Loft, cellar and basement clearance

Everything in a loft has to be passed down through the hatch, one item at a time, usually by one person up in the loft and another on the ladder or landing. Large items went up before the hatch was fitted or were taken apart; some cannot come out whole and need to be cut up. The firm should ask about the hatch size, whether there is a fixed ladder and whether the loft is boarded.

In an unboarded loft, anyone moving around has to stay on the joists. A foot between them goes through the ceiling below. A careful team uses crawl boards and lighting and does not store items on the landing where they block a way out. Summer adds heat: lofts under a tiled roof can get very hot in the afternoon, so crews often work early.

Mineral wool loft insulation irritates skin, eyes and lungs when disturbed, and a clearance will disturb it. The team should wear suitable protection and avoid compressing or removing insulation unless that is part of the job. Wasp nests are common in lofts in late summer; if one is active, a pest controller should deal with it first.

Asbestos was widely used in buildings before 2000. In lofts and outbuildings it can appear in old water tanks, flue pipes, boards, textured coatings, and cement roof sheets on garages and sheds. Do not break, sweep or bag anything you suspect. A clearance firm should stop and advise a survey by an asbestos specialist rather than clear around it.

Cellars and basements bring damp. Cardboard boxes that have been standing on a damp floor collapse when lifted, and mould on stored items and walls releases spores. If a cellar has flooded, the contents may be contaminated with sewage and need handling as such.

• the hatch size, ladder and whether the loft is boarded and lit
• the cellar stairs, headroom and any outside access
• garages, sheds and outbuildings included in the price
• old tanks, flues or sheets that may contain asbestos
• paint, chemicals, fuel or gas bottles to be removed
• whether the insulation is to be left in place
• sweeping or vacuuming once empty, and waste carrier details

Source: hse.gov.uk

Before a loft conversion, the loft has to be empty down to the joists, and often the old water tanks and redundant pipework have to go too. Check with the builder what they will remove and what they expect to find empty; otherwise you may pay two firms to carry the same tank downstairs.

Before a cellar is tanked or converted, a damp surveyor or builder needs to see the walls and floor. Clearing it a few weeks ahead gives the walls a chance to dry and shows where water gets in. Before a sale, buyers and surveyors want to see the loft and cellar, and a full loft can hide roof leaks or woodworm the survey then cannot report.

Much of what is stored in lofts is kept for sentimental reasons: children's drawings, letters, photographs, old school reports. Ask the team to bring boxes down and set them aside for you to go through, rather than sending everything straight to the van. Old electrical items, televisions and computer monitors need recycling as electrical waste; computers may still hold personal data, so wipe or destroy the storage before they go.

Christmas decorations, luggage and camping gear you want to keep can be put back once the loft is clean, or moved to a more accessible place. Items in good condition can go to charity.

Firms price these jobs by volume and time. The volume is often more than people expect, because lofts run the full length of the house. Photographs taken from the hatch and from inside the loft or cellar help the firm quote without a visit, but for a large or awkward space a visit is better. Access through a narrow landing, lack of a ladder, stairs down to a cellar and items that need dismantling all add time.

Describe the loft, cellar or outbuilding and add photographs. Once your phone number and email are confirmed, we offer the request, without anything that identifies you, to clearance firms nearby. Exactly one can buy it. We send you its name, address and phone number before your details reach it. Offrano does not charge you and does not check the quality of a firm's work, so ask how it handles suspected asbestos before you agree a date.