Junk Removal University District
Junk Removal in the
University District
UW student apartments, dorms and walk-ups (98105, 98195). A twin mattress is a flat $82, a sofa $126, a mini-fridge $115, and a whole apartment $241–$732 by truck-fill — $100 minimum. We carry it down and out, no stair fee, same-day when a slot's open. Flat price from a photo.
Book around the UW calendar — June 13 and late August
This page exists because of two dates, and if you're reading it in May or July, these are the ones to put in your phone.
- Noon, Saturday June 13, 2026 — the on-campus dorm move-out deadline. The busiest curbside window is June 10–13, and commencement falls on the same day, so the whole neighborhood is full of families, rented vans and double-parked cars at once. Everything that isn't going home ends up on a sidewalk in about seventy-two hours.
- Late August — the bigger one. Off-campus U-District and Ravenna leases run roughly 11.5 months, which means they nearly all turn over within the same couple of weeks in late August. That surge is larger than June's because it's whole apartments, not dorm rooms — couches, beds, desks and kitchens all at once.
Both weeks are when same-day slots go first. If your lease ends on a known date, book ahead — you can send the photo and lock a window well before the day itself, and the price is fixed when you book, not when we show up into a street full of moving trucks.
The U-District move-out, hauled same-day
The University District is UW student housing — walk-up apartments with no elevator, newer student high-rises with one elevator and a queue, dorms, and constant end-of-lease turnover. Roughly two-thirds of the neighborhood rents, so somebody is always moving. Every move-out leaves a mattress, a couch, a desk. We carry it down the stairs and out, no stair fee, priced flat by item or as truck-fill from a photo — add the whole apartment and it's one number, often same-day.
How it works during move week
1 · Send a photo
Shoot the mattress, the pile by the door, or the whole room. A flat price comes back in seconds — no walkthrough, no waiting on a callback while your lease clock runs.
2 · Lock a window
Same-day is often open; during June 10–13 and late August, book a day or two ahead. Tell us the floor, whether there's an elevator, and where a truck can legally sit.
3 · We carry it down
An insured crew takes it from the unit down to the truck — fourth floor, basement, Greek-house common room. Good desks and shelves go to donation. You keep packing.
How much does junk removal cost in the U-District?
Flat and photo-quoted, with the carry-down and the disposal already inside the number. Single pieces price per item; a whole apartment or a Greek house prices by how much of the truck it fills.
| Item / job | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Twin mattress | $82 |
| Box spring | $92 |
| Queen mattress | $103 |
| Sofa / couch | $126 |
| Loveseat | $119 |
| Futon | $111 |
| Mini-fridge | $115 |
| Desk (standard) | $83 |
| Bookshelf | $72 |
| Moving box (each) | $31 |
| Trash bag (each) | $35 |
| Bagged load — 10 bags | $132 |
| Truck-fill — 2/8 (quarter) | $241 |
| Truck-fill — 4/8 (half) | $431 |
| Truck-fill — 8/8 (full truck) | $732 |
$100 minimum on any job — so a single box or bag is always worth grouping with whatever else is going. Full truck-fill ladder: 2/8 $241 · 3/8 $338 · 4/8 $431 · 5/8 $513 · 6/8 $587 · 7/8 $661 · 8/8 $732. Disposal and the walk-up carry are included; there is no stair fee. A small WA refuse tax may apply on the disposal portion.
Splitting it with roommates works well here: one bed, one couch and one desk is three items on one flat quote, and past three or four pieces a truck-fill tier is usually cheaper than adding them up. For outside context, Homeyou and Yelp Costs put the average Seattle junk-removal job at roughly $253–$325. See the full Seattle price guide →
5 ways to get rid of a mattress at the end of a UW lease
| Option | Cost | Speed | The catch at lease-end |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPU special-items pickup | $30 per item | Your next garbage day | Appointment-based and curbside only — no help if the lease ends at noon and you're on the fourth floor |
| Donation | Free | Days to weeks | Desks and shelves yes; used mattresses are refused, everywhere |
| Leave it in the alley | "Free" | Instant | It's illegal dumping, and the building or the landlord bills it back to your deposit |
| Self-haul to a transfer station | Gate fee + $30 per mattress (limit 6/day) | Same day, if you have a truck | You still carry it down, and most students don't have a truck on move-out day |
| JunkRabbit | $82 twin · $103 queen · $100 min | Often same day | None — flat photo price, carried down, donation-routed |
Municipal figures are the published Seattle Public Utilities and King County rates. Ours are flat and photo-quoted with disposal included.
Does Seattle pick up mattresses in the U-District?
