Fasteners hide where the broom skips
Boards, cabinets, and tear-off bring nails and screws that stand up in a wooden floor after the big pieces are gone. A broom rolls over them. A magnet on a handle finds them. Sweep first so you are not dragging the magnet through a pile of dirt, then run the magnet in lanes from the nose to the door. Dump the magnet into a can, not into your pocket, and take that can to the scrap or trash pile the attendant named. Do this at the disposal site while you can still throw the can in the bay. Ordinary dry debris goes there, not into the rental lot and not into a storm drain. Walk the tires before you leave the site and again at the rental lot. A screw in the tread is easier to deal with before a highway flat.
Do not add your own fasteners
Cleats, cup hooks, and screws you drive into the walls or the floor are damage. The truck already has tie-downs. Use straps. If a piece will not stay put, move it against the cab and strap it again. Patching a hole is not a cleanup task you finish with a broom. The same rule applies to a plywood sheet you brought to protect the floor. It has to come out with you. Do not screw it down. Nails that were already in your debris are a flat tire. Nails you added are a damage claim. Tell the counter if you know a fastener went into the wood by accident. Hiding it does not pull it out of the tire that finds it later.
Tracks, ramp, and the step
Fasteners fall into the door tracks, the e-track, and the shelf under the bumper. Glove up. Edges are sharp, and a nail on the step is how the next driver slips. A putty knife you own, used gently, can lift grit from the e-track. Do not bend the track to dig. Vacuum the crumbs and empty the vac at the disposal site. Look under the ramp before you stow it. A nail stuck in the ramp pad falls off in the rental lot if you leave it. Photograph the floor after the magnet pass so you can show a clean box. If you still hear a tick from a tire as you roll, stop in the lot and look again before the road.
Before you go
- Broom the floor, then magnet-sweep nails into a can at the disposal site.
- Put that can in the pile staff named, not in your pocket.
- Use straps, not screws, to hold the load.
- Walk the tires at the site and again at the rental lot.
Screwing cleats into the rental floor so the load will not slide.
Questions people ask
Is a magnet better than a second broom pass?
The broom moves dirt and misses standing fasteners. The magnet picks up nails and screws the broom skipped. Use both, at the disposal site, and dump the magnet into a can that goes to the assigned pile. Do not wipe the magnet on your pants and call the floor done.
What if a nail is already in the tire?
Stop before the highway if you can. A screw in the tread at the site is a smaller problem than a flat in traffic. Tell the rental company what you found. Do not pull it out on the road and keep driving as if the tire were whole.
Search Dumpmapper by ZIP code or city, then call the site before you load the truck. Hours and accepted materials change.