10 Cubic Yards
10 Yard Dumpster Rental in Duluth, MN
Our smallest box, and the correct call more often than you'd think — dense material like concrete and basalt, single-room cleanouts, and any hillside driveway in Duluth where a bigger truck has nowhere to sit. Same-day delivery when you call before noon.
- 10 ydCapacity
- 3 pickup-truck loadsPickup loads
- 1–2 tonsWeight allowance
People assume the 10 yard is the size you settle for when the budget is tight. That is backwards. A 10 yard dumpster is 12 feet long, 8 feet wide and 3.5 feet tall, and that low wall combined with a 1-2 ton weight allowance makes it the correct tool for a specific category of Duluth job: material that is small in volume but heavy per cubic foot, and driveways that will not accept anything longer.
Concrete, brick, block and the basalt and bluestone that shows up in half the retaining walls and front steps between the Hillside and Lakeside do not need a big box. They need a low one you can wheelbarrow into without a ramp, sitting on a footprint short enough to fit a Central Hillside driveway or a Congdon carriage house pad where a 20 or 30 yard would hang off the apron into the street. If your job is a single bathroom gut, a garage cleanout, a small dirt excavation or a short run of driveway concrete, order the 10 before anyone talks you into more container than the weight allowance will ever let you use.
What fits in a 10 yard dumpster
- Concrete driveway, patio or sidewalk removal
- Basalt and bluestone retaining wall or steps
- Brick, block and masonry demolition debris
- Single-bathroom gut (tub, vanity, tile, drywall)
- Garage, shed or single-car carport cleanout
- Small dirt or sod excavation from landscaping
- Single-room flooring tear-out
- Short run of asphalt shingles from a shed roof
Exact dimensions and the footprint it actually takes
A 10 yard measures roughly 12 ft long by 8 ft wide by 3.5 ft tall — about the footprint of a compact parking space, but you need more than the box itself. Figure 14-15 feet of clear driveway length so the rear swing door has room to open flat against the ground, plus a straight, mostly level approach of 45-50 feet behind the placement spot for the roll-off truck to back in and cable the box down without jackknifing on a curved or narrow drive. That approach length is the number that actually rules out a delivery on a lot of older Duluth streets, not the box itself.
| Spec | 10 yard | 15 yard | 20 yard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 12 x 8 x 3.5 ft | 16 x 8 x 4 ft | 22 x 8 x 4.5 ft |
| Weight allowance | 1-2 ton | 2-3 ton | 3-4 ton |
| Holds about | 3 pickup loads | 4-5 pickup loads | 6 pickup loads |
See the full lineup on the dumpster sizes page, or call (218) 514-6269 and describe the driveway — we would rather ask two questions up front than send a truck that cannot turn around.
What actually fills a 10 yard in Duluth
Basalt and bluestone are the material this size was built for. Duluth sits on bedrock the whole region quarried from, and it shows up everywhere — foundation stone under pre-1940 houses, dry-stacked retaining walls holding back Hillside yards, and bluestone steps on the older Lakeside and Piedmont lots. Pull out a short run of retaining wall or a set of front steps and you can hit the 10 yard's weight allowance before the box looks even half full. That is normal, not a sign you ordered wrong.
The rest of the 10 yard's regular work: a single-bathroom tear-out (tub, vanity, tile, subfloor), a garage or single-car carport cleanout, a small dirt or sod excavation from a landscaping job, a short stretch of driveway or sidewalk concrete, or a shed demolition. All of it shares the same profile — modest volume, real weight — which is exactly what this box is sized for. For anything demolition-adjacent beyond a shed, our demolition debris service and concrete and heavy debris service both run on the 10 yard by default.
The weight allowance, and what blows through it
1-2 ton sounds like a lot until you load concrete, brick, dirt or wet basalt, all of which run 2,000-3,000 lb per cubic yard loose. A load that is visibly a third full of straight concrete can already be at the top of the allowance. Add material during a wet spring or a Duluth freeze-thaw cycle — frost heave regularly cracks driveway slabs and sidewalk panels enough to require a tear-out, and that debris comes out saturated and heavier than the dry version you're picturing — and you can go over on a load that looks small.
Mixed household debris, old lumber, drywall and general junk do not carry that density, so the same 10 yard box holds a lot more of those by volume before weight becomes the limit. If you are not sure which category your pile falls into, call (218) 514-6269 and describe it — over-tonnage charges are the one surprise fee in this business, and we would rather tell you up front than bill you after.
When a 10 yard is the wrong call
If your project is a full kitchen, a basement cleanout, or a deck and porch tear-off, the 10 yard's low wall and light weight allowance will box you in fast — move up to a 15 yard dumpster, which is built for exactly that middle tier of job and is the size most people under-order. A whole-house cleanout, a bigger remodel, or a 20-30 square roof tear-off needs the volume of a 20 yard dumpster instead. And if you are gutting the whole property or breaking ground on new construction, that is 30 yard territory.
