You tore the deck down last spring. The pile is still sitting in the yard, the posts are still set in concrete, and there are screws in the grass. We haul the debris, pull the footings, and finish the job.
Either way you get the same result. The difference is how much of the work you want to own. If the pile has sat for a year already, you are in the first category, and that is most of our calls.
This is where the leftover project stalls. Deck and fence posts in Connecticut are set in concrete below the frost line, which means a footing three to four feet down. People saw the structure off at grade, and the concrete stays in the ground.
You cannot ignore it. A ring of stumps and buried concrete blocks anything you want to do next — new fence, patio, lawn, or a shed pad. It fouls aerating and rototilling, and a post cut off just above grade is a real tripping hazard.
We dig out the footing and the concrete comes out whole. This is the right call if you are rebuilding in the same spot or regrading.
Where full extraction is not worth the labor, we cut below grade and backfill so the surface is usable.
Footings add real weight to the load, so they factor into the quote separately from the wood.
Connecticut digging is slow. Ledge and glacial rock around a footing turns a ten-minute dig into an hour.
Digging near a fence line means knowing what is buried there. Call before you dig applies to us too.
Tell us what is going in that spot next. Whether the footings come all the way out or get cut below grade is the single biggest variable in a fence or deck removal quote.
Almost every deck frame and fence post in Connecticut is pressure-treated, and treated lumber has disposal restrictions ordinary scrap wood does not.
It cannot be burned. Not in a fire pit, not in a wood stove, not in a burn pile — burning releases the preservative chemicals into the smoke and concentrates them in the ash. It also cannot go into clean wood recycling or yard waste streams. It has to go to a facility that accepts treated construction debris, which has its own fees.
Composite and PVC decking is its own category. It does not rot, which is why it lasted, but it is not clean wood and not brush, so it goes out as construction debris. Old cedar and redwood is untreated and may be recyclable, so we sort as we load. That sorting is standard in our yard debris and junk pile removal work.
Deck and fence debris is the worst material in a yard for fasteners. Deck screws come up in every board, joist hangers and lag bolts stay attached to the framing, and fence panels keep their nails.
Half of it ends up in your lawn. Screws and nails work out of boards as the pile is moved and settle into the grass where a mower finds them, or a bare foot, or a dog. We handle every board as hardware-loaded, pull the metal we can recycle, and sweep the footprint when the pile is gone.
Fence material changes how the job runs, what it weighs, and where it ends up.
Panels, rails, pickets, and posts, usually pressure-treated and rotted at ground level. Bulky, heavy, full of nails. The posts are the hard part — the fence comes down easily and the footings stay put.
Different material, different plan. The fabric rolls up, but a rolled section is dense and heavy and the cut wire ends will find you. Top rails, posts, tension bars, and gates all come out separately. The upside is that chain link is nearly all steel and goes to scrap recycling rather than disposal.
Light and easy to handle, but hollow, so it eats truck volume out of proportion to its weight and is not recyclable through ordinary channels. Vinyl posts are also frequently set over a concrete-filled footing, so the footing problem does not go away.
Heavy, usually set in substantial footings, and fully recoverable as scrap. The metal value offsets part of the removal cost, and on these fences the footings are normally the largest share of the labor rather than the panels.
Both. We do teardown and removal as one job, or clear the pile if you already did the demolition yourself.
Yes. We can extract them fully or cut below grade and backfill. Tell us what is going in that space next and we will recommend one.
No, it is normal. It means the bottom layer is wet, partly sunk into the soil, and heavier than it looks, and there is hardware in the grass. We plan for that.
No. Treated lumber is construction debris, not household trash and not yard waste, and curbside carts have weight and size limits a deck blows through immediately.
Bring it up when we quote. A deck pile, an old shed, a rusted swing set, and a stack of tires on one trip costs far less than four separate visits.
We remove fence and deck debris across New Haven, Hartford, Middlesex, Litchfield, and Fairfield counties, including Waterbury, New Britain, Meriden, Bristol, Middletown, Hamden, Naugatuck, Southington, Wallingford, Cheshire, and East Haven.
Tell us whether it is already down or still standing, and what you want to do with the space. We will give you a firm price and handle it.