Furniture is the most common reason people call a junk removal company, and also the thing people most often try to handle themselves. Here's how to do it right in Philly.
Step 1: Decide if it's worth donating
Solid wood dressers, tables, and bookshelves in good shape often have a second life. Thrift stores, Habitat for Humanity ReStores, and local buy-nothing groups are all options. Call before you haul. Many donation centers won't take upholstered furniture with stains, tears, or pet damage, and most won't pick up from a basement.
Particle board furniture that's been moved once or twice rarely survives another move and is almost never donatable.
Step 2: Curbside, if it qualifies
Philadelphia treats sofas, mattresses, and box springs as "compactible furniture," and you can set out two of those items per week with regular trash. Mattresses and box springs need to be sealed in a plastic mattress bag.
Step 3: City bulk collection
For bigger furniture, the city's bulk collection program picks up household furniture by appointment. Don't take it apart; the city asks that furniture be left whole. There's a limit of four items per appointment, and it's only open to homes and buildings with six or fewer units.
Step 4: Drop-off
You can bring up to two bulk items a day to a city sanitation convenience center with proof of residency. Our drop-off guide has the details.
Step 5: Hire a hauler
Hiring out makes sense when:
- It's a whole room or a whole house, not one piece.
- It's upstairs or in the basement of a rowhome with tight turns.
- You're on a move-out or closing deadline.
- You don't have a truck, or a second person to lift.
Getting big furniture out of a rowhome
- Measure the tightest point on the way out, usually a stair turn or vestibule door, before you start.
- Take the doors and drawers off dressers and cabinets to lighten them.
- Protect banisters and door frames with moving blankets.
- Sleeper sofas: zip-tie the mechanism closed so it doesn't unfold halfway down the stairs.
Whatever route you choose, don't leave furniture in the alley or on a corner. That's illegal dumping in Philadelphia, fined per item. See our illegal dumping guide.
Want it gone without the lifting? Get a free quote.