How do we get couches out of a 3rd story apartment quickly?
July 6, 2017 5:05 PM   Subscribe

I moved internationally recently, and since I couldn't find a subletter the landlord liked, I ended up agreeing with the landlord to pay for an extra month while I'd entrust the key to a friend, who'd make sure the furniture I had left for the subletter would be removed. Most of the furniture made its way out, but the two couches don't fit back down the stairs easily, and my friend and I are both panicking because we really want to get them out so we can hand over the keys!

Hopefully the last in a trilogy of questions about a move.

Is there a disposal service in Chicago or something that can come last minute? Can we defer this to the landlord and pay a dumping fee?

(I'm super frustrated about this because if I'd known about this a few weeks ago, I would have made arrangements! Everything about this move feels cursed to me.)
posted by LSK to Grab Bag (17 answers total)
 
Is there a neighborhood Facebook group or Nextdoor you can post on? Maybe someone wants them and would come get them.
posted by primethyme at 5:14 PM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]


Best answer: If you don't care about the couches, just destroy them. Depending on the material, they're probably not that hard to hack apart (although have your friend be safe! And maybe have her/him bring other friends to help) and then remove them in pieces. (If they're heavy solid wood couches, this may not work. But like IKEA level? Just take them apart.)

There are absolutely junk hauling services. And if you don't mind losing your security deposit (or at least part of it), your landlord can likely get rid of them for you. That's what I did the last time I moved -- just let the landlord take part of our deposit as a dumping fee. It was easier than having to come up with the cash to pay a service to do that.
posted by darksong at 5:14 PM on July 6, 2017 [6 favorites]


Maybe a furniture disassembly service? Quick googling finds these folks. Or maybe ask a handy friend with tools to come do it? Then you can take the pieces down the stairs and to the dump.
posted by minervous at 5:14 PM on July 6, 2017


Best answer: I've totally taken apart a couch to toss into the dumpster. It wouldn't work its way out of a tight corner to remove and donate.

Get strong scissors and a handsaw and a vacuum. Tear and cut off the cushions and fabric. Saw apart the frame into manageable pieces. Remove. Super easy.

If you DO care about the couches then make sure anything removable is off of them (feet, sectional parts.) And try to hire some moving people. You can see about trash removal but I had read that it was crazy expensive.
posted by Crystalinne at 5:17 PM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Are the couches in decent condition? If so, you can advertise them for free on Craigslist for anyone willing to move them out (and explain in the post that it's a tight squeeze situation).

If that fails, I used 1-800-GOT-JUNK in a similar situation and it was surprisingly painless. It's not free but it's not insanely exorbitant either.
posted by telegraph at 5:24 PM on July 6, 2017 [4 favorites]


My family has donated furniture to a charity/thrift store, and they will come to pick it up (ours gave us a 2-hour window in which to come, and someone had to be there to let them in and show them which piece to take). The people who came to pick it up were guys who moved furniture all day for the charity, so they were quite experienced at being able to get it through the door, etc. I don't know how they'd do in a really tight squeeze, but I'd think they'd be better than most others at removing it with no damage. f I were you, I'd definitely consider calling local charities to see if any of them can pick it up within a quick timeframe.
posted by ClaireBear at 6:13 PM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]


If you have a balcony and aren't too high up you can hire a dumpster to be placed below and toss them over. I have done this with (someone else's) second- or third-story apartment with a balcony that overlooked an alley.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:01 PM on July 6, 2017


Please donate them. Couches are very expensive for some people.
posted by amtho at 7:17 PM on July 6, 2017 [5 favorites]


Oh, in L.A. I couldn't find a charity to pick up a nearly new leather couch or, previously, a decent fabric couch. I was told it was because people would call them out for unusable couches and waste their time and then get mad if they didn't take the couch. If you can donate them then you definitely should.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:31 PM on July 6, 2017


We had trouble with a sleeper sofa once. We got it into the room with a pulley, through the window, but didn't want to bother with that moving it out. Home Depot rented us a sawz-all and bob's your uncle.
posted by SLC Mom at 7:31 PM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]


Two ways. I have a sawzall that I used on a hot tub to get rid of it before I moved. Actually was easy and a little bit fun getting to destroy it. I also got rid of a treadmill that needed to be taken apart and was extremely heavy (Gym quality) from the 2nd floor. I used 1-800-GOT-JUNK as mentioned above. They took a lot of stuff and it cost around $200. Totally worth it in terms of time, effort and anxiety.

Now if you want to talk about the flaming couch we tossed out of the third story window of my fraternity house, I can say to this day that no one was hurt and all charges were dropped well before trial. We did have to reimburse the local fire department about $500 for the house call.
posted by AugustWest at 7:57 PM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]


Just a thought but have you tried unscrewing the feet from the couch, if it's that kind of couch? That'll buy you several inches of maneuverability through doors and around corners.
posted by zippy at 8:04 PM on July 6, 2017 [8 favorites]


Lessons I learned from sofa disposal:
- Breaking / cutting it apart? Wear goggles. You might be careful but if more than one person is working ...
- Movable but difficult? Two strong neighbors and some $20s did the trick.
posted by Homer42 at 1:06 AM on July 7, 2017


If you decide to hack them apart, for heavens sake wear a mask! We tore one apart once and the dust and other stuff was awful!
posted by james33 at 6:38 AM on July 7, 2017


You could go by Home Depot, hire some dudes, have them drag them down the stairs, and then leave them on the curb with a "Free" sign on them. They'll be gone in a couple hours I bet.
posted by trbrts at 7:02 AM on July 7, 2017


Check with your local moving companies, they may be able to do a couch-ectomy for you for a fee that is less than their published standard minimum for a moving job. It's a quick job for them that they can do in between other scheduled moves.

If they can't get it through the door, they'll also have the equipment and knowledge of how to remove the window frame to get it out the window. (This is how pretty much all of my mattresses have gotten in and out of apartments.)
posted by desuetude at 7:05 AM on July 7, 2017


Freecycle is also great for this sort of thing. I'm not sure if these groups are still as active as they once were (people may use facebook more these days), but it used to be that you could find someone who'd want pretty much anything.

Also, the Salvation Army will often come pick up anything you want to donate. I'm not sure if that includes getting it out of your apartment, but it might be worth looking into.
posted by gennessee at 11:03 AM on July 7, 2017


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