The skip for a bathroom
| The job | The skip | Holds | Guide price (incl. VAT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bathroom strip-out | 4 Yard Skip | about 40 bin bags | from £366 |
| Full kitchen + bathroom strip | 12 Yard Skip | about 120 bin bags | from £576 |
Each line is a job our size guide matches to that skip. Guide prices are for a private-property (driveway) delivery with general mixed waste at a London postcode. Get the price for your postcode. Bag counts assume full 60-litre bin bags — about 10 to a cubic yard. Bulky items take more room than bags.
A bathroom is a small room with a heavy load: the suite and the tiles weigh far more than their volume suggests. If the floor is coming up as well, go up a size — a skip cannot be loaded above its sides. Every size compared.
What comes out of a bathroom, and where it goes
| What comes out | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| The bath | In the skip. A cast-iron bath is very heavy: get help to move it, and put it in first. |
| The toilet, basin and shower tray | In the skip, at the bottom. Ceramic is heavy and breaks sharp. |
| Wall and floor tiles, adhesive and rubble | In the skip, loaded first: they are heavy for their size. |
| Radiators, taps, a towel rail and pipework | In the skip. |
| A vanity unit, bath panel, shelves and a door | In the skip, as general waste. |
| Plasterboard | In a skip of its own, booked as plasterboard. It cannot be mixed with general waste. |
| Plaster off the walls | Ask before you book how it should travel. |
| Paint, sealant and cleaning chemicals | Fuels, oils and loose or leaking liquids never go in. Empty, dry paint tins are fine; a tin with paint still in it, or a container of any other chemical, needs asking about before you book. |
Asbestos never goes in a skip. The Health and Safety Executive says it may be part of any home built or refurbished before 2000, and lists toilet cisterns and water tanks, textured decorative coatings such as Artex, floor tiles and insulating board that looks like plasterboard among the places it can still be found. If you are not sure what a material is, do not break it up: HSE's advice is not to try to remove asbestos yourself without training, and that some materials, insulating board among them, should only be removed by a contractor it licenses. The environmental health officer at your council can advise.
Loading a bathroom into a skip
- The heaviest things first. The bath, the suite and the tiles go at the bottom, spread evenly across the floor of the skip.
- Light and bulky on top: the vanity unit, panels and packaging.
- Level with the sides, and no higher. A skip heaped above the rim cannot be carried on the road, and under the terms a wasted journey costs £60 plus the return visit at cost.
- Keep the plasterboard out of the mixed load.
A cage van is for light waste
For a light clear-out a cage van can stand in for a skip. For a strip-out, check first: a cage van takes light waste only and cannot take rubble or plasterboard. For tiles, a bath or a ceramic suite, ask before you book.
If a fitter is doing the work
Waste a tradesperson produces while working on your home is theirs to deal with, and they need a waste transfer note for it. So agree before the job starts who is hiring the skip, and whether taking the waste away is in their price. If you hire it yourself, you choose the waste type and declare what has to be declared when you book. What a waste transfer note is.
When to have the skip delivered, and where
You choose the delivery day when you book, so choose the day the old bathroom comes out. There is no fixed hire period; when the skip is full, say so and it is collected.
On your own drive or land there is nothing to arrange. If the skip has to stand on a public road it needs a council permit, which is arranged for you and shown as its own line in the price before you pay; each council sets its own fee and notice period. The fee for every council, and the options if you have no drive.
Where these figures come from
The sizes, what each holds and the prices are our own, read from our catalogue and updated about hourly; each job is matched to a size by our size guide's own lines. What has to be declared is what the booking offers today, and what never goes in is our Acceptable Waste Policy, which is part of our terms. Where asbestos can still be found is the Health and Safety Executive's guidance.