What Does It Weigh? Dumpster Tonnage Guide

The Short Version

A ton is less than you think.

Two thousand pounds sounds like a lot until you're throwing away wet carpet and old tile. The 15 yard includes 1 ton; the 20 and 25 include 2 tons. Past that it's $85 per ton, billed at the actual scale weight.

Roughly what a full container weighs

If you fill it with…	15 Yard	20 Yard	25 Yard
Household junk, furniture, boxes	1.5–2 tons	2–2.5 tons	2.5–3 tons
Mixed construction debris	2.5–3 tons	3.5–4 tons	4–5 tons
Drywall and plaster	3–4 tons	4–5 tons	5–6 tons
Framing lumber, siding, cabinetry	1.5–2 tons	2–2.5 tons	2.5–3 tons
Brush and yard waste	1.5–2.5 tons	2–3 tons	2.5–4 tons

Ranges, not promises — wet material weighs far more than dry, and a packed container weighs more than a loosely filled one.

Individual items, roughly

≈ Around the house

Sofa — 100 to 200 lbs
Mattress and box spring — 100 to 150 lbs
Refrigerator — about 250 lbs
Washer or dryer — about 200 lbs
Carpet and pad, whole house — 500 to 900 lbs
Kitchen cabinets, full set — 400 to 700 lbs
Hot tub — 500 to 900 lbs
Treadmill or gym equipment — 200 to 400 lbs

≈ Building material

Drywall, per 4×8 sheet — 50 to 70 lbs
Ceramic or stone tile, per 100 sq ft — 400 to 600 lbs
Hardwood flooring, per 100 sq ft — 200 to 300 lbs
Fence panel, 6 ft cedar — 60 to 100 lbs
Deck boards, 200 sq ft deck — 800 to 1,200 lbs
Roofing shingles, per square — 250 to 400 lbs
Concrete, per cubic yard — about 4,000 lbs
Dirt, per cubic yard — 2,000 to 2,700 lbs

The Heavy Stuff

Some loads we price separately.

Shingles, concrete, dirt and brick dispose at completely different rates than ordinary debris. Quoting them at the standard price would mean surprising you at the end — so we quote them up front instead.

Roofing tear-offs

A 25-square architectural roof runs 4 to 5 tons on its own. Tell us the square count and whether there's a second layer, and we'll price the job properly.

Concrete, brick & stone

Extremely heavy — a single cubic yard is about two tons. These loads are weight-limited long before they're volume-limited, so the 15 yard is usually the right container.

Dirt and soil

Same story as concrete, and wet dirt is heavier still. Keep it clean and separate if you can — mixed loads cost more to dispose of than sorted ones.

Got one of these? Call or text (940) 202-9770 and we'll quote it before the truck rolls.

Keep The Weight Down

Four things that actually help.

Keep it dry

Water is dead weight. A tarp over an open container before a storm can save you a full ton.

Break it down

Flattened boxes and disassembled furniture don't weigh less, but they let you fit the whole job in one container.

Separate the heavy

Pulling concrete and dirt out of a mixed load usually costs less than disposing of the whole thing at the heavy rate.

Tell us up front

The single best thing you can do. A two-minute call beats an overage line on your receipt.

Questions

The stuff everyone asks.

We weigh the truck in and out at the disposal facility. The difference is your load. The scale ticket is available to you and the weight appears on your final receipt — we don't estimate and we don't round up.

$85 per additional ton, prorated. If you're 400 pounds over, you pay for 400 pounds, not a full ton.

Then you simply don't see an overage line. There's no credit for coming in light — the included tonnage is part of the flat rate, not a deposit.

Not accurately. We can eyeball whether a load looks heavy, but the real number comes from the scale. If weight is a concern, call before you fill it and we'll talk through what you're throwing away.

Water is roughly 8 pounds a gallon and porous debris soaks it up. Drywall, carpet, mulch and dirt can all gain hundreds of pounds after a rain. Tarping an open container is the cheapest insurance there is.

What does it actually weigh?