Shingles are the densest thing we haul, and on a roof it is weight that fills the dumpster, not space. Put in your squares and layers and this gives you the tear-off weight and the size that carries it. It is an estimate for planning, not a quote.
Not a roof? The size guide covers everything else, or call (919) 524-4456 and Logan will size it with you.
Architectural shingle runs about 250 to 300 pounds per square, and a square is 100 square feet of roof. That works out to seven or eight squares to the ton, which is the one number that does most of the math on a tear-off. A 15-square single-layer roof sits right around two tons. The pile it makes would look small in a 20-yard dumpster, and the scale is what settles the bill.
That is why the size that fits the pile is rarely the size that fits the weight. A crew looking at the debris will reach for a smaller dumpster than the roof needs, and the difference turns up as overage rather than as a delivery problem. Count the squares and the layers before you call, and it gets quoted properly the first time.
Our 20-yard comes as a 3-day rental with one ton included or a 7-day with two. Same dumpster either way. A repair-sized tear-off or a garage roof can live inside the single ton on the short term. A full house usually wants the seven days and the second ton, and a big or double-layer roof budgets the per-ton overage on top or plans a swap partway through. The roofing dumpster page covers how we set one at the eave, and the tear-off weight post walks the math in full.
Architectural shingle runs about 250 to 300 pounds per square, and a square is 100 square feet of roof. Three-tab comes in lighter. The working number for sizing a dumpster is seven or eight squares to the ton, which is what the calculator above uses.
Length times width in feet, divided by 100, for each section of roof. A simple 1,600 square foot ranch roof is about 16 squares before you add for pitch. If you have a roofer's estimate in hand, the square count is already on it.
Close to it. Two layers roughly doubles the tear-off weight without doubling how big the pile looks, which is the classic way a roof job runs past its included tonnage. Count the layers before you call, not after the dumpster is on the driveway.
Nothing dramatic. Weight past what the rental includes bills per ton, off what the load actually weighs at the transfer station scale, and Logan gives you that number on the call rather than letting it turn up on the invoice. On a big roof a mid-job swap is often the better play.
Bring the square count and the layer count to the call and Logan quotes it all in one go.
