The thing that catches more people out than anything else with skip hire is weight. A skip has a weight limit as well as a size, and heavy waste like soil, rubble and concrete reaches that limit long before the skip looks full. Understanding this before you start loading saves a wasted trip and an awkward conversation on collection day, so our Ormskirk skip hire team always asks what kind of waste a job involves before suggesting a size.
Why weight matters as much as volume
A skip lorry can only safely lift so much, and the law that governs what it can carry on the road is about weight, not how high the skip is piled. That is why a skip half filled with soil can be too heavy to lift while a skip brimming with light household waste is fine. It is not about getting more money out of you, it is about what the wagon can legally and safely take away.
What counts as heavy waste
The usual heavy culprits are soil and turf, broken concrete and hardcore, bricks and mortar, paving and tiles. Wet weather makes all of them heavier still, because the material soaks up and holds water. If your job is mostly this kind of waste, the sensible approach is a smaller, sturdy skip filled to a marked level rather than a large one you cannot fill without overloading it.
Matching the skip to the load
For a heavy, dense load our 4 tonne midi skip hire is often the right call, taking a useful amount of rubble within a safe weight. For mixed projects with both heavy and bulky waste, the 8 tonne builders skip hire gives more room, and the two are compared on our skip sizes page. The best thing you can do is tell us roughly how much of the load is heavy, and we will size it properly.
Ask us before you load
If your project involves soil, rubble or concrete, a two minute call saves trouble later. Tell our Ormskirk team what you are clearing, on 01704 779345 or through the contact page, and we will make sure the skip suits the weight as well as the volume.
