Moving on from a Glasnevin house
Many of the Glasnevin homes we clear belong to someone who has lived there for forty or fifty years and has decided, often after a lot of thought, that it's time for somewhere smaller: a ground-floor apartment, a house without stairs, or a move nearer to family. The decision is the hard part. The clearance shouldn't add to it.
Glasnevin's homes come in a few kinds. On the Dublin 9 side, around the old village and the roads running down towards Drumcondra, there are Victorian and Edwardian red-brick houses. Along and around Griffith Avenue are the solid semis of the 1930s. Further north and west, on the Dublin 11 side, the estates are mostly mid-century. Each needs a slightly different plan, but the person moving is always the priority.
Keep the house working until moving day
Downsizing goes best when the house stays comfortable right up to the move. So we usually suggest this order:
- Spare rooms and the attic first, weeks ahead. Nobody misses them, and it shows how much the rest will be.
- Family collections next. Children and grandchildren take what they want by an agreed date.
- The move itself. The removal company takes what's going to the new home.
- The rest of the house last, once the move is done, so the kitchen and the bedroom work until the final night.
A garage clear-out or shed clearance fits in wherever suits. We have separate local pages for garage clear-outs in Glasnevin, where the side garages tend to hold the most, and for taking down an old shed in Glasnevin. The roof space is covered on our attic clearance page.
The rooms that take longest
In a long-lived-in Glasnevin home, it's rarely the bedrooms that slow things down. It's the front room and the dining room: display cabinets of china and glass, a sideboard of table linen and good cutlery, shelves of books, and photograph albums going back generations. Every one of those needs a decision, so we go through those rooms with you if you'd like, and set aside anything personal as we work. There's no rush: if a cabinet of glass takes an hour of talking over, that's an hour well spent.
Good furniture and household goods that won't fit the new home are kept back for reuse wherever possible, so a well-made sideboard or a dinner service has a chance of being used again rather than ending up in a skip.
spotless.ieDownsizing from a house in Glasnevin? Send photos of each room, the attic, the garage and the garden on WhatsApp. We'll reply with a fixed price and plan the clearance around your moving date.
Getting to the door
Griffith Avenue and the wider roads have room for the van at the kerb or on the drive. The red-brick roads nearer Drumcondra and the village are tighter, and some have permit or pay-and-display parking, so we stage everything inside and keep the van's stops short. Older red-brick houses also have narrower halls and steeper stairs, so big wardrobes and beds are taken apart upstairs rather than forced round the turn. Tell us your road and the parking rules, and we'll plan the quietest time.
Not always a move
Some Glasnevin clearances follow a death or a move into care, and the family is left to deal with the house. We work gently and to your timetable; see bereavement house clearance. If a home has become overwhelmed with belongings, we help in stages and without judgement; see hoarder clearance. And if a flat or apartment needs clearing as well, perhaps one a parent has been renting near the village, see apartment clearance.
Price, permit and the next steps
Your price comes from the photos: the amount to go, the stairs and the walk to the van, and anything such as an old fridge or a mattress that has to be disposed of on its own. It's agreed in writing before the day, and it doesn't change once we're there. A full Glasnevin semi is usually one to two days; a three-storey red-brick can take a little longer, mostly because of the stairs.
On insurance and paperwork: the crew is fully insured, and Spotless carries waste as an authorised waste carrier under permit NWCPO-25-13287-01, which you can look up on the national register. China, furniture and books with life left in them go for reuse where they can, metal and electrical goods are recycled, and the last of it goes to a licensed facility.
If the carpets are staying for the buyers, see carpet cleaning in Glasnevin. The wider service is explained on our house clearance page, and the rest of the city on house clearance in Dublin.
