Deck Removal & Replacement: Dumpster Sizing and Debris Tips

Deck demolition is one of the more underrated debris generators on a residential property. The wood doesn’t look like much when stacked in pieces, but the accumulated volume of joists, beams, decking boards, railings, and old hardware adds up faster than people guess.

Here’s what to plan for.

How much debris a deck produces

A rough rule: 1 cubic yard of debris per 100 square feet of deck for the structural materials. So:

• 200 sq ft deck: 2 cubic yards
• 400 sq ft deck: 4 cubic yards
• 600 sq ft deck: 6 cubic yards

That’s just the deck itself. Add:

• Railings: 0.5–1 cubic yard for typical deck size
• Stairs and landings: 0.5 cubic yard per flight
• Footings or pier blocks (if removing): variable, often heavy
• Old hardware and fasteners: trivial volume but be careful with nails

A typical 12x16 (192 sq ft) deck demo with railings and a single set of stairs is around 3 cubic yards of debris. Easily fits a 15 yard with room left over.

If you’re replacing the deck, add another 1–2 cubic yards of new-construction packaging — boxes for fasteners, packaging from new boards, banding from lumber bundles.

Sizing the rental

For most deck projects: 15 yard.

The exceptions:

• Large multi-level decks (over 800 sq ft total) — 30 yard
• Deck demo combined with patio or hardscape work — 30 yard
• Deck demo plus other outdoor projects in same rental (siding, roofing, etc.) — 30 yard

If you’re tearing down and rebuilding a typical residential deck in Boerne, Bulverde, Mount Vernon, or anywhere in the area, the 15 is right.

Demo strategy

Decks come apart in roughly the reverse order they were built:

Step 1: Remove deck furniture, planters, anything decorative.

Step 2: Remove railings. Top rails, balusters, posts. These often come off as units if you can find the right fastener pattern.

Step 3: Remove stairs. Whole flights are awkward but not heavy. Cut with a reciprocating saw if needed.

Step 4: Remove deck boards. Pry up with a flat bar or pry bar. Old screwed-down boards take longer but come up cleanly.

Step 5: Remove joists. Cut with a circular saw if needed. Most are toenailed to the rim joist or hung with joist hangers.

Step 6: Remove ledger and rim joist. The ledger board attached to the house is usually the last structural piece.

Step 7: Remove footings or pier blocks. Optional — some homeowners leave them in place if rebuilding on the same footprint. If removing, plan for heavy weight.

What goes in the dumpster

All standard deck debris is fine:

• Decking boards (pressure-treated, cedar, redwood, IPE, composite)
• Joists, beams, rim boards (typically pressure-treated)
• Posts (4x4, 6x6, treated)
• Railings and balusters
• Stairs and stair stringers
• Old hardware (joist hangers, brackets) — toss with the wood
• Concrete pier blocks (heavy)
• Removed footings (heavy; consider whether to remove or leave)
• Old deck screws and nails (in the wood is fine; loose, sweep up)

What doesn’t go in

The standard rules:

• Liquid stain or sealer (cured stain on the wood is fine)
• Old paint cans with liquid contents
• Any propane tanks that may have been used for the deck (return to supplier)

Pressure-treated wood: the actual rules

Modern pressure-treated lumber is treated with ACQ (Alkaline Copper Quaternary) or similar copper-based compounds. This replaced the older CCA (Chromated Copper Arsenate) treatment around 2003. Both are accepted in roll-offs in Texas residential quantities.

Older decks (pre-2003) treated with CCA may have arsenic in the wood. The disposal rules don’t actually change — it still goes through C&D streams — but two practical points:

1. Don’t burn pressure-treated lumber. Especially not the older CCA-treated stuff. The combustion products are genuinely hazardous.
2. Wear gloves during demo. Skin contact with weathered pressure-treated lumber isn’t acutely dangerous but isn’t great either.

For commercial-volume PT lumber disposal (large dock or commercial deck demo), some landfills have specific protocols. Call us for very large jobs.

Composite and PVC decking

Modern composite decks (Trex, TimberTech, AZEK, others) are mixes of wood fiber and plastic. They’re allowed in roll-offs:

• Composite decking: standard C&D streams
• Hollow-core composite (older): same
• Solid PVC decking: same
• Aluminum decking: fine, sometimes worth scrapping for value

Composite is lighter than PT lumber per cubic yard, which means less weight concern.

Cedar and redwood

Older cedar and redwood decks are easy demos — the lumber is light and clean. Some homeowners ask whether old cedar is worth keeping for reuse (raised beds, garden structures). If it’s in good shape and you have a use, sure. Most demoed cedar from a 20-year-old deck is too weathered to be worth saving.

IPE and exotic hardwoods

IPE (ironwood), Cumaru, and other tropical hardwoods are rarer but show up on premium decks. They’re dense and heavy — a 400 sq ft IPE deck weighs roughly twice what a comparable PT deck weighs.

If you have hardwood decking coming off, it does have salvage value to woodworkers. Worth posting on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace before tossing — sometimes a furniture maker will haul it for free in exchange for the boards.

Concrete footings

If you’re removing concrete pier blocks or pour-in-place footings:

• Pier blocks (the precast pyramids): roughly 50 lb each, fine in roll-off, but they take weight
• Pour-in-place footings: variable. A typical 12-inch round, 36-inch deep concrete footing is around 200 lb.
• Helical piers (steel): usually not worth removing; can be cut at grade

Removing footings is often more work than the rest of the deck combined. Plan for it specifically and consider whether the rebuild really requires removal.

Loading the box

Deck debris loads efficiently if you’re disciplined:

Long pieces along the long axis. Don’t cut decking boards shorter than they need to be — long pieces lay flat and pack densely.

Pull nails or fold them over. Loose nails in the box are a hazard during haul.

Stack railings together. Bundles of railing components pack tighter than scattered pieces.

Heavy concrete to the bottom. If you’re tossing pier blocks, they go in first.

Composite separately, or mixed? Mixed is fine for residential. There’s no requirement to separate composite from wood.

What changes by region

Boerne and the Hill Country: many decks are cedar or PT lumber, often with stone or concrete patios adjacent. If you’re combining deck demo with patio work, plan for a 30 yard.

Mount Vernon and Northeast Texas: more pine PT decks, fewer hardwoods, often older construction. The 15 yard is right for nearly all residential deck demos in this area.

For either region, a typical residential deck demo and replacement is a clean 15-yard project. Same-day or next-day delivery is usually available — give us a holler at (903) 806-4181 or book online when you have a start date.