Winter storm debris and delta damp cleanouts in Sacramento

The short answer

Winter cleanup in this valley prices by the bag or by the pile.

The per-visit minimum is $75, and large volumes price off the truck ladder instead: 1/4 $241, 1/2 $431, full $732.

What a Sacramento winter actually is

Not snow. Two things, in sequence.

Atmospheric rivers. Usually somewhere between December and February, a run of days where the valley takes an enormous amount of rain and a lot of wind at the same time. That combination is what brings limbs down, because the ground softens and then the wind arrives.

Tule fog. Weeks of it after the rain, sitting on the valley floor, where the humidity stays high and nothing outdoors dries out. This is the part that does the slow damage, and it is the reason a wet box in a Sacramento garage in January is still wet in February.

The tree problem in the City of Trees

Sacramento's canopy is the reason half of us live here and it is also the reason storm season is a real event.

The mature valley oaks in East Sac, Land Park and Curtis Park, the big elms and sycamores over the grid, and the redwoods and silver maples planted across the postwar suburbs all shed in a wind event. Limb drop from a valley oak is not a branch, it is a structural piece of tree on your patio furniture.

Get the cutting done by a tree service, and have the haul priced separately, because volume from a single mature limb is more than most people estimate. Bag counts handle the small stuff. Anything beyond that goes on the truck ladder.

Separately, most Sacramento neighborhoods end up with leaf piles in the street through late autumn and winter. What that program takes, and when, depends on where you are, so check your own city or county's current arrangements rather than assuming. It does not cover storm-broken limbs or anything from a contractor.

The side yard, and why flat ground floods

The valley floor is flat and much of this metro drains slowly. A blocked side-yard drain and a week of rain is all it takes for water to stand against the house.

What gets ruined in a Sacramento side yard, reliably: whatever cardboard was stacked there, the lumber that was going to be a project, bags of soil and mulch, and the bottom eighteen inches of anything stored directly on concrete. A Medium Junk Pile at $129 or a Large Junk Pile at $208 covers most of it.

Clear the side yard before the rain comes, not after. It is the cheapest thing in this article and nobody does it.

Raised foundations, crawlspaces and the damp underneath

Sacramento houses mostly sit on a raised foundation with a crawlspace, not a basement. That is a flood-plain design choice and it works, but it means there is a cool, enclosed, poorly ventilated space under your floor for the whole winter.

What lives down there is usually previous owners' material: offcuts of lumber, old pipe, a rolled carpet, paint cans, ducting. Through a damp winter, all of it holds moisture against the underside of your house.

Getting it out is a straightforward carry once the crew is in. Rolled carpet is $68. A pile of assorted material is $82 for a small one, $129 for a medium, $208 for a large. No surcharge for the crawlspace, but flag it when you book so the right lights and gear are on the truck.

What comes out of a house after a wet winter

• Carpet. Once it has been wet and then sat through fog season, it does not recover. Carpet removal is $71 per room, or $68 for carpet already rolled.
• Cardboard storage. Anything in boxes in the garage or under the house. Bag counts from $132 for ten bags upward.
• Particleboard furniture. Swells at the base and never goes back. Bookcase, Particleboard / Flat-pack $100.
• Patio cushions and umbrellas left out through the rain.
• The dehumidifier somebody bought during the last bad winter and never used again. Dehumidifier $77.
• Fence panels and the odd shed wall after a wind event, which price as debris by volume.

A worked example

East Sacramento bungalow, after a February storm week.

Limb and yard debris bagged by the homeowner, 20 bags: $259.

Plus what came out of the crawlspace and the wet side yard: Carpet (rolled) $68 + Large Junk Pile $208 + Dehumidifier $77 = $68 + $208 + $77 = $353.

Both together is $259 + $353 = $612, which is above the 3/4 truck rate of $587, so the whole visit books at $587.

Timing it

Winter is the good season for this work here, which is the opposite of the summer advice. Temperatures are mild, crews can work a full day, and there is no 10am cutoff.

The constraint is the ground. After a real atmospheric river, a lawn or an unpaved side yard will not take a loaded cart for a few days. Give it 48 hours of drying before you book, unless the debris is on paving.

Do not stack wet material in the garage as an interim measure. It will still be damp in March, and by then it has been sitting against your drywall.

Frequently asked questions