Just want the piano gone? Consider it done.
No skip to hire, no council to argue with, no favours to call in. Tell us what you’ve got and where it’s standing, and we’ll turn up, carry it out and take it away, fixed price, no drama. One call and the piano’s as good as gone.
You can’t skip it, tip it, or leave it on the kerb
An upright piano weighs 200–300kg and a grand a good deal more, most of it is cast iron. That’s why the usual routes for getting rid of furniture simply don’t work:
- ✗Your council usually won’t collect it. Bulky-waste services almost always exclude pianos because of the weight and the recycling problem.
- ✗Its hard to put it in a skip. Its far too heavy to lift in safely.
- ✗The tip might turn you away. Even if you could get it there, most household waste centres won’t accept a whole piano being heaved up in to a waste cotnainer.
- ✗“Free to collector” rarely works. Almost nobody wants an old unplayable piano, and the ad just brings time-wasters.
So people call us. We’re set up for exactly this: the right kit, the right insurance, and a licence to take it away and recycle it properly.
Upright piano disposal
Yes, we collect upright pianos. The old family upright in the front room, the one nobody has played for years, is the job we do week in, week out.
An upright weighs somewhere between 200 and 300kg, most of it in the cast-iron frame, which is why it will not go in a skip and the council will not take it. It stands on its own castors, so on the flat it is moved out of the room on our piano trolley. Where there are stairs, a cellar or a flight of external steps, it goes on a piano trolley with ramps and straps, and our crew does all of the lifting. You do not need to move it an inch before we arrive.
Our £174 minimum is the price for a local, ground-floor upright with no steps. Stairs, steps, a long carry out to the van and where you are relative to our routes all change the figure, so a photograph of the piano and the way out is what we price from. The number we give you is fixed, with nothing added on the day.
An upright at the foot of a flight of stone steps in Holmfirth, ready to go up and round a tight bend. Steps like these are routine for us, and a photograph of them tells us more than a description does. If yours is a grand rather than an upright, see grand piano disposal below.
Grand piano and baby grand piano disposal
A grand is not just a bigger upright. It is a different shape, a different weight and a different job, and it is usually the one people ring us about after somebody else has looked at it and said no.
An upright stands on its own castors and can usually be moved out of a room on our piano trolley. A grand cannot usually be moved safely through a normal doorway while standing on its legs. The whole instrument sits on three legs bolted into a rigid case, with its weight unevenly distributed, so it will usually need to be partly dismantled, supported on its side and moved on suitable equipment.
Weights vary by make and age, but as a rough guide a baby grand runs somewhere around 250 to 350kg and a full-size grand can be 400kg or more, most of that in the cast-iron frame. That weight, plus the shape, is why grand piano disposal is priced on its own terms rather than at the upright rate.
A grand piano in a church in Sheffield, coming apart where it stood. The pedal lyre is off first, the legs follow, and the board it travels out on is waiting on the floor. More of our own photographs are on the gallery page.
What comes off a grand, and what stays on
Dismantling is standard practice, not a sign of a difficult job. It is how every grand leaves a house, whether it is going into storage or going for recycling.
The pedal lyre
The lyre unbolts from underneath and comes away in one piece, with the trap-work left attached inside the case.
The legs
The piano is eased onto a padded board along its straight side. That takes the weight off the legs so they can be unbolted one at a time.
Lid and music desk
On tight jobs the top lid and the music desk come off too. It takes height and width out of the load and removes the parts most likely to catch a doorframe.
Strapped to the board
From there it is moved on the board rather than on the piano. A strapped rectangle on a piano skid is far easier to control than an instrument on three legs.
The frame, the strings and the action all stay in the case. There is no reason to strip those out in a customer’s home and we would not want to: it makes mess, it takes time, and it is safer and cleaner done at our end. Everything we take off travels with the piano and is separated later along with the rest of it.
Getting a grand out of an upstairs room
Yes, it can be done, and it is a normal week for us. A grand on a first floor is a job to plan, not a job to refuse.
On its side on the board the piano is at its narrowest and its most controllable, and that is how it comes down a staircase: strapped down, one handler holding the weight from below and one steering from above, a step at a time. Narrow Victorian staircases, half-landings with a tight turn, winders, cellar heads and external stone steps are all familiar ground.
What actually decides the job is not the number of stairs. It is the turn at the top or the bottom, the width at the narrowest point, the headroom on a half-landing, and how close the van can get to the door. Photographs of those tell us more in ten seconds than a long description does.
Now and again the answer is that the stairs are not the route at all. If the piano went in through a patio door or a window, or the house has been altered since, we will say so and price the alternative rather than turning up and improvising on the day.
How we price a grand from photos
No site visit needed. Four or five pictures normally settle it.
A grand starts above the £174 minimum that applies to a local, ground-floor upright. Once we have the photographs the figure we give you is fixed, with nothing added on the day.
Price my grand pianoWhat happens to a dismantled grand
Once it is back with us the piano is taken properly apart. The strings are released, the cast-iron frame is separated from the case, and the materials are sorted into their streams: iron and steel to metal recycling, the timber rim, lid and soundboard to wood recycling, fittings and castors with the metal. A grand simply yields more of all of it than an upright does, which is the one respect in which a big instrument is easier rather than harder.
We are straight about the parts that have no clean route. Old felts, cloth and a handful of mixed fittings are sorted out and disposed of properly rather than pretended away. The great majority of the instrument by weight stays out of the ground, and all of it is carried and processed under our registered waste carrier licence (CBDU133377), so there is a record of where it went. There is more detail on how we recycle pianos.
