Row houses and big apartment blocks (20010, 20009) in the historic heart of the DMV's Central-American community. Hablamos español — quote, scheduling and crew. Basement clears, apartment move-outs and single pieces at a flat photo-quoted price from $75, usually same-day.
Snap a photo — exact flat price back in seconds
Upload a Photo & Get Quote →Columbia Heights sits at the historic center of the DMV's Central-American — and primarily Salvadoran — community. Researchers at George Mason University's Institute for Immigration Research count roughly 260,000 Salvadorans across the Washington metro, the largest Hispanic-origin group in the region, and this is one of the neighborhoods that built that presence: families who have held a row house on a numbered street for two generations, plus a constant flow of renters through the apartment buildings along 14th Street and Park Road, plus the small businesses in between.
Here is the part we think is genuinely strange about our own industry in this city: most junk-removal companies in the DMV run English-only websites and English-only phone lines. In a metro with a quarter of a million Salvadorans in it, "we might have someone who speaks Spanish" is not a service. So we do it the other way. Atendemos en español — you can send the photo with a note in Spanish, get the flat price back in Spanish, book in Spanish, and have a crew show up that speaks it. That is the difference on this page, and it is not a slogan.
The work itself is the ordinary work of the neighborhood. The row-house basement that has been filling since the family bought the house. The apartment move-out on the last day of a lease. The sofa that will not fit the next place. The refrigerator the landlord replaced. All of it priced flat from a photo — per piece, or as one truck-fill for a whole unit. (DC sales tax applies at checkout.)
Photograph the piece, the room or the whole apartment. An exact flat price comes back in seconds — no walkthrough, no "call us for an estimate." Mándanos la foto en español si prefieres.
Row house with a basement, or a fourth-floor unit on 14th? How many units in the building, is there an elevator, where can the truck stop? We plan the carry before we arrive.
An insured, vetted crew does every lift, down the stairs and out to the truck. Usable furniture goes to donation. You lift nothing and drag nothing to the curb.
Flat and photo-quoted. A single piece prices per item; an apartment, a basement or a whole floor prices as truck-fill. Loading, the stair-carry and the disposal are already in the number — no stair fee, no floor surcharge, no fuel line.
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Medium TV | $91 |
| Twin mattress | $111 |
| Small dining table | $138 |
| Queen mattress | $139 |
| Loveseat | $160 |
| Dresser | $169 |
| Sofa / couch | $170 |
| Washer | $179 |
| Refrigerator | $221 |
Apartments, basements and whole-unit clears — truck-fill ladder
| Truck fill | Flat price |
|---|---|
| 2/8 of the truck | $325 |
| 3/8 | $455 |
| 4/8 (half truck) | $580 |
| 5/8 | $690 |
| 6/8 | $790 |
| 7/8 | $890 |
| Full truck (8/8) | $985 |
$75 order minimum. Clearing several things at once? Photograph the group instead of the pieces — a set priced together almost always comes out under the same items added up one by one, and a move-out is nearly always cheaper as a truck-fill than as a list. DC sales tax applies at checkout.
For an outside benchmark, since "what should this cost" is the real question: HomeGuide's 2026 cost research puts national franchise junk removal at roughly $400–$600 for a half truck and $700–$1,000 for a full truck — priced by volume and usually confirmed only once an estimator is standing in your apartment.
| Option | Cost | Speed | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| DC DPW bulk trash (311 / dpw.dc.gov) | Free | Scheduled appointment | Single-family and ≤3-unit buildings only — most 14th St apartment blocks are excluded outright; 7 items per appointment; no renovation debris; you carry it down and out |
| Donate (Goodwill, Salvation Army, Habitat ReStore, A Wider Circle) | Free | Days | Has to be clean and resellable; pickup slots book out and most sites want you to deliver it |
| Rent a truck and self-haul | Rental + fuel + tip fee | Half a day | You do every lift twice, and you need somewhere to park a box truck on a Columbia Heights block |
| Franchise hauler (1-800-GOT-JUNK, College HUNKS) | ≈$400–$600 half truck, $700–$1,000 full (HomeGuide 2026) | 1–3 days | Volume-priced, generally confirmed only by an on-site estimate |
| JunkRabbit | From $75 · sofa $170 · truck-fill $325–$985 | Same day | None — flat photo price, español, carried down from any floor, donation-routed |
For some of the neighborhood, yes. For a lot of it, no — and the dividing line is not where people expect. DC DPW runs a free bulk-trash collection program, scheduled through 311 or dpw.dc.gov, and it serves single-family homes and buildings of three units or fewer. If you own or rent a Columbia Heights row house, that is you: book the appointment, it is your tax money, and for a couple of chairs and a headboard it is the right call.
The program's limits are real, though, and they are where most jobs on these blocks land:
And then the part that defines this neighborhood: condos, co-ops and apartment buildings of four or more units are excluded from DC bulk trash entirely, and District rules require those bulk items to be removed by a private, licensed hauler (DC DPW). Look at what that means on the ground here. The large apartment buildings along 14th Street and Park Road — the ones that hold a large share of the neighborhood's renters — sit squarely in the excluded category. A whole neighborhood of tenants has no free option at all, not a slow one. For them the question was never "city or private hauler." It is only which private hauler answers in their language, quotes the price before arriving, and does not add a stair fee on the fourth floor.
Donation comes first, and in a neighborhood where a lot of furniture is still perfectly good when it leaves, that matters. Usable pieces go to Goodwill of Greater Washington, the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, or A Wider Circle in Silver Spring, which furnishes homes for families leaving homelessness and will issue documentation on request — a genuinely better ending for a sofa or a dresser than a transfer station. Metal goes to scrap. Televisions, monitors and computers go into the District's e-waste stream instead of the landfill. Refrigerators, freezers and window air conditioners get EPA-certified refrigerant recovery before anything else happens to them. Only what nobody can use gets tipped — and disposal in this region is not cheap, which is exactly why we sort on the way out of your building instead of at the scale.
Columbia Heights is really two access problems in one ZIP. The row houses — front steps, a narrow interior staircase, and usually a basement with its own tight run of stairs, sometimes a rear alley that loads far more easily than the street does. Tell us which side is better and we build the carry around it. The apartment blocks along 14th Street and Park Road are the other half: bigger buildings, a lobby, sometimes an elevator and sometimes not, a management office that wants to know when we are coming, and a loading situation on a busy commercial corridor where we do not leave a truck sitting longer than the carry takes.
Two practical notes. If your building's management asks for a certificate of insurance before a vendor works in the building, say so when you book — we file it and name management as additional insured, no charge and no delay. And whichever of those two worlds you live in, there is no stair fee. Fourth floor with no elevator is the same flat number as ground floor, because the price came from the photo and we are not going to renegotiate it in your stairwell.
"