Loft Clearance: A ‘How To’ Guide

Homeowners often spend so much of their time tidying and organising their home, garages and gardens that they forget about the room above their heads. As the nation’s most-reviewed waste clearance service on Trustpilot, we have a wealth of experience when it comes to loft and attic clearances so we can certainly offer some advice, as well as our services for how to clear your loft.

Safety first

The most important thing to think about when it comes to clearing your loft or attic is your own safety. Lofts can be a dangerous place for a long list of reasons; from the lack of lighting to unsuitable or unstable tread spaces and not to mention the height from your loft hatch to your landing floor. In short, make sure that you have suitable safety precautions in place before you attempt anything in your loft or attic.

This can include (but is not exclusive to) stout shoes, a suitable ladder or step solution for access and a sufficient light source in the form of either a torch or a wired lighting solution. It’s best to attempt the clearance with someone else either in the house or assisting. Failing that, be sure to have your mobile phone on you, should you get into any difficulties. It may sound over cautious, but it’s better to have these precautions and not need them, than to need them and not have them.

Loft clearance or loft conversion?

So, what is it that you’re planning to do with your loft? Perhaps you’re planning a loft conversion or just having a much-needed clear-out. Maybe there’s insulation which needs replacing or are there items that you just want to get rid of?

Studies suggest that a loft conversion can add as much as 20% to the value of your home, not to mention that it can give you that money-can’t-buy feeling that comes with the space to better organise your home. In fact, a loft conversion has been proven to have a greater impact on the value of your house than similar home renovations including having an extra bathroom, 10% more floor space or an extra bedroom.

However, before any of the above can take place, you need to clear out all of those unwanted items.

How do I clear my loft or attic?

If you are able to access your loft yourself, then you should separate your items into two piles: one that you want to keep and one that you want to throw away, with the latter as close to the loft hatch as possible. The easier you make the collection, the better. Whether you’re getting rid of the items yourself or if you’re hiring a clearance company, being organised and separating your items will make clearing your loft a more efficient process and more cost effective.

When planning your loft-clearing time, be sure to factor in some time for reminiscing and nostalgia. You’re sure to find some items that you haven’t seen or even thought about for a while and whilst a trip down memory lane can be great fun, it can also throw you off your schedule, which could be costly if you have a rubbish removal collection planned.

Whilst you’re moving your items, remember to observe manual handling techniques to reduce the chance of injuries occurring. If you’re removing the items from the loft yourself, best practice suggests that you obtain assistance from someone situated at the bottom of the loft ladder, who can take the items from you.

Once the items are removed from your loft, it’s time to focus on organisation again and a little pre-planning goes a long way. If you’re planning on getting rid of the items yourself, you don’t want them hanging around and taking up your precious floorspace. Can some items go straight into the back of your car for the trip to the tip or the charity shop? Or are you hiring a rubbish removals service who will collect the items from your drive or front garden?

Loft Clearances with Clearabee

Clearabee can remove unwanted items from your loft or attic as long as it is accessible and safe to do so and reasonable labour is included in our ‘Man and Van’ clearance service. That means, as long as your loft stairs are structurally sound and the walking areas are boarded, we can clear your loft or attic for you.

In our industry-leading experience, the best option is to contact our friendly office team, who will be able to work with you to provide a bespoke quote. We can either provide you with an estimate based on a detailed description of the items you want removing, or you can upload images of the items for a more accurate estimate.

Our loft clearance teams are able to react rapidly to your booking and, in most cases, we can be with you to remove your rubbish during the very same day. If you are able to remove the unwanted items from the loft space yourself, then these can be left outside of your property so we can collect them without disturbing you or entering your address.

In any event, our clearance teams will send you an SMS when we’re on our way as well as sending you a tracking link so that you can keep up to date with our progress at all times. As standard, we take pictures of the collection both before and after the items have been removed and once the items have reached their end destination, you will be sent a digital Waste Transfer Note.

What happens to your unwanted items for your loft?

Your digital Waste Transfer Note forms part of your Duty of Care and should be kept as a record. The document includes details on what rubbish you have had removed as well as the time, date and vehicle that collected it. The note also names the local Waste Transfer Station that has received your unwanted items as well as the percentage of the collection which was recycled/diverted from landfill (which is over 95% on average with Clearabee).

This means that not only are you making space to improve your own home, but you’re also taking action to help to protect the planet too. Have a look at our environmental credentials page to see how. Also you can have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your unwanted loft and attic items aren’t simply going to waste.

Removing rubbish. It’s what we do.

About Clearabee

For over seven years, Clearabee has continued to grow our nationwide on-demand rubbish removal and waste clearance services to include over 120 vehicles and 300 directly-employed staff. Our growing range of services includes our ‘Man and Van’ rubbish clearances, skip bag, skip hire and sofa removal services and now our new private home wheelie bin collections.

Clearabee are proud to count several of the UK’s leading brands as exclusive customers of ours. Clearabee also ranked as Europe’s fastest-growing waste management company for three years running and featured on The Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track for the last two years.