Compare all five sizes
Dumpster Sizes in Arlington, TX — 10, 15, 20, 30 & 40 Yard
Five roll-off sizes, and the honest version of which one you actually need. In Tarrant County two things decide it: what the debris weighs — wet clay spoil, broken concrete and a shingle tear-off all run heavier than they look — and whether a spring storm line lifts the light material back out of the box before we come for it.
All sizes
Pick by weight first, volume second
Scroll the table on mobile. If your load includes concrete, block, brick, roofing shingle, wet excavation spoil or fill, start at the 10 yard no matter how big the job looks — weight fills those long before volume does. Sizing calculators written for other parts of the country assume an extra floor of stored contents below the living space. Basements are very rare in North Texas: Arlington is slab-on-grade almost everywhere, with pier-and-beam only in the small pre-1950 core around downtown, so the volume in a cleanout comes out of the garage first, then the attic, the shed, the side yard and the back patio. Lots are generally wide and most drives take a 30 without argument, but measure anyway: out on the rural edges toward Kennedale, Crowley and past Mansfield the approach is often a long gravel or dirt lane, and there is usually a live oak, pecan or cedar elm limb, a patio cover, carport framing or the service drop that the hoist arm cannot swing under.
| Size | Capacity | Footprint | Weight allowance | Holds about | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Yard Dumpster | 10 yd³ | 12 ft x 8 ft x 3.5 ft | 2 – 3 tons | ~3 pickup truck loads | Broken concrete, brick, flatwork, wet clay spoil and shingle — weight fills it long before volume does. |
| 15 Yard Dumpster | 15 yd³ | 16 ft x 8 ft x 4 ft | 2 – 3 tons | ~4 – 5 pickup truck loads | Single-room remodels, small tear-offs and rental turnovers near campus. |
| 20 Yard Dumpster | 20 yd³ | 22 ft x 8 ft x 4.5 ft | 3 – 4 tons | ~6 – 8 pickup truck loads | Garage, attic and shed clear-outs, multi-room renovations, deck and fence tear-offs. |
| 30 Yard Dumpster | 30 yd³ | 22 ft x 8 ft x 6 ft | 4 – 5 tons | ~9 – 12 pickup truck loads | Whole-property clears, new construction, additions and large remodels. |
| 40 Yard Dumpster | 40 yd³ | 22 ft x 8 ft x 8 ft | 5 – 6 tons | ~14 – 16 pickup truck loads | Bulky light debris only: fencing, patio covers, siding, insulation, furniture, fit-outs. |
10 Yard Dumpster
Broken concrete, brick, flatwork, wet clay spoil and shingle — weight fills it long before volume does.
View this size → 15yd³15 Yard Dumpster
Single-room remodels, small tear-offs and rental turnovers near campus.
View this size → 20yd³20 Yard Dumpster
Garage, attic and shed clear-outs, multi-room renovations, deck and fence tear-offs.
View this size → 30yd³30 Yard Dumpster
Whole-property clears, new construction, additions and large remodels.
View this size → 40yd³40 Yard Dumpster
Bulky light debris only: fencing, patio covers, siding, insulation, furniture, fit-outs.
View this size →The two rules that decide it here
Weight beats volume on dense material, wind beats everything on light
This is the single most useful thing on the page. A container has two limits: how much volume it holds and how much weight a truck can legally lift and carry. Light debris runs you out of volume first. Dense material runs you out of weight first, and it happens far earlier than people expect.
Around Tarrant County the dense material is concrete, grouted CMU block, brick, roofing shingle and wet clay. Concrete and block run in the range of 2,400 to 2,800 lbs per cubic yard — a driveway apron, a patio slab, a stretch of block property wall or a garage slab will reach legal transport weight in a can that still looks half empty. Clay is the one people misjudge most: spoil out of a foundation-repair pier job, a perimeter tunnel or a footing trench comes up wet, and the USDA soil survey puts Houston Black at 40 to 60 percent clay, so a 10 yard box of pier spoil is at payload long before it looks full. Roofing is measured in squares and layers, never in roof area, and here it is asphalt and composition shingle: it is common to find a second course still sitting on the deck, which doubles the tonnage on a roof that looked like a one-can job. A tear-off in Woodland West, off Fielder or along the Bowen corridor that looks like a 20 yard job is often a weight job, not a volume job, and it wants a 10 yard, sometimes twice.
The second rule is the one out-of-state sizing charts never mention. Wind beats everything on light material. A 30 or 40 yard holding insulation, cardboard, housewrap and trim offcuts will redistribute itself across the block when a spring line comes through, and in April and May that happens with very little warning — the National Weather Service count for the Fort Worth area is 555 tornadoes in April and 525 in May since 1950, about seven a year in each month and roughly 55 percent of the annual total, with a real secondary peak in October (145) that most writers miss. Once anything is standing proud of the top rail the load cannot be tarped or netted — which means it cannot legally be hauled either. So cap the load: heavy on top of light, everything below the rails, and the flyaway material bagged or weighted before you walk away. Where the 40 does earn its keep is bulk with no weight in it — a shed, carport or detached garage teardown, a patio cover flattened by straight-line wind, a whole-house cleanout — and the scrap metal and clean lumber are worth pulling out before the rest goes in.