The one exception that overrides all of this: if your driveway is a steep hillside grade with no room to turn a truck around, the 10 yard may be the only size that physically fits regardless of how much material you have. In that case we plan multiple swap-outs on the small box rather than trying to force a bigger one onto a pad it will not sit on safely.
Loading a low-wall box on a Duluth driveway
At 3.5 feet, the 10 yard's wall sits about waist height, which is the whole appeal — you can wheelbarrow straight in without a ramp, and two people can hand-load broken concrete or bluestone chunks over the rail without a machine. Load the heaviest material first and low, spread it flat rather than piling it in one corner, and keep it under the rail — an overloaded 10 yard with material stacked above the wall cannot legally or safely be hauled.
Central Hillside, East Hillside, Piedmont and parts of Chester Park run some of the steepest residential driveways and alley-only access in the city, and this is where the 10 yard earns its keep on a job that would otherwise need a much longer truck approach. Read our steep driveway placement guide before you book if your street qualifies, and see the full size lineup to compare against a 15 or 20 before you decide.
Local fit
The 10 yard in Duluth driveways
Duluth's frost heave problem is a 10 yard's bread and butter. Freeze-thaw cycles crack driveway slabs and sidewalk panels across the city every year, and the resulting tear-out is dense, saturated concrete that fills a small box by weight long before it fills by volume — plan the 10 yard, not a bigger one, for that job. The same goes for basalt and bluestone foundation and wall stone, which is native to this stretch of the North Shore and shows up in nearly every pre-1940 property from West Duluth to Lakeside.
If your project involves any hazardous or regulated material — old paint cans, roofing tar, treated lumber in bulk — check the WLSSD disposal guide before it goes in the box, since some of it needs a separate drop-off rather than a roll-off. Heavier construction and demolition loads are also covered under Minnesota's statewide disposal framework published by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. We haul the 10 yard year-round out of our West Duluth yard on Roosevelt Street, and for a driveway that will not take anything bigger, it is often the only size that makes sense regardless of how much material you have. Compare it against our residential dumpster rental and junk removal services, or call and describe the pile.
Not sure?
Compare the other sizes
Sizing up costs you money you did not need to spend. Sizing down costs you a second haul. Here is the rest of the range.
15 Yard Dumpster
Kitchen remodel, basement cleanout, small roof tear-off, deck removal
View 15 yard 20Cubic yards20 Yard Dumpster
Whole-house cleanout, larger remodel, 20–30 square roof, flooring
View 20 yard 30Cubic yards30 Yard Dumpster
Major renovation, new-build construction, estate cleanout, demolition
View 30 yard 40Cubic yards40 Yard Dumpster
Commercial fit-out, large-volume light debris, teardown, roofing at scale
View 40 yardFAQs
10 Yard dumpster questions
Will a 10 yard dumpster fit on my Duluth driveway?
In almost every case, yes. The box itself is only about 12 feet long and 8 feet wide, and it is the size we reach for on the steepest Hillside and alley-only lots where nothing bigger will turn around. What matters more than the box is the approach — call and describe the driveway and we will tell you straight whether the truck can get in.
How much concrete or brick can I put in a 10 yard dumpster?
The weight allowance is 1-2 ton, and concrete or brick runs heavy enough that a load can hit that limit while the box still looks partly empty. For a full driveway or a long retaining wall, we will often plan two 10 yard pulls rather than overloading one — call and describe the volume and we will size it correctly.
I have a small job but a very steep driveway — should I still get a 10 yard?
Yes. On a hillside grade with no room to turn a truck around, the 10 yard is often the only size that physically fits, independent of how much material you actually have. We would rather run two swap-outs on the small box than force a longer truck onto a driveway it cannot use safely.
What's the real difference between a 10 and a 15 yard?
About 4 feet of length and roughly a ton of weight allowance. If your job is dense material in a small footprint — concrete, brick, basalt, a single room — the 10 is usually right. If it is a kitchen, a basement, or anything spanning more than one room, the 15 yard fits better; see our full comparison on the 15 yard page.
Can a bathtub or plaster-and-lath walls go in a 10 yard?
A single bathroom's worth, yes — tub, vanity, tile and the drywall or plaster from that room fits comfortably. Full-house plaster-and-lath demolition is heavier and larger in volume than one box handles well; that job moves up to a 15 or 20 yard.
Do you deliver 10 yard dumpsters same day in Duluth?
Usually, if you call before noon. DMN Dumpster Rental is based in West Duluth and runs the 10 yard constantly for small residential and masonry jobs across the Twin Ports — call (218) 514-6269 to check same-day availability for your address.
Ready when you are
Reserve a 10 yard dumpster in Duluth
Call and you will speak to someone local who knows the streets, the permit rules and which box actually fits your driveway. Flat rate quoted up front.