Village or hill?
Dalkey is really two places when it comes to clearing a house. Down in the village, around Castle Street and the roads leading to the harbours at Coliemore and Bullock, the homes are mostly terraces and cottages, close together and close to the road. Up on Dalkey Hill and along the roads towards Sorrento and the Vico, the houses get bigger and older, many of them Victorian villas with large gardens, granite walls and steep approaches.
The questions we ask depend on which one you're in. In the village, it's mostly about parking and getting furniture through a small hall. On the hill, it's about drives, steps and how much is stored in the garden buildings.
Castle Street and the van
Castle Street is the heart of the village and it's busy most of the day: shoppers, deliveries, people heading to the DART and, in summer and at weekends, a lot of visitors. Parking on and around it is pay-and-display and often full. A clearance van can't sit there for hours, so we:
- pick a legal spot on a quieter side road, as near your door as possible
- stage everything inside, then load in short, quick runs
- start early on a weekday, before the village fills up
- keep footpaths clear for neighbours and passers-by
If there's a driveway, a lane at the back or a space outside your door you can keep free, tell us. A photo of the street outside helps us plan.
Terraces and cottages in the village
Village houses in Dalkey are often small but full. Older owners have usually gathered a great deal over the years, and with no attic or garage in some cottages, it all lives in the rooms: dressers, chests, bookcases and boxes under every bed. Rooms are compact, stairs are steep and halls are narrow, so we take beds, wardrobes and dressers apart in the room rather than tilting them through doorways.
A cottage or small terrace is usually a day's work, sometimes less. For a flat in one of the village's period houses or small seaside blocks, see our page on flat clear-outs in Dalkey, or apartment clearance for how we handle shared halls and lifts.
spotless.ieVillas, gardens and outbuildings up the hill
The larger houses on the hill can take two days or more. They often have three floors, a basement or garden level, an attic, and outbuildings that haven't been emptied in years: an old garage, a garden room or a potting shed at the bottom of a long, sloping garden. See shed clearance for how we deal with those.
Access is the big variable. Some drives are steep, narrow or gated, and some houses sit above the road behind flights of granite steps. Where the van can't get close, we carry to it, and that's allowed for in the price from the start. Send a photo of the approach from the road as well as photos of each room and building.
On the bigger houses we usually send a crew of three or four and plan the order of work around the access: the attic and upper floors first, then the garden buildings, with the heaviest pieces carried down the drive while everyone is fresh. Some villas have been split into a main house and a garden flat over the years, so tell us if part of the property is let or still lived in.
Clearing a house in Dalkey? Send photos of every room, the garden buildings and the road or drive outside on WhatsApp. We'll reply with a fixed price, usually the same day.
Keepsakes, papers and the things families want back
Many Dalkey houses are being cleared because a long chapter has ended: a parent has died or moved into care, or the family is selling the house they grew up in. We work slowly through those homes. We look inside every drawer, box and coat pocket, and hand over any papers, photos, letters, jewellery or money we find. If the family wants to walk through and take things first, we'll fit around that, or clear in stages over several days. See bereavement house clearance for how we approach it.
If a home has become hard to manage because of what's built up inside it, our hoarder clearance work is quiet, unhurried and led by the person who lives there.
Price and the finish
We price from photos and agree the figure before you book. It depends on the volume, the floors, how far everything has to be carried, and any items needing special disposal, like fridges, mattresses and electricals. That's the price you pay.
Good pieces are given a second life where possible, metal and electrical items are recycled, and the rest is disposed of at licensed facilities. Spotless holds waste collection permit NWCPO-25-13287-01, and each job is fully insured. When we leave, the rooms are empty and swept.
Neighbouring pages: Sandycove and Killiney. Our house clearance page sets out the full service, and house clearance in Dublin covers the wider county.
