Garage packed with boxes, lawn equipment and paint cans behind a brick ranch house in St. Louis County, MO, with items pulled onto the driveway

Alley garages to three-car garages

St. Louis Hoarding Cleanup: Garage Cleanouts in St. Louis

Clearing a garage that has not held a car in years, with the hazardous material sorted out before it goes anywhere.

St. Louis and eleven towns within 28 miles
Written price before work starts
Licensed, insured local contractors
Occupancy inspection rules covered

St. Louis Hoarding Cleanup arranges garage cleanouts for homes in St. Louis and the surrounding towns, carried out by local cleanout crews. The garage is usually the first part of a house to fill and the last to be emptied, and it holds more paint, chemicals, tires and batteries than any other room, all of which have their own rules about where they can go.

Clearing a full garage typically costs $300 to $1,200; left alone, it becomes the part of the whole-house job that pushes a $2,000 cleanout toward $4,000, and the paint and chemicals in it cost $1.70 a pound at the hazardous waste site once they pass 50 pounds.

$300 to $1,200 for a typical garage

A garage cleanout around St. Louis typically runs $300 to $1,200, the range published cost guides give for clearing a garage, basement or attic, which works out to roughly one to four truckloads at $150 to $350 a load. Hazardous waste, appliances, tires and anything heavy like a workbench or an old freezer move the price.

Get a price: (636) 216-6490

Signs the garage has become storage for good

The car has been parked in the driveway for years
The overhead door cannot open fully or the opener has been unplugged
Boxes are stacked against the water heater or the electrical panel
Paint cans, fuel and chemicals of unknown age are on the shelves

What comes out of a St. Louis garage

City garages are usually detached one-car buildings on the alley, built for a smaller car than anything on the road now, and they fill fast. West county garages are attached, two or three cars wide, and they hold more. In Chesterfield and Ballwin a full three-car garage can be as much material as a small apartment.

Furniture, mattresses and boxes moved out of the house
Lawn equipment, bicycles and broken tools
Paint, stain, pesticides, pool chemicals and motor oil
Old tires, car batteries and refrigerators or freezers

The parts that cannot go in the truck

Missouri law keeps major appliances, lead-acid batteries, waste oil and yard waste out of landfills, and whole tires are restricted too. So the crew separates them first. Refrigerators and freezers go to an appliance recycler, batteries and tires to recyclers that take them.

Paint, solvents, pesticides and other chemicals go to the regional household hazardous waste program, which takes reservations from residents of St. Louis City, St. Louis County and Jefferson County at sites in Florissant and at the sewer district's Lemay plant. The first 50 pounds are free, then $1.70 a pound, and latex paint is 50 cents a pound. The homeowner usually makes the drop-off, since it is a residential program.

Not sure how big the job is? Describe the rooms and what is in them, and get a straight answer on what it usually takes.

Call (636) 216-6490

How long a garage takes

Most one and two-car garages take a few hours to a day. A three-car garage packed to the rafters can take two. Sorting is the slow part. If you want the crew to set aside tools or anything for a garage sale, say so at the start.

Questions people ask

How much does a garage cleanout cost in St. Louis?

Typically $300 to $1,200, roughly one to four truckloads at $150 to $350 a load.

Will the crew take old paint and chemicals?

They are separated out. Most go to the regional household hazardous waste program, which takes residents by reservation.

What are the signs a garage needs a cleanout crew?

A car that has lived outside for years, a door that cannot open, boxes against the panel or water heater, and old chemicals.

Can the crew take a refrigerator or freezer?

Yes, but it goes to an appliance recycler, because Missouri landfills cannot take major appliances.

How long does a garage cleanout take?

A few hours to a day for most garages, two days for a packed three-car garage.

Often done together

Basement cleanout

Clearing the part of a St. Louis house that has been filling for decades, one staircase at a time.
Attic cleanout

Clearing the space above the house that nobody has looked at since the last move.
Hoarder yard cleanup

Clearing what has spilled outside the house, which is usually what the neighbors and the inspector see first.

Talk it through before anyone carries anything out

Say how many rooms are affected, whether there is a deadline, and whether anything in the house needs to be kept. You will hear what the job usually involves, what it tends to cost, and how long it tends to take.