Why Debris Weighs Twice as Much After Rain

This catches people out constantly in Tampa Bay, because we get afternoon storms through half the year and material sitting in a driveway or a yard gets soaked.

How much difference it makes

Water is heavy. A pile of brush, drywall or carpet that has been rained on holds a substantial amount of it, and porous materials in particular hold far more than they look like they could.

• Drywall absorbs water readily and gets very heavy
• Carpet and padding are among the worst — soaked padding is enormously heavier than dry
• Yard waste and brush hold water in every leaf and stem
• Insulation, particularly cellulose
• Cardboard and any packaging
• Untreated lumber, less than the others but noticeably

What to do about it

1. 1Cover material if it is going to sit in a driveway before pickup. A tarp costs almost nothing.
2. 2Load a trailer promptly rather than filling it over a week of afternoon storms.
3. 3Cover a loaded trailer if it will sit overnight.
4. 4If material is already soaked, load less volume and expect the weight limit to arrive early.
5. 5Let brush dry where you can before loading — a week of dry weather makes a real difference to a yard waste load.

After a storm

Post-hurricane and post-storm debris is the extreme case — everything is saturated, and volumes are large. Expect to hit weight limits well short of a full trailer, and plan more loads than the volume suggests.

It is also worth photographing damage before hauling anything, because once debris is gone there is nothing left to document for an insurance claim.