Basement cleanouts in St. Louis brick flats and bungalows

The short answer

Most St. Louis basement cleanouts are priced by truck tier — quarter truck $241, half truck $431, 3/4 truck $587, full truck $732 — with heavy appliances often priced individually: washer $133, dryer $128, chest freezer $146, tank water heater $131. The crew carries everything up the basement stair and out to the truck in the alley or street, and there is no stairs fee.

Why St. Louis basements fill up

St. Louis is a basement city, and its housing is old. In the City, neighborhoods are built of locally produced brick: Carondelet's housing went up mostly between 1880 and 1930, Soulard's dates to the mid- to late-1800s, St. Louis Hills to the 1930s through 1950s. In the County, Maplewood's historic homes went up mostly between 1900 and 1910, and Florissant built around 18,000 houses between 1947 and 1980.

Different eras, same result: a deep basement that has been the household's storage room for decades. Holiday decorations, canning jars, old paint, a workbench, the furniture from the last move, the second fridge, the dehumidifier that died in 2015. In long-held family homes on The Hill or in St. Louis Hills, a basement can hold two generations of storage, and it is common to find furniture that went down the stairs in pieces and was never meant to come back up.

Two kinds of basement, two kinds of carry

19th- and early-20th-century brick flats and homes

In Soulard, Benton Park, Dutchtown, Bevo Mill and Tower Grove South, basement stairs are often steep and narrow, sometimes with a low ceiling at the landing and a turn at the top. Measure the doorway at the top as well as the stair itself; it is frequently the tightest point. Some basements are shared between the units of a two- or four-family flat, and many have a separate exterior entrance to the back yard and alley, which is often the better route out.

Postwar ranches

In Florissant, Affton, Mehlville and Oakville, basements are usually a full straight staircase under the main floor, sometimes with a walkout. Easier geometry, but often more square footage — and more stuff. A finished rec room with a bar, a sectional and a pool table is a very different job from a storage basement, and worth photographing separately.

Basement cleanout prices

A South City flat basement with a half truck of boxes plus the old washer and dryer: $431 + $133 + $128 = $692. A Florissant ranch basement with a quarter truck of odds and ends plus a chest freezer: $241 + $146 = $387. A Tower Grove South rehab where the old furnace, the water heater and two cast-iron radiators came out: $131 + $131 + $123 + $123 = $508.

Why the City routes rarely fit a basement

City residents pay a $14 per month per unit solid-waste fee that covers monthly bulky pickup, but the rules are built for a few pieces, not a basement. It takes up to three items per collection week, nothing over 100 lbs, 6 ft long or 2 ft in diameter, and everything must already be in the alley or at the curb by 6:00 am on the Monday. Washers, freezers, water heaters and radiators fail the weight limit, and the City does not come into the house.

The North and South transfer stations take resident self-haul loads weekdays from 8:00 to 4:00, up to 12 loads a year, each load about what fits a half-ton pickup. A half truck of basement storage is roughly eight cubic yards, which is several pickup loads, several weekday trips and every item carried up the stair by hand. County residents should check their own municipality or trash district, which sets its own rules.

Water-damaged basements

Heavy rain and river flooding hit St. Louis basements. The 1993 Missouri River levee failure flooded Chesterfield Valley, and the Meramec has flooded Valley Park and Fenton. After a wet spring, a lot of basements across the metro have soaked carpet, swollen particleboard and mildewed boxes.

• Photograph damage for insurance before anything is removed.
• Pull wet carpet and pad fast. Carpet removal is $71 per room; rolled carpet is $68.
• Bag wet loose material. Ten bags of debris are $132.
• Separate what can be dried from what is gone.

Wet material is heavy. That is one more reason not to haul it up a narrow stair yourself. A finished basement with two rooms of wet carpet and ten bags of ruined boxes is $71 + $71 + $132 = $274.

Things that need sorting first

• Paint: accepted, $30 per gallon can, $52 per 5-gallon bucket.
• Chemicals: solvents, pesticides and pool chemicals are hazardous and not standard — ask case by case. The City transfer stations do not take household hazardous waste either.
• Appliances: banned from Missouri landfills, so they go to recycling.
• Old batteries and motor oil: banned from Missouri landfills; the City's BOAT-E collection takes them for City residents.
• Shared basements: in flats, mark which belongings are whose before the crew arrives.

How the carry-out actually works

A basement cleanout in a City flat is mostly logistics. The crew works the job in a set order:

1. Clear the stair first. Anything stored on the steps or at the landing comes out before the big pieces.
2. Boxes and bags next, to open floor space and a path to the stair.
3. Heavy pieces last, once the route is clear: the washer, the freezer, the workbench, the old sofa.
4. Load from the closest exit. In alley blocks, that is usually the back door and the alley; elsewhere, the front walk and the street.

If the basement is shared, the crew only takes what you have marked, so label clearly. Furniture that came down in pieces decades ago may need to go back up in pieces; that is part of the job, not an add-on.

Booking a basement cleanout

Take a few photos from the bottom of the stairs, of each corner, and of the stair itself, and upload them at the instant quote page. You will see the flat price before booking. Pick a two-hour window any day from 8am to midnight; same-day works when you book by 4 PM. Basements are a good winter job, when outdoor work is on hold, and a sensible first step before a spring remodel or a sale.

Frequently asked questions