask your roofer to confirm during the inspection. If it turns out on the day, call us — a swap-out mid-job is straightforward and far cheaper than an overloaded container that cannot be hauled.

Hail season and the insurance queue

This is the single biggest scheduling factor in Minnesota roofing and it is worth planning around.

The metro sits in a part of the country that gets serious hail, and a significant storm can damage thousands of roofs across a few suburbs in twenty minutes. What follows is entirely predictable: adjusters get overwhelmed, roofing contractors book out for months, out-of-state storm-chasing crews appear, and every hauler in the south metro is at capacity.

Two pieces of practical advice. If your neighbourhood has been hit, get your claim in early — the queue is real and it is first come. And if you are a roofing contractor working several houses on one street, talk to us about a standing swap arrangement before the season rather than joining the phone queue after the storm. We hold capacity for contractors who work with us regularly, and we are honest during those weeks about what we can and cannot deliver.

Ice dams and what they hide

Ice dams are the other Minnesota roofing reality, and they matter for sizing because of what they conceal.

Water backing up under shingles does its damage out of sight — rotted decking along the eaves, soaked insulation in the attic, and sometimes damaged fascia and soffit. None of that is visible until the old roofing comes off, and all of it adds volume and weight nobody budgeted for.

If your house has had ice dams, tell your roofer and tell us. Wet decking and saturated insulation weigh a multiple of their dry equivalent, and the practical answer is usually to build headroom into the container size rather than plan a mid-job swap.

Placement and site cleanup

A tear-off crew carrying material an extra thirty feet loses real hours over a day.

• Tight to the drip line on the elevation being torn off, so material can be dropped or chuted directly in.
• Clear of the eaves overhead. The truck bed needs roughly twenty-two feet of vertical clearance to tip, so low eaves, power drops and mature boulevard trees dictate how close we can get.
• On boards, and on ground that will carry the weight. In spring, ground that looks fine can still be soft underneath as the frost comes out.

One thing that is not about the container at all: a tear-off sheds an enormous quantity of nails. A magnet sweep of the driveway, lawn and street at the end of the job is twenty minutes well spent, and it is the single most common complaint homeowners have about roofing work.

More on our roofing containers here, or just call and tell us the square count and the material.