Did we get ripped off? Who can tell me if it was clean or dirty

Hi, I hope this is the right place to post! New to the forum and scrapping in general. Hubby and I just scrapped a pool, but when it came to the 150lb aluminum decks the guy said they were dirty because of the carpet that was adhered to the top. I was under the impression that dirty referred to other types of metal. My husband ended up getting .20/lb instead of .40/lb. This was at a new yard where we've never been before and I wasn't with him or I would've been asking questions. So. Did we get ripped off?? Honestly what's done is done.. but I want to know for the future and also whether or not to avoid that yard.

would be dirty at my yard as well...

Ok thanks!! Good to know. I still don't fully understand their logic since my husband offered to rip the carpet off, but the yard told him it would "probably" still be dirty. They verified it was aluminum and we cut everything else off. Oh well. It's done. I'm glad you guys could answer this.. Thanks!

Dirty means it has other material attached, could be other metals or it could be plastic, wood, etc Alumium with carpet would be dirty at my yard too. Not sure why they told you it would still be dirty without the carpet unless it had a lot of steel screws attached or the carpet would leave a lot of adhesive stuck on.

No steel screws or any other metal. Yea you're right, it could've been the adhesive. Although the 200lbs of railings we turned in were painted and I would think technically the paint would be another material, but we got the full aluminum rate for them. Who knows. Just glad they weren't ripping us off with the carpet.

My yard allows 5% contamination in with "old aluminum" which is just mixed types.

Smaller yards usually don't do this because more likely them not they will clean it them selves to get more money.

Originally Posted by emily00firebomb

No steel screws or any other metal. Yea you're right, it could've been the adhesive. Although the 200lbs of railings we turned in were painted and I would think technically the paint would be another material, but we got the full aluminum rate for them. Who knows. Just glad they weren't ripping us off with the carpet.

The aluminum rails probably could have gone as aluminum extrusions if your yard has that catagory. must be clean and contain no other type of aluminum.

Emily,

You need to keep a couple of things in mind when dealing with the yards:

1. Not all yards are completely honest with you. There is a pretty good chance if you showed up with just adhesive on the aluminum (and no rug stuck to it) they would have taken it without saying a thing. And if it was easy to rip the rug off, well, you know what they did once you left the yard!! So my bottom line is I think you got ripped off.

2. You would have been fully within your rights to not sell it to them and just let the stuff go that paid what you considered a fair price. Even if you had to go back to the shop from the front office to get your stuff, once you learned the price was too low.

The experienced guys tend to call ahead to the yard if they have something they are wondering about.

I rather suspect your comparison to painted aluminium is a good one. Both paint and carpet glue will burn off at the aluminum refinery and both only really represent the loss of a very small part of the total weight of the aluminum...maybe the glue would be a bit heavier since it might be thicker.

Your best bet is to call around to yards to see where the best price is when you have a load to sell.

Jon.

At my yard they pay $.11 / LB for dirty aluminum, so you did pretty good I'd say.

I don't feel you got ripped off because they told you why it was going for dirty. Yards have different ways of grading stuff and what one yard considers dirty one considers clean. I know my yard will buy aluminum with steel screws as clean still, as long as there's not tons of other metals or trash contamination. On the other hand some yards will pay dirty aluminum if it has the slightest of stuff such as a screw, in your case adhesive or reminants after tearing carpet off. And like someone stated above you always have a fair chance to not sell to them.

You did well getting .20 lb for dirty alum. as I only pay .14 lb for dirty were I work, we call alum. breakage. With the carpet pulled off it would of been clean #2 alum. glue dosen't hurt the weight .44 lb. Hand rail's and decking with no paint or glue new or used #1 ex .62 lb

Originally Posted by brassbuster

You did well getting .20 lb for dirty alum. as I only pay .14 lb for dirty were I work, we call alum. breakage. With the carpet pulled off it would of been clean #2 alum. glue dosen't hurt the weight .44 lb. Hand rail's and decking with no paint or glue new or used #1 ex .62 lb

Never heard of #2 Alum

By me painted Alum $.43
Dirty Alum $.20
Extruded $.64

You did good, and now you know remove what you can to get a better price!