Yes — on the city's schedule, not yours, and only if you've already done the hard part. Seattle Public Utilities collects "special items" at a published $30 per item. Three limits decide whether it's any use to a student: it's by appointment, it's scheduled to your next regular garbage day, and it's curbside only. Booking is at seattle.gov/specialitems.
Line that up against a real lease-end. Your keys are due at noon. Your next garbage day might be Thursday. The mattress has to be gone today, and SPU's crew is not coming up to the fourth floor of a walk-up, or down into a Greek Row basement, to get it. That's the whole gap: the program is cheap precisely because you supply the labor and they supply the timing.
And the per-item math turns quickly. A typical shared apartment at the end of a year is two mattresses, a couch and a mini-fridge — four items, $120 — plus four separate carries down the stairs, plus the wait for the collection day, plus whatever the building says about furniture sitting outside in the meantime. At that point one flat quote that includes the carry isn't a splurge, it's just the version that actually finishes before your keys are due.
What we take in the U-District
- Mattresses, box springs & bed frames — carried down from any floor, no stair fee, twin through king.
- Sofas, loveseats & futons — the student-apartment staples, including the sleeper nobody could lift alone.
- Desks, bookshelves & dressers — the IKEA layer that doesn't survive a second move.
- Mini-fridges & small appliances — one, or the six that come out of a Greek house at once.
- Whole-apartment move-outs — everything left after the car is packed, priced as one truck-fill number.
- Greek Row bulk clear-outs — chapter houses cleared out room by room and basement included.
- Bagged and boxed leftovers — the closet and kitchen remnants nobody claims, ten bags at a time.
- Electronics — monitors, laptops, desktops and TVs, diverted free through WA E-Cycle.
What happens to a student move-out load
More of a U-District load is genuinely reusable than almost anywhere else in the city — a desk that's two years old, a bookshelf that survived one move, a dresser that just doesn't fit in a car. So donation is the first stop, not an afterthought.
- Resellable furniture goes to donation — Evergreen Goodwill, the Salvation Army (1-800-SA-TRUCK), Habitat for Humanity ReStore and St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County all take usable desks, shelves, dressers and sofas.
- Mattresses are the honest exception. Used mattresses are refused by donation, universally — that isn't a local quirk. They go for disposal, and at a King County transfer station they carry a $30 special-item fee each, with a limit of six per day. Ours is one flat price with that handled.
- Electronics go to WA E-Cycle, free — monitors, laptops, desktops and TVs are banned from Washington garbage and recycled at no charge statewide, which matters in a neighborhood full of four-year-old student setups.
- Metal is pulled for scrap — bed frames, shelving, the loft-bed hardware.
- The rest gets tipped at SPU's North station in Wallingford, which is the closest one to the neighborhood.
U-District buildings: walk-ups, high-rises and Greek Row
Three kinds of address, three different problems, one flat price.
Older walk-up apartments — the brick and wood-frame buildings off the Ave — have no elevator, narrow stairwells and a turn at every landing. A queen mattress and a couch out of a third or fourth floor is our single most common U-District job, and it's still $103 and $126.
Newer student high-rises do have an elevator, but on move-out weekend there's exactly one and everybody in the building wants it. We work around the queue rather than billing you for the wait, and if the building wants a vendor checked in at the desk, that's handled.
Greek Row is its own category: 1920s manor houses with basements, common rooms, and years of accumulated chapter furniture. Those clear as whole-house truck-fill jobs, usually the week after the last resident leaves.
Across all three, street parking is the real constraint during move week — 98105 fills with rented vans between June 10 and 13 and again in late August. We plan the closest legal spot and hand-carry the rest; a long carry isn't a surcharge, it's just part of working here.
When the U-District calls us
- Dorm move-out, June 13. Noon deadline, one car, and a mattress topper, a futon and a mini-fridge that aren't going in it.
- Off-campus lease-end, late August. A whole shared apartment emptied in a day, split between roommates on one flat quote.
- Graduating and leaving town. The furniture stays behind; the good pieces go to donation instead of the alley.
- Fraternity or sorority clear-out. Chapter house emptied between years, basement and common rooms included.
- Landlord turnover. A unit stripped between tenants so the next lease can start on time.
- Roommate moved out and left everything. Very common, and it's one photo and one price.
Why U-District renters choose JunkRabbit
- We work on your deadline, not the garbage calendar. Same-day when a slot's open, and bookable ahead for June and August.
- The carry is included. Fourth floor, no elevator, basement stairs — no stair fee, no floor count, no long-carry charge.
- Flat price before we arrive. Photo in, number out. Nothing gets re-quoted at the door while your landlord waits for keys.
