Why attics are the job people put off longest
An attic is the one room nobody sees. Christmas decorations, the cot and the buggy, school books, a broken exercise bike, suitcases of clothes, the old television that was too good to throw out: it all goes up the ladder and stays there. Twenty years later it has to come down, and the ladder has not got any easier.
Attic clearances are a routine job for us. One of the crew goes up, the other stays on the landing, and everything comes down in a steady chain to the van. You stay on the ground and point at anything you want to keep.
When people book an attic clearance
- Before a loft conversion. The builder needs it empty and clean of stored items before they start. Clearing it ourselves is faster than asking the trades to work around boxes.
- Before selling the house. Buyers open the hatch. An empty, swept attic reads as a well-kept house.
- After a bereavement. A parent’s attic often holds the things the family cannot bring themselves to sort. We bring everything down, set aside photographs, letters and anything that looks sentimental, and take the rest. Our bereavement clearance page explains how we handle that.
- Because the attic is full. No other reason needed.
What we take out of attics
Boxes and bags of general household items, old furniture and mattresses, suitcases, toys, books, clothes, Christmas and seasonal decorations, broken appliances, exercise equipment, old carpets and underlay, empty water tanks, small amounts of timber and offcuts. If it fits through the hatch we can bring it down, and if it went up in one piece it can come down the same way.
We do not handle asbestos-containing materials, so if your attic has old pipe lagging or board that looks suspicious, that needs a specialist, and we will say so rather than touch it.
What happens on the day
- You show us the hatch and tell us what stays. If nothing stays, say so, and we clear the lot.
- We lay a dust sheet on the landing and the stairs.
- One of the crew works in the attic, the other receives on the landing. Boxes that have gone soft are repacked; loose items are bagged.
- Anything that looks personal or valuable comes down separately and is shown to you before it goes anywhere.
- The attic is swept of loose debris, the landing is cleared, and the van leaves.
Reusable items are kept aside for donation or resale where we can arrange it, recyclables are separated, and the rest goes to a licensed transfer station under our Waste Collection Permit. We explain the whole process in what happens to items after a clearance.
Attics, sheds and garages together
If the attic is full, the shed and garage usually are too. Clearing them on the same visit is cheaper than three separate jobs because the van is already outside. Send photos of all three and we will quote them together.
For a step-by-step look at sorting an attic yourself first, read our attic clearance guide.
