Clearing homes around Collins Avenue and the Swords Road
Whitehall was fields until the 1930s, when Dublin Corporation built the Larkhill estate and private builders filled in the roads between the Swords Road and Griffith Avenue with semi-detached houses for owner-occupiers. The Church of the Holy Child at Larkhill marks the centre, Collins Avenue runs east towards Beaumont and west past DCU, and the Swords Road carries the buses north to Santry and the airport. Highfield Hospital and Whitehall College of Further Education both front the Swords Road.
The houses are much of a kind: two storeys, three bedrooms, a bay window, a driveway where the front garden used to be and a long back garden with a shed at the end. Many have had a kitchen extension or an attic conversion since.
Because the first owners stayed, a great many of these homes are only now changing hands, and that is where we come in. A Whitehall clearance is nearly always the full house rather than a single flat.
What comes out of a Whitehall semi
- Everything in the house when it is being sold or let after a parent has died or moved into care. The order we work in is set out on our bereavement clearance page.
- The attic, which in these houses is a full-height roof space that families filled over decades. See attic clearance for how we bring it down.
- The shed and side passage, with the second fridge, the bikes, the timber offcuts and the garden tools.
- Heavy furniture of the 1960s and 70s, including sideboards, wardrobes, divans and three-piece suites that charity shops will often not take.
- Carpets, curtains and old kitchen units when the buyer intends to strip the house back.
Anything in good condition is set aside for reuse or donation where we can find a home for it, recyclables are separated, and genuine waste goes to a licensed waste transfer station.
Driveways, long gardens and the practical bits
Whitehall is straightforward for access. Nearly every house has a driveway, so the box van reverses up to the door and the carry is short. Where a driveway is too narrow, the estate roads are wide enough to park outside with the hazards on without blocking anyone in.
The long gardens are the one thing that adds time. A shed at the far end of the garden means a long walk with each load, and if there is a side gate we use it rather than carrying through the house. Mention the shed and the garden when you send photos so we allow for it, and unlock the side gate before we arrive if it has a padlock.
Inside, the stairs are straight and the landings are square, so wardrobes and beds come down without drama. If the attic has been converted, say so, because the fixed stairs make it quicker; if it is a hatch and a ladder, we pass everything down by hand.
Why Whitehall families call us
Most calls from Whitehall come from grown-up children clearing the house they grew up in, often while living somewhere else and juggling a solicitor and an estate agent at the same time. They want one visit, a fair quote from photos, and the house left swept and ready for viewings. If you live abroad, the whole thing can be arranged over WhatsApp, from the first photos to the picture of the empty rooms at the end.
A skip on the driveway is the alternative people price first, but a semi full of sixty years of belongings is rarely a one-skip job and someone still has to carry it all out. Our comparison of house clearance and skip hire sets out the difference plainly, and our guide to preparing for a house clearance covers what to do the week before.
We work six days a week, carry full insurance and hold a current Waste Collection Permit. Whitehall runs into Santry to the north, Beaumont to the east and Drumcondra down the Swords Road towards town, and we cover all three.
