Here, we will cover how to master your piano removal project and help you decide if hiring a piano removal service or piano disposal is the right solution for you.
Guide To Piano Removal In The Bay Area
If you’ve got an old piano in the corner collecting dust, you’ve probably started to look into best practices for removing your old piano.
Where do you even start with getting rid of a piano?
Removing a piano is not an easy undertaking, especially in the Bay Area. Anyone who has ever done it will tell you that this grueling task requires some serious muscle and preparation. Not to mention the right tools.
Considering the fact that pianos typically weigh anywhere between 300 to 1,000 (or more!) pounds, disposing of an old piano on your own can be challenging.
Here are some things to consider when looking into removing or disposing of your old piano in the Bay Area.
Can You Sell Your Piano?
While starting to look into piano removal options, you might be wondering if your old piano has any value?
The short answer is maybe, but selling an old Piano in the Bay Area isn’t an easy thing to do. There’s a lot of used pianos on the market and simply not enough demand.
Since the recession, used pianos have gone down significantly in value. In addition to that, digital pianos have replaced their acoustic counter parts.
But this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look into the option of selling it. To determine if your piano is suitable for resale, consider these three things.
Appearance: Look for scuffs, dents, dings, and other blemishes that may make your piano undesirable to a buyer. People who buy decent pianos usually have grander spaces. Buyers will be looking for aesthetically pleasing pianos that look as good as they play.
Brand: More well-known brands with good reputations will generate more interest. Top resale brands today are Baldwin, Kawai, Steinway & Sons, and Yamaha.
Performance-quality, handmade brands – such as Bechstein, Blüthner, Bösendorfer, Fazioli, Grotrian, Mason & Hamlin, and Schimmel – though may not be as well known to the general public, have great reputations among piano enthusiasts, and also have resale value.
Age/Condition: Most pianos are made with a life expectancy of 40-60 years. Although many other items that are over 100 years old are coined as “antiques”, pianos are typically not an item that gets better with age as they have a lot of small internal parts.
It takes an experienced piano technician to know if a piano is in good condition. Often sellers who know little about pianos will claim that the piano is in excellent condition based simply on the fact that all the keys make a sound when played, and that the cabinet still looks to be in good shape.
While a piano may sound and look good to you, it may have technical problems that you may not be aware of.
You can determine your piano’s age by looking up its serial number in the Pierce Piano Atlas.
From there, we also strongly encourage getting your piano properly appraised by a professional, if you think it has significant value.
Get Rid Of An Old Piano For Free
If you’ve determined that your piano may not bring in the big bucks that you hoped for but you still want it to go to a new home, consider giving your piano away for free. There’s nothing like the gift of music.
- Give Piano Away – A great place to start is the good old Craigslist method. If selling it isn’t a viable option, you may consider putting up a free piano ad on Craigslist. When preparing your free piano listing, do the following.
- Snap good photos
- Describe the condition & history of the piano
- Consider who will be picking it up and dropping it off – make sure to specify
- Properly list piano in Craigslist free section
- Piano Donation – What if you want your piano to go to a good cause? Donating your piano can be tricky. Check out your local classifieds for some local piano donation options. Put the request out to your friends and family, and think outside of the box – contact local churches, school music departments, and local retirement centers to see if they are interested. Keep in mind that you will most likely have to arrange for the transportation of your piano donation as well.
Here’s the hard truth about donating a piano.
Most large donation organizations are not interested in pianos that need work. Every time a piano is moved from one location to the next, it needs to be retuned, which can cost upwards of a few hundred dollars.
Donation organizations simply can’t fund this project.
However, if you have a piano that has been well-maintained over the years and is an overall good instrument with real value, finding a place to donate it to will be much easier. Look for any venue that has some type of formal or informal entertainment, or where groups meet for social occasions.
Note: Spinets and consoles with freestanding legs should be limited to use where they will not be moved frequently, as the legs are prone to breaking if the piano is moved often.
How To Dispose of Your Old Piano?
If you’ve worked your way through the above options, and you still can’t find a home for your old piano, piano disposal may be your only other option.
- To dispose of your piano yourself, you will first need to find a nearby landfill or transfer station.
- From there, round up help and secure proper transportation. If you don’t own a truck, you will either need to rent one or ask a friend (enticing your friend with pizza and beer usually works). Some piano types are much heavier than others and will require multiple people to move it. Use Nixxit’s Piano Removal Guide below to help you get an idea of how heavy your specific piano is.
- Measure your space to make sure your piano fits down your hallways and through doorways.
- From there, carefully move the piano onto a dolly or piano skid board, strapping it down to make sure it’s secure.
- Once you get the piano into the moving truck, secure it with more straps.
Hire A Piano Removal Service
Pianos can be heavy and awkward to maneuver, especially without the proper tools or help. If you don’t want to deal with disposing of a piano yourself, hire a professional piano removal company, like Nixxit to do the dirty work.
Nixxit is a professional piano removal service in the Bay Area, CA. Whether your piano is working or not, we can quickly and easily have your old junk piano removed, loaded, and hauled away. You never have to lift a finger.
How Do Piano Removal Services Work?
If you are considering hiring a professional like Nixxit to dispose of your old piano, the first step is giving the piano removal company a call.
Every piano is uniquely different and there is not a one size fits all when it comes to piano removal.
A professional piano removal company should ask you the following questions:
- What type of piano is it?
- Where is the piano located (they want to make sure they can safely remove it without risk and will ask to come out to see the piano to determine the best access)?
From there, a professional piano removal company will put together a quote to haul away your old piano, based on the factors above.
Piano Removal Cost
If you are considering hiring a piano removal service to dispose of your old piano, you may be wondering what the cost might be.
In the Bay Area, the cost to hire someone to haul away any old piano will be anywhere from $350-$1,000.
This will vary greatly depending on the type of piano, size, weight, location, and whether any special equipment will be needed to move it.
There is no one size fits all when it comes to piano removal cost.
If you are comparing this to the cost of disposing of the piano on your own (DIY), consider these things.
- Will you need to rent a truck/trailer to haul it away on your own?
- Will you need to rent any specialized tools (dollies, piano skid boards, etc) to haul it away yourself?
- Do you have the manpower to do so?
- What is the disposal fee that you would pay at your local recycling center?
These are just some cost-related questions to keep in mind when weighing out your options (DIY vs Hiring A Professional). Sometimes, the cost to do it yourself can be the same or even outweigh the cost of hiring a Bay Area piano removal professional.
Junk Piano Removal in The Bay Area, CA
If you have decided you need help removing your old piano, give Nixxit a call. We service the entire SF Bay Area.
Nixxit can help remove, recycle, and dispose of all different types of pianos, organs, and other keyed instruments. We also take a variety of other items. See what other items we can take here.
For more information about Nixxit’s piano removal service, give us a call. One of our trained team members will be able to assist you in setting up a free on-site estimate to remove your piano today!
