Old couch in the garage, or a houseful of flood-soaked furniture? Across Houston you've got the monthly heavy-trash pickup, the donation truck, recycling, or a flat-rate hauler. This is the complete 2026 guide — item by item, the flood-cleanup playbook, the real DIY-vs-hauler math, and how to keep it out of the landfill.
Send a photo — flat price, loaded from the garage
Upload a Photo & Get Your Price →Clean and sound? Donate it first (water-soaked pieces can't be donated). Otherwise a hauler loads it from the garage at a flat $170 (loveseat $128, sleeper sofa $200, 3-piece sectional $249) and the foam, wood, and metal are separated for recycling where possible.
Solid dressers ($169), dining tables ($174), and bookshelves ($97) donate well when dry and undamaged; the rest is broken down to recycle the wood and metal.
Best recycled rather than landfilled. We carry it out as-is (queen $139, king $154, twin $111, box spring $124) — no bagging — and route it to a recycler. After a flood, a soaked mattress is one of the first things to haul.
Fridges, freezers, and ACs hold refrigerant that must be recovered to EPA standards before the metal is scrapped. We disconnect (a plumber cuts any gas line), roll it out of the garage, and route it properly — fridge $221, washer $179, dryer $172, dishwasher $147, water heater $176.
Texas has no statewide e-waste ban, but TVs, monitors, and computers still belong at a certified e-waste recycler, not the landfill. We dismount the wall set and recycle everything responsibly (TV $84–$98, monitor $78), including the leaded glass in old CRT sets.
Treadmills ($155), Pelotons ($108), and ellipticals ($131) are heavy and often bolted; we break them down and recycle the metal — a classic Houston garage clear-out.
Houston orgs that take furniture in good condition:
Call ahead — they only accept clean, dry, undamaged pieces (nothing water-soaked), and pickup windows fill quickly.
Houston collects heavy trash on a monthly schedule by neighborhood, alternating tree-waste and junk-waste months — you set items at the curb during your heavy-trash week. It's the cheapest route for a few items you can move to the curb and don't mind leaving out for days. The catch: it runs on the city's calendar, not yours, and it won't come inside, out of an apartment, or down from a high-rise.
This is Houston's reality: when a storm floods the first floor, soaked furniture, mattresses, and drywall have to come out quickly so the home can dry and you can rebuild — mold sets in within a couple of days. The city runs special storm-debris collection after major events, but it can lag for weeks while you're trying to dry out. A flat-rate hauler clears flood-damaged contents by the truckload right away — often the same day — so the demolition and drying can start. Whole flooded rooms are priced as truck-fill (1/4 truck $295, half $525, full $895), and we haul as many loads as the job needs at the same flat per-truck rate.
Mattresses are best recycled; electronics belong at an e-waste recycler; refrigerant appliances are handled to EPA standards. A hauler routes each to the right stream so you don't make separate trips across a metro the size of Houston.
After a flood, when you can't wait for the monthly heavy-trash week, when it's a heavy piece or a full garage, or when it's a Galleria high-rise that needs a COI and freight elevator, a hauler is worth it. JunkRabbit quotes from a photo, loads it from the garage or carries it out of the tower (no surcharge), and sorts donation, recycling, and disposal in one trip. Single items are flat ($75 minimum); whole-home cleanouts are priced by the truckload. See the full Houston price guide.
Renting a truck sounds cheaper until you add the rental + the transfer-station dump fee + fuel + Houston traffic + your day — plus the mattress and TV you should recycle separately. And after a flood, the lifting is grim and the clock is against you. Here's the flat hauler side:
| The job | Flat hauler price | DIY reality |
|---|---|---|
| One couch | $170 | Rental + dump fee + you load it + a half-day |
| Couch + mattress + dresser | ~$300–$480 | Sorting trips (mattress/e-waste) + your day |
| One room / garage load | 1/4 truck — $295 | A full rental day for one load |
| Apartment / flooded room | 1/2 truck — $525 | Multiple trips + dump fees while mold sets in |
| Furnished home | Full truck — $895 | A weekend (or longer after a flood), several trips |
$75 minimum. Count the rental, dump fees, the separate mattress/e-waste trips, and your time — the flat number is usually close, and after a flood the speed alone is worth it.
If you're using the city pickup, plan around your monthly heavy-trash week — miss it and you wait another month. Houston's busy moving stretch runs late spring through summer. And hurricane season (June–November) is its own calendar: after a major storm, demand for hauling spikes and the city's debris collection backs up, so booking a hauler early gets your flooded contents out before mold and the queue both set in. For any same-day need, a flat-rate hauler is the option that moves on your schedule.
Even without a statewide ban, mattresses, electronics, and appliances are recyclable and bulky — there's no reason to send them straight to a landfill. Donation keeps a usable piece in service. Recycling reclaims the steel from box springs and appliances, the foam and fiber from mattresses, the wood from case goods, and the metals and glass from electronics. Even after a flood, salvageable metal and appliances can be recycled. A good hauler defaults to donation, then recycling, and sends only the truly dead material to disposal.
How does heavy-trash pickup work?
Monthly by neighborhood, at the curb during your heavy-trash week — not from inside, not e-waste.
What about after a flood?
Move fast — a hauler clears soaked contents by the truckload right away, before mold and the city queue set in.
Where can I donate?
Goodwill Houston, Salvation Army, Habitat ReStore — clean, dry pieces, call ahead.
How much to haul a couch?
A flat $170, loaded from the garage, $75 minimum.
How much for a house or flooded room?
By truck: 1/4 $295, half $525, full $895; multiple trucks at the same flat rate.
Mattress or TV?
Both recycled — we take the mattress as-is and recycle the TV responsibly.
Is DIY cheaper?
Often not, once you count rental, dump fees, sorting trips, traffic, and your day.
Do you cover the suburbs?
Yes — inside the Loop to Katy, Sugar Land, The Woodlands, Pearland, same flat price.
Do you handle Galleria high-rises?
Yes — COI filed and freight elevator booked the same day.
Do you handle appliance refrigerant?
Yes — recovered to EPA standards before the metal is recycled.