- Split it with roommates. One quote covers the whole apartment; past a few items truck-fill is cheaper than counting pieces.
- Donation-routed and honest about limits. Desks and shelves get donated; mattresses can't be, and we say so.
- The tax is named correctly. Washington's ~10.35% retail sales tax doesn't apply to this service; a 3.6% state Refuse/Solid Waste Collection Tax (RCW 82.18) rides on disposal and may show as a small line.
What U-District renters say
"End of lease, third-floor walk-up. They carried the mattress and couch down and out same-day. No stair fee. Lifesaver."
"Whole apartment in one quote — bed, futon, desk. Gone in an afternoon. Way easier than the dumpster."
"Graduated and needed it gone fast. Photo, flat price, carried down two flights. Easy."
U-District questions, answered
How much does it cost here?
Twin mattress $82, box spring $92, queen $103, sofa $126, loveseat $119, futon $111, mini-fridge $115, desk $83, bookshelf $72, ten bags $132. Whole apartments and Greek houses by truck-fill, $241–$732. $100 minimum, carry-down and disposal included.
When is UW move-out in 2026?
Dorms: noon Saturday, June 13, 2026, busiest June 10–13, commencement the same day. Off-campus leases: the larger wave in late August. Book ahead for both.
Will SPU take my mattress in time?
Unlikely. $30 per item, by appointment, on your next regular garbage day, curbside only — and not from a fourth floor. Details at seattle.gov/specialitems.
Is there a stair fee?
No. Any floor, walk-up or high-rise, basement included. The carry is in the flat price.
Can you clear a fraternity or sorority house?
Yes — whole-house truck-fill, $241–$732 per truck, basement and common rooms included, usually the week after the last resident leaves.
Do you donate what's still good?
Yes — Goodwill, Salvation Army (1-800-SA-TRUCK), Habitat ReStore and St. Vincent de Paul take usable desks, shelves and sofas. Used mattresses are refused everywhere; electronics go to WA E-Cycle free.
Can we split it between roommates?
Yes. One photo, one flat quote for the whole apartment, and you divide it however you like.
Is there sales tax on it?
Not the ~10.35% retail rate. A 3.6% state Refuse/Solid Waste Collection Tax (RCW 82.18) applies to the disposal portion and may appear on your receipt.
More around the U-District
Frequently asked questions
Can you handle a UW move-out?
Yes — the U-District fills with furniture and mattresses at end of lease. We clear the whole apartment, carried down and out with no stair fee, often same-day, flat-priced from a photo. Send the photo the night before if you are moving during move week.
Will SPU pick up my mattress before I move out?
Probably not in time. Seattle Public Utilities' special-items collection is $30 per item, by appointment, and it is scheduled to your next regular garbage day — not the day you ask. It is also curbside only, so a fourth-floor apartment or a Greek-house basement is entirely on you. Two mattresses plus a couch plus a mini-fridge is four items, $120, and four carries down the stairs before the truck ever arrives. Booking details are at seattle.gov/specialitems.
Can you clear a whole fraternity or sorority house?
Yes. Greek Row's 1920s manor houses have basements and common rooms that accumulate for years, and they clear as a whole-house job priced by truck-fill, $241 through $732 per truck, rather than item by item. Chapters usually book it for the week after the last resident leaves so the crew has the building to itself.
Will you donate the stuff that's still good?
Yes, and in this neighborhood it is a lot of it. Evergreen Goodwill, the Salvation Army (1-800-SA-TRUCK), Habitat for Humanity ReStore and St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County all take resellable desks, bookshelves, dressers and sofas. Two honest exceptions: used mattresses are refused everywhere, and King County charges $30 each to take a mattress or box spring at the transfer station with a limit of six per day. Electronics — the old monitor, the dead laptop — go to WA E-Cycle free, because Washington bans them from the garbage.
Is there a stair fee for a fourth-floor apartment?
No. The older U-District walk-ups have no elevator and the newer student high-rises have one elevator and a queue on move-out day. Either way the carry is inside the flat price — no stair fee, no floor count, no long-carry charge when the truck has to park a block away during move week.
Is there sales tax on junk removal in Washington?
Not the roughly 10.35 percent retail rate — it does not apply to the service. Washington instead charges a 3.6 percent state Refuse/Solid Waste Collection Tax (RCW 82.18) on the disposal portion, which may show as a small line on the receipt.
Ready to Clear It Out in University District?
Send a photo of what is going and we will come back with one flat price — carry-out, hauling and disposal in it. Same-day is often open in University District.
Upload Photos & Get Your QuotePrefer texting? 💬 Text (206) 880-7250 — send a photo, get the price.