Tell us the material and the rough quantity on the phone and we will size it properly. Getting it wrong costs us more than it costs you, so we have every reason to get it right.
How it works
From phone call to empty driveway
- 1
Call us
Tell us the project, your address and when you want it. Two minutes on the phone and you have a flat price.
- 2
We deliver
Our driver walks the drop, lays protection boards and sets the container exactly where you want it.
- 3
You load it
Take your time within your rental window. Keep it level with the top rail and we handle the rest.
- 4
We haul it
Call or text when you are done. We pull it, sort what can be recovered and dispose of the rest properly.
Choosing a Size — FAQs
Which dumpster size is most popular in Arlington?
The 20 yard, by a wide margin. It handles a kitchen gut, a multi-room remodel, or the garage, attic, shed, side yard and back patio emptied in one go, and it sits comfortably on a normal Arlington driveway. The 15 yard is the next most common because it is the sweet spot for a single room, a rental turnover or a shingle tear-off on an average house. Anything with concrete, block, brick or wet clay spoil in it goes the other way, down to a 10 yard.
What size do I need for a roof tear-off?
For an Arlington home on asphalt or dimensional shingle, a 15 or 20 yard. Roofing is weight-driven, not volume-driven, so squares and layers decide it, not roof area — and it is common to find a second course still sitting on the deck, which doubles the tonnage. Hail is what fills the calendar here: Texas leads the nation for hail, with 902 events in 2025 and more than 235,000 Texas homes damaged, and DFW sits in the highest-risk tier, so the March through June window books out. Remember that the City of Arlington will not collect roofing shingles at the kerb at any volume — that is on the contractor or on you. Metal off a shop or a patio cover is the opposite problem: light, bulky and quick to catch a spring gust, so it gets loaded flat and capped. Pre-1980 roofing felt and mastic can contain asbestos, which stops the job until it is tested, and in Texas the demolition notification goes to DSHS, not TCEQ, at least ten working days ahead, required even when no asbestos is found. Our tear-off sizing guide has the full maths.
Is the 40 yard just the biggest and best?
No, and treating it that way is an expensive mistake. The 40 yard is a volume container for bulky light debris — framing, cabinetry, patio covers, packaging and whole-house cleanouts. Put anything dense in it and you will exceed legal transport weight long before it is full. It is also the size a spring storm punishes hardest: a big open box of light material has to be loaded below the rails and covered, or it empties itself down the street. And it needs the most approach room and overhead clearance, which rules it out on the narrow original single-car drives around downtown Arlington and the older streets off Abram and Center, and on long gravel or dirt lanes out toward Kennedale and Crowley.
Can I change size after I book?
Yes, as long as the truck has not been dispatched. If you describe the job and we think you have ordered wrong, we will say so before delivery rather than after. Changing on the phone costs nothing; discovering it at the scale house costs a great deal.
How much space do I need?
Roughly the container footprint plus working room: about 60 feet of straight approach for the truck, around 10 and a half feet of width, and 20 feet or more of overhead clearance while the hoist operates. Most Arlington lots take a two or three-car drive, so a 30 goes where it never would on a tight lot; a 10 yard fits almost anywhere. Look up before you decide — a live oak, pecan or cedar elm limb, carport framing, a patio cover or the service drop into the house will stop the arm cold. The pre-1950 streets around downtown, Abram and Center have narrow original single-car drives, and sometimes an alley behind that works better. Brick pavers and stamped concrete are the hardest surface we set on, so the boards come out for those, and through July and August — DFW averages a 95.6°F high in July, 95.8°F in August and 20.2 days a year at 100°F or more — we will often set early in the morning.
Services
What people put in them
Residential Dumpster Rental
Driveway placement for garage, attic, shed and side-yard cleanouts and remodels.
Learn more →Commercial Dumpster Rental
Scheduled and on-call containers for retail, restaurants, offices and property managers.
Learn more →Construction Dumpster Rental
Jobsite roll-offs and next-day swap-outs for builders, remodelers and GCs.
Learn more →Roofing Dumpster Rental
Weight-rated cans sized by squares and layers for asphalt shingle tear-offs.
Learn more →Roll-Off Dumpster Rental
10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 yard roll-offs across Arlington and Tarrant County.
Learn more →Same-Day Dumpster Rental
Call before the cut-off and we can usually get a container to you this afternoon.
Learn more →Talk to a real person
Not sure which size you need?
Tell us what you are clearing out and we will tell you the right size and the flat price to put it in your driveway. No forms, no waiting on an email — just call and we will sort it out in a couple of minutes.
Serving Arlington, Tarrant County and the DFW Metroplex · Mon–Fri 6am–5:30pm, Sat 7am–2pm