If you are working out how to get rid of a grand piano
The short version: if it is a good instrument in playable order, try to sell or donate it first. A grand worth restoring is worth re-homing, and our guide on how to get rid of a piano covers those routes. If it is beyond that, and most of the ones we collect are, disposal is the realistic answer. A grand will not go in a skip, the council will not collect it, and the tip will turn it away. At that point it is a licensed collection or it stays where it is.
Either way you do not need to move it, dismantle it or clear a route before we come. Send us the photographs, take the fixed price, and the next time you see the room the piano will be out of it.
Getting rid of a piano, your questions answered
How do I dispose of a piano in the UK?+
The simplest way is to use a licensed piano disposal service like ours. You get a quote, we work out a fixed price, then we come and carry it out and take it away for recycling. Because a piano is so heavy and can’t go in normal waste streams, DIY routes (skips, the tip, the council) generally aren’t an option. If you’re still weighing things up, our guide on how to get rid of a piano walks through every option — selling, donating and disposal.
Do you take digital pianos and electric keyboards?+
Yes. Digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs and keyboards are all things we collect, under the same licence. They are a different kind of job from an acoustic piano, so we price and handle them a bit differently. See digital piano disposal for how that works.
Will the council take an old piano away?+
In almost all cases, no. Most local authority bulky-waste collections specifically exclude pianos because of the weight and because the cast-iron frame needs separating for recycling. That’s the main reason people end up calling a specialist.
Can I put a piano in a skip?+
Realistically no. It’s far too heavy to lift in safely, it’ll take up most of the skip, and skip operators won’t accept the metal frame. It works out more expensive and more hassle than simply having it collected.
How much does piano disposal cost?+
Our disposals start from £174 including VAT. The exact price depends on the type of piano (upright or grand), which floor it’s on and the access, and where you are relative to our routes. Send a photo and we’ll give you a firm, all-in figure with nothing added on the day.
Is this piano collection and removal, or just disposal?+
It’s all the same job. We collect the piano from your home, remove it from wherever it stands — upstairs, cellars, over steps — and take it away to be recycled. So whether you searched for piano disposal, piano collection or piano removal, you’re in the right place: we do the lifting, loading and responsible recycling for one fixed price.
Can you move my piano to a new house?+
Piano Disposal UK only collects pianos that are going for good. If you want yours moved to a new address, that is done by our sister companies in the Bellwoods group: Yorkshire Piano Logistics across Yorkshire, and Piano Logistics Manchester in the North West.
Do you collect upright pianos?+
Yes. Uprights are the everyday job for us: old family uprights, overstrung and straight-strung, player pianos and pianolas. We carry it out from wherever it stands, take it away under our waste carrier licence and recycle as much of it as we can. See upright piano disposal above for how the job runs.
How much does upright piano disposal cost?+
From £174 including VAT, which is the minimum for a local, ground-floor upright with no steps. Stairs, external steps, a long carry to the van and where you are relative to our routes all affect the figure. Send a photo of the piano and the way out and we’ll give you a fixed, all-in price with nothing added on the day.
Can you get an upright piano down the stairs?+
Yes, from any floor. We use piano trolleys, ramps and straps and we’re used to awkward staircases, cellars and external steps. You won’t need to move it an inch before we arrive.
Can you dispose of a baby grand piano?+
Yes. Baby grand piano removal and disposal is one of the most common jobs we do. A baby grand is roughly 4ft 6in to 5ft 6in long and usually somewhere around 250 to 350kg. The pedal lyre and the legs come off, it goes onto its straight side on a padded board, and it is strapped down and moved on the board rather than on its own legs. You will not need to move it or prepare it in any way before we arrive.
Can you remove a grand piano from upstairs?+
Yes. A grand on a first floor is a job to plan, not a job to refuse. On its side on the board it is at its narrowest and most controllable, and that is how it comes down a staircase: strapped to the board, one handler holding the weight from below and one steering from above, a step at a time. Narrow staircases, half-landings with a tight turn, winders, cellar heads and external stone steps are all routine for us. What matters most is the turn at the top or the bottom and the width at the narrowest point, so a few photographs of the stairs are worth more than the number of steps. See grand piano disposal above for how the job runs.
Do you take the legs off a grand piano?+
Yes, and that is how every grand leaves a house. The pedal lyre unbolts from underneath, the piano is eased onto a padded board along its straight side to take the weight off the legs, and the legs come off one at a time. On tight jobs the top lid and the music desk come off as well. The frame, strings and action stay in the case, because there is no reason to strip those out in somebody’s front room.
How much does grand piano disposal cost?+
More than the £174 minimum that applies to a local, ground-floor upright, because a grand is heavier, has to be partly dismantled and usually needs more hands. The exact figure depends on the length of the piano, which floor it is on, the access out to the van and where you are relative to our routes. Send photographs of the piano and the access and we will give you a fixed, all-in price with nothing added on the day.
How do I get rid of a grand piano that nobody wants?+
If it is a good instrument in playable order, try to sell or donate it first, because a grand worth restoring is worth re-homing. If it is beyond that, and most of the ones we collect are, a licensed disposal service is the realistic answer: a grand will not go in a skip, councils do not collect them, and the tip will turn it away. We collect it, take it away under our waste carrier licence and separate the materials for recycling.
What happens to the piano after you take it?+
We strip it down and separate the materials — cast-iron frame, timber, strings and felts — so as much as possible is recycled rather than landfilled. If you’d rather focus on that side of things, see ethical piano disposal and how we recycle pianos.
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