Bed frame disposal in Pittsburgh

The short answer

Take the frame apart first; almost every bed frame breaks down into rails, slats and a headboard. Inside the City, bulky furniture can go out with your regular trash within the two-items-per-week limit, after 6 p.m. the night before collection. A bare metal frame can also go to a scrap metal recycler. For a flat pickup, a standard frame is $68, a solid or upholstered twin-to-queen frame is $126 and a solid king frame is $152.

Know which kind of frame you have

Bed frames fall into a few groups, and each one is a slightly different job. The simplest is the folding or bolted steel frame that sits under a box spring. It weighs little, comes apart with a wrench, and the steel has scrap value. Platform frames are usually particleboard or thin wood with slats; they come apart but often split at the joints, so they rarely survive another move. Solid wood frames, the kind found in older Squirrel Hill or Point Breeze bedrooms, are heavy, sometimes held together with long bolts or hook-in rails, and occasionally worth selling. Upholstered and storage frames are the heaviest and bulkiest, with drawers or a lift-up deck that adds weight. Bunk beds, loft beds and trundles add a second level or a pull-out. Knowing which one you have tells you whether to sell it, scrap it, put it at the curb or book a pickup.

Taking it apart without a fight

Disassembly is worth doing whatever route you choose, because a fully assembled queen frame will not turn the landing in most Pittsburgh rowhouses. Start by stripping the bed and removing the mattress and box spring. Lay a towel down and turn the frame on its side if the bolts are underneath. Most frames need a hex key, a socket set or a flat screwdriver. Keep the bolts in a bag taped to a rail if anyone will reuse it. Old wood frames sometimes use hook-in rails that just lift out of the headboard posts once the slats are gone. If a bolt has rusted solid, as happens in damp basement bedrooms, a little penetrating oil and patience beat brute force. Bundle the slats with tape or twine so they travel as one piece. If you would rather skip this, JunkRabbit crews will carry the frame out as it is, and the flat price stays the same.

The curb, scrap and donation routes

Inside the City of Pittsburgh, bulky household furniture goes out with your regular refuse pick-up, limited to two items per week, set out between 6 p.m. the night before and 6 a.m. on collection day. A mattress and a box spring already use both slots, so the frame often waits a week. Bundle the rails and slats together so they read as one item rather than a scatter of lumber. In the suburbs, your own municipality's hauler sets the rules; Mt. Lebanon's contractor, for instance, accepts furniture and household goods curbside. A bare steel frame can go to a scrap yard; the Allegheny County Health Department's recycling directory lists scrap metal outlets. A solid wood frame in good condition may suit the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Swissvale, which accepts furniture and offers free donation pickup. Check with them before assuming it will be accepted.

Flat prices for frames and the rest of the bed

A complete queen bed, meaning a mattress and box spring set plus a metal frame, is $143 + $68 = $211. A king with an upholstered frame and its own mattress is $152 + $114 = $266. A metal frame on its own is $68, so it falls under the $100 order minimum; pair it with a nightstand at $57 for $68 + $57 = $125.

Kids' rooms, guest rooms and estates

Bed frames rarely leave alone. When kids outgrow a bunk bed, the mattresses go too. Two twin mattresses and a standard bunk bed are $82 + $82 + $123 = $287. When a guest room in Brookline or Bethel Park gets turned into an office, the daybed and its mattress go at once; that is $89 + $82 = $171 with a twin. Estate cleanouts in Penn Hills, Mt. Lebanon or Squirrel Hill often involve three or four bedrooms of furniture in houses where the original owners lived for decades. In those cases, truck-fill pricing can be simpler than adding up items: a half truck is $431 and a full truck is $732. Student move-outs in Oakland and Shadyside usually involve loft beds and flat-pack frames that were assembled inside the room and need to come apart to leave it. Whatever the mix, you see the total before booking.

Booking a pickup

Take a photo of the frame, assembled or in pieces, and tell us the floor and whether there are steps outside. Choose the items online or upload the photo, and you get a flat price before you book. The crew carries it from the bedroom, down the stairs and out to the truck, from any floor, with no stairs fee. That includes third-floor bedrooms in Shadyside walk-ups and houses above the street on the South Side Slopes or in Troy Hill. JunkRabbit works 7 days a week from 8am to midnight, and same-day pickup is available when you book by 4 PM. You pick a 2-hour arrival window. We try to donate usable items when local charities accept them, and we recycle whatever we can, which for a steel frame usually means scrap.

Frequently asked questions