Garage Cleanout Checklist for Polk County Homes

A garage is the easiest room in the house to fill and the hardest to empty, because nothing in it has a home. Old paint, a bike nobody rides, boxes from the last move, a treadmill holding up a tarp. Here's the checklist I give people in Davenport, Winter Haven and Lakeland when they call about a garage, in the order that actually works.

How do I sort a garage without stalling?

Three piles, and you decide fast. Set them up in the driveway on a Saturday morning: Keep on the left, Donate in the middle, Dump on the right. Pull everything off the floor and the shelves and put it in one of the three. No fourth pile, no "decide later" corner. Later is how the garage got this way.

Some rules that speed it up:

• If you haven't touched it in two years, it goes. The exception is tools and holiday stuff.
• Boxes from the last move that are still taped shut are Dump or Donate, unopened. You've lived without it.
• Broken means Dump. Not "I'll fix it." Dump.
• Keep goes back in the garage first, on the shelves, before anything else moves. Then you can see what's really left.

The Donate pile is for things that work and are clean: a dresser, a working microwave, a bike with air in the tires, sports gear. I run those to a donation center when I take the rest, case by case, usually Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Whether they take it is their call at the door.

What about the shelf of paint and chemicals?

That shelf has its own rule, and it's the one people get wrong. Nothing on it rides on my trailer: paint, stain, thinner, motor oil, the gas can, the propane bottle from the old grill, pool shock, car batteries. It's not me being picky. The landfill won't take them from anyone.

For Polk County residents the answer is free. The county's Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility in Winter Haven takes paint (up to 20 gallons a year), used oil and antifreeze, fuel and gas cylinders, pesticides and batteries at no charge, Friday from 8 a.m. to noon and Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Electronics go too, five per visit. So the plan is: box the shelf, drive it to Winter Haven on a Saturday morning, and let me take everything else.

If a can of latex paint is half dry already, the county says you can dry it fully with sand or cat litter and put it in the garbage. That's the county's rule, not mine, and it only covers latex.

What does a garage cleanout cost?

Garages are the easiest jobs to price because they come in three sizes.

Everything's included: the crew carrying it out, the heavy items, the drive to the landfill and the dump fee. Tires are the one add-on, $10 each or $20 still on the wheel. If you'd rather do the loading yourself over a long weekend, a 14-yard dump trailer sits in the driveway for three days at the same $350.

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Can this be done if I'm not there?

Yes, and it happens more than you'd think. Adult kids clearing a parent's garage from another state, snowbirds who left in April, landlords between tenants. Here's how it runs:

1. You send photos and I quote the load size.
2. We set up a FaceTime call. You walk me through the garage on my phone and tell me what stays. I mark it with tape.
3. You share the garage code or leave a key.
4. The crew loads, I send after photos, and you pay by card and get the receipt by email.

You've spent fifteen minutes and the garage is empty.

What's the order of operations for the weekend?

• Friday night: text me photos, get your price, book a Sunday or Monday pickup.
• Saturday morning: three piles in the driveway. Keep goes back on the shelves.
• Saturday, late morning: the chemical shelf goes to Winter Haven while the facility is open.
• Saturday afternoon: Donate pile gets photographed so I know what to look for.
• Pickup day: the crew loads the Dump pile and runs the donations. You sweep the floor.

Most single-car garages go faster than people expect once the crew is there. Next day is the usual timing in Polk County; same day is realistic close to Davenport if you text before noon.

What Big Rob's does here

The garage cleanout page has before-and-after photos from real driveways, and junk removal in Davenport and Polk County is the main page. Garages are a weekly job in Davenport and Haines City, and a regular run to Winter Haven, Auburndale and Lakeland.

Open the garage door, take one photo from the driveway, and text it to (863) 225-2147.