A hollow door is not a lumber offcut
Most interior passage doors are a thin skin over a cardboard honeycomb or a hollow grid. They take up as much space as a solid door and they are not clean lumber. Solid-core doors are heavier and still finished with veneer, paint, or primer, so they are a poor fit for a clean-wood bay. Call the disposal site and ask whether interior doors are bulky trash or construction debris. If a reuse store will take a flat, dry, standard-size door, that is a fair first call, but warped, hole-punched, or swollen doors should be hauled as waste. Measure them. A door that will not fit in the vehicle needs a plan before you pull the hinge pins, not after it is leaning in the hallway.
Hardware, hinges, and the hole in the wall
Take the knobs, hinges, and strike plates off and put the screws in a bag. Loose hardware rattles through a hollow door and falls out at the bay. Metal hardware may be small scrap if you are already making a metal stop. The door slab itself is wood and filler. If you are replacing a door because the jamb area has suspect paint, do not sand that paint. Hire licensed people for lead-paint removal, and limit this haul to the door you have already taken off. Prehung units include a jamb and a threshold. Those extra pieces ride with the door unless the site tells you to sort bare wood from finished slabs. Bag shims and nails separately.
Lay the stack so it cannot surf
Two or three doors will slide as a unit on a smooth bed. Lay them flat, put a strap around the whole stack, and keep a pad under the corners so the strap does not crush a hollow skin. Do not stand a single door as a sail above the cab. At the site, unload in the bulky or construction bay. A door is large enough to block the lane if you drop it and stop to think. Ask the attendant where to set the stack, set it there, and check that no hinge screw is left in the bed. If the site refuses hollow-core doors, take them back rather than sliding them into the brush pile.
Before you go
- Confirm the site accepts interior doors as bulky trash or construction debris.
- Remove knobs and hinges and bag the screws.
- Strap the slabs flat so the stack cannot slide.
- Unload in the assigned bay and keep finished doors out of the clean-wood pile.
Standing one hollow-core door above the rails as a wind catch on the highway.
Questions people ask
Is a bi-fold door different?
The slabs are smaller, but the hardware and the track are extra pieces. Bag the track screws and ask whether the slabs can go with other interior doors.
Can I cut a door in half at the site?
No. If it must be cut to fit your vehicle, cut it at home, bag the dust, and tape the cut edge before you drive.
Search Dumpmapper by ZIP code or city, then call the site before you load the truck. Hours and accepted materials change.