Pick a dry day and empty the floor
Garages are easiest to clear when you can see what you're dealing with. Choose a dry day, move the car out, and start by bringing everything you can onto the driveway. It's far quicker to sort in daylight with space around you than to shuffle boxes from one corner of a full garage to another.
Have these ready:
- heavy-duty bags and a few strong boxes
- gloves, and a dust mask for the dusty corners
- a marker and masking tape for labels
- a tarpaulin in case the weather turns
If there's too much to empty in one go, work from the door backwards, one zone at a time, and only bring out what you can sort that day.
Work in zones
Most garages hold the same few kinds of things. Sorting by zone stops you making the same decision twenty times over.
| Zone | What's usually there | The question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Tools and DIY | Hand tools, power tools, screws, timber offcuts | Do I have two of these? Does it still work? |
| Car and bikes | Tyres, roof boxes, child seats, bikes, pumps | Does anyone still ride it or use it? |
| Garden | Mowers, strimmers, hoses, garden furniture | Would this be better in the shed? |
| Household overflow | The spare fridge, boxes from the last move, furniture kept "for later" | If it's been out here for years, will it ever come back in? |
| Paint and chemicals | Half tins, weedkiller, oil, white spirit | Will I use it, and is it still safe? |
| Sports and hobbies | Golf clubs, camping gear, fishing tackle | Have I used it in the last two summers? |
For each zone, make three piles: keep, pass on (sell, give away or donate) and let go. Be quick with the obvious ones and come back to the hard ones at the end.
Tools, bikes and sports gear
Tools. Test power tools before deciding. Keep one good set of everyday hand tools and pass on the duplicates. Rusty saws, broken drills and dried-up tubes of sealant can go. Good hand tools are often welcome at a local Men's Shed or community workshop, but ring first to see what they need.
Bikes. Children's bikes are outgrown quickly and are easy to pass on to family, friends or neighbours if they're in working order. A bike that's sat on two flat tyres for years is probably scrap now, and the metal can be recycled.
Sports and camping gear. Tents and sleeping bags packed away damp will smell of mildew, so open them up outside before you decide. Golf clubs, rackets and fishing gear often find a second home through friends or a sale site.
spotless.iePaint, chemicals and other hazardous items
This is the part of a garage clear-out that needs the most care. None of these can go in your household bin, and they should never be poured down a drain or onto the ground.
- Paint. Keep only what you'll use for touch-ups, and write the room on the lid. Check with your local authority recycling centre about what paint they accept.
- Garden chemicals, solvents and oils. Keep them in their original containers, never mix them, and bring them to a facility that accepts household hazardous waste.
- Gas cylinders. These normally go back to the supplier or a stockist rather than to a waste facility.
- Car batteries. Heavy, hazardous and recyclable through the right route. Shops that sell car batteries will usually take old ones, and many recycling centres accept them.
- Tyres. When you buy new ones, the tyre retailer will usually take the old ones away.
- Asbestos. Some older garages have corrugated cement roofs or wall panels that may contain asbestos. Don't break, drill, sweep or power wash them. That's a job for a specialist contractor.
If you're not sure what something is, leave it in its container, keep it upright and ask. When we price a garage clearance, we tell you straight which of these we can take and where the rest should go.
Fridges, freezers and appliances
Old fridges and freezers contain refrigerant gases, so they have to be recycled properly. Empty the freezer and switch it off a day or two before it goes, with the door slightly open so it defrosts without smelling.
When you buy a new appliance, electrical retailers in Ireland are required to take back your old one on a like-for-like basis, so ask when you order. Local recycling centres also take household electricals. Unplug washing machines and dryers, and turn off the water to anything that's plumbed in.
Garage too big a job for one weekend? Send a photo from the door and a couple from inside on WhatsApp. We'll reply with a fixed price for clearing it, usually the same day.
Setting it up so it stays clear
The point of a clear-out is not having to do it again. A few simple changes make a real difference:
- Get things off the floor. Wall shelving, hooks for bikes and ladders, and a pegboard for tools free up floor space for the car.
- Use clear, labelled boxes. You'll see what's inside without opening every one.
- Keep chemicals high and together. A lockable cabinet out of reach of children is best.
- Give every zone a home. Garden things on one wall, tools on another, sports gear in one corner.
- Keep the space inside the door empty. Once one thing is parked there "for now", the rest follows.
- Do a yearly check. Spring works well, before the garden gear comes out.
When to get help
If the garage hasn't seen a car in a decade, it may be more than a weekend's work, especially with a chest freezer, a workbench fixed to the wall or a stack of old furniture. Our garage clearance service carries everything out, sorts it as we load and leaves the floor swept, with a fixed price from photos.
There are smaller options too. If it's just a couple of big pieces, furniture removal may be all you need, and if you've already gathered a pile of rubbish, junk removal will take it away. Weighing up a skip instead? Our guide to house clearance vs skip hire compares the two honestly, and what happens to furniture after a clearance explains where things end up.
If the attic and the shed need doing as well, see attic clearance and our shed clearance guide. Getting the house ready to sell? Preparing a property for sale covers the garage and the outside, and once the garage is empty, a clean driveway in front of it finishes the job.
