How to get rid of a mattress in Orlando

The short answer

Mattress removal in Orlando is flat-priced by size:

Buy the set price if you are getting rid of both: $143 is less than $103 + $92. Carry-out from any floor is included and the per-visit minimum is $75.

Why the humidity changes the plan

A mattress is a sponge with a fabric cover. In Central Florida it is a sponge in an environment that is doing its best to fill it.

Put one on the driveway in Meadow Woods on a June evening and by morning it has absorbed dew. Leave it out for the afternoon storm and it is genuinely heavy — two people, both hands, and it is dripping. Leave it out for four days waiting on a route and it is growing something. That is the single most common reason a mattress that could have been donated on Monday cannot be donated on Thursday.

Same logic for garage storage. A spare queen kept in a non-air-conditioned garage off Semoran for a summer comes out smelling of the garage, permanently.

Curbside pickup: check before you drag

Bulk collection differs by jurisdiction here. The City of Orlando, unincorporated Orange County, Winter Park, Kissimmee, Apopka and the Seminole County cities all run their own arrangements, and several have set-out windows rather than a standing service. Look up your own address on your city or county solid-waste page and read the current rules, including whether mattresses need to be bagged.

Three practical warnings for this metro:

• An HOA in Lake Nona, Horizon West, Baldwin Park or Winter Garden will send a violation letter for an item at the curb outside the allowed window, and mattresses are the most visible thing you can possibly put out.
• Garden-apartment complexes around Alafaya and Curry Ford West usually forbid dumping beside the corral. The complex pays a contractor to clear it and passes the cost back.
• If a storm is forecast, do not set out the night before. It will be waterlogged before the truck reaches your street.

Donation: only if it is genuinely clean and dry

Most reuse organizations will not take a used mattress at all, and those that do are strict about stains, tears, odour and anything suggesting pests. That is not fussiness; it is what keeps them from becoming a disposal service.

If yours is under a couple of years old, has always lived in air conditioning, and has a clean protector on it, call first and ask before you load it into a car. Otherwise skip straight past this option.

Doing it yourself

A queen will not fit in a sedan and it will not stay on a roof rack at 55mph on the 417. You need a truck or a van, two people, and a plan for the gate charge at the county facility, which is set by weight or by load — check the current rate before you leave.

Add the tolls, the fuel and half your Saturday, and the DIY run is generally only worth it if you were already driving a truck that day. A $103 pickup is one text message and a 15-minute visit.

The bed, not just the mattress

Most Orlando bedrooms come apart as a set. Price it as one job:

A full guest bedroom — mattress and box spring set, metal frame, standard dresser and a nightstand — is $143 + $68 + $126 + $57 = $394. If the room is fuller than that, compare against a quarter truck at $241 or a half truck at $431 and take whichever is lower.

Student season and rental turnover

Two spikes drive mattress pickups here. Late July into the first week of August, the UCF and Valencia leases turn over and the corridor from Alafaya through Waterford Lakes and Avalon Park fills with bed frames and stained twins that nobody wants to drive home to Miami. Book those a few days ahead; the first-thing-in-the-morning slots go first.

The other is short-term rental turnover out towards Kissimmee, Davenport and the Four Corners pool-home communities, where a bad review about a mattress means it gets replaced immediately and the old one has to be gone before the next check-in. Same-day is normal there, and it costs the same as booking a week out.

Booking it

Tell us the size, the floor, and whether there is an elevator or an exterior stairwell. You get the flat price back before anyone drives out. Two people handle it, including down a switchback landing, and the price does not move because of the stairs.

If you are replacing the bed, line the pickup up for the same morning as the delivery. The old mattress never has to sit outside, which in this climate is the entire trick.

Frequently asked questions