By The Junk Lord · Updated
First, the trash truck isn’t an option
Pianos show up by name on the do-not-take lists in local trash rules. The City of York lists pianos and organs among the items residents have to handle privately. East Manchester Township leaves pianos and organs off its bulk pickup, and so does Ephrata Borough.[1][2][3]
Even where a town doesn’t mention pianos, the lift limits rule them out. York Township and Manchester Borough won’t take a large item two people can’t lift. Ephrata tells residents to contact a private hauler for anything over 50 pounds, and East Manchester won’t take anything over 75 pounds without the hauler’s approval.[4][5][3][2]
Organs get the same treatment. The City of York, East Manchester and Ephrata all put organs on the same line as pianos, so everything in this post applies to the old home organ in the den, too.[1][2][3]
So figuring out how to get rid of a piano comes down to three choices: find someone who wants it, move it yourself, or pay someone to haul it.
Option 1: Find it a new home
If the piano still plays and holds a tune reasonably well, start here. A few things make a giveaway more likely to actually happen:
- Get an opinion if you suspect it’s worth something. A piano technician or dealer can tell you whether it’s worth selling. We can’t; we’re haulers.
- List it honestly. Give the brand, the type (spinet, upright, baby grand), any sticky keys, and a photo of the route out of the house: front steps, hallways, the turn at the bottom of the basement stairs.
- Say up front who’s moving it. Put it in the listing that the taker arranges the move, so nobody shows up with a minivan and two friends.
- Ask around locally. Churches, schools and community groups sometimes want a playable piano. Call before you offer to deliver one.
- Set a deadline. If nobody bites in a few weeks, move on rather than letting it hold up a sale or a remodel.
Option 2: Move it yourself (read this part twice)
People do it. People also crush fingers, gouge floors and end up with a piano wedged on a landing. Plainly, here’s what makes it risky:
- Weight in a small footprint. A piano is far heavier than it looks, and nearly all of that weight sits in a cabinet you can barely get your hands under.
- Top-heavy. An upright tips easily once you rock it off level. Stand on the downhill side of one on stairs and you can’t stop it.
- The little wheels lie. Piano casters are made to nudge it across a room, not to roll it over thresholds or down a ramp. They snap, and they gouge hardwood.
- Stairs and turns. Porch steps, a split-level landing or a basement stair with a turn at the bottom are where most of the trouble happens.
If you go that route anyway
Use a piano board or heavy-duty dolly with straps, have enough people that nobody is carrying the load alone, wear real boots, and plan where it’s going before it moves. Also know where it can go when you get it out. YCSWA’s Small Load Drop-Off lists furniture among the things York County residents can bring, but it doesn’t name pianos, so call YCSWA before you show up with one on a trailer. The drop-off charges waste loads by the ton.[6][7]
Option 3: Hire it out
If you want the piano moved to a new house and played again, that’s a job for a piano mover. If you just want it gone, that’s ours. Our piano removal sends a two-person crew with moving equipment to carry it out over the porch steps, landings or basement stairs and haul it away. If it’s still playable and a donation outlet will take it, it goes there instead of disposal.
Text a picture of the piano and a couple of the way out to (717) 654-6138. William will confirm the price before anything gets lifted.