Home improvements are a messy affair. The end result may be a cleaner, better looking home but the process can be destructive; tiles torn down, wallpaper ripped off or even walls knocked through, all this mess has to go somewhere. Often people aren’t sure of where to take this waste.

Depending on the size of the project, it may be that you need several tradespeople - tilers, decorators, plasterers etc. - all of which create a fair amount of rubbish.

Tilers, decorators, plasterers all create a fair amount of rubbish.

Some tradespeople may help remove the rubbish, but because many municipal tips consider waste dropped off by a trader as commercial rubbish, this can be tricky.

So, as you prepare for major work on your home, it’s important that you consider waste removal and other parts of cleaning up before starting your home improvements, especially if the work is quite major.

Planning ahead is the best advice, think about the waste you’re likely to have on the project.

This could include:

• Removed brickwork
• Soil
• Broken tiles
• Tile off-cuts
• Old wallpaper
• Paint cans
• Cardboard

It all takes up room in your home and will need to be cleared.

If it's only a few bags you can go to the dump in your car and all would be well, but if it’s much more, you may need to hire a skip.

The problem with skip hire however, is some skip hire companies have a maximum hire period of 14 days before they’ll remove it. As lots of projects last 30 days or more, you could risk seeing your half-filled skip disappearing into the sunset!

Some skip hire companies have a maximum hire period of 14 days

For longer projects, you could look to get smaller skips with more frequent collections and replacements. Alternatively, Hippo bags can be used and collected whenever they’re full.

Above all, over plan for how much mess you can expect and consider the best way of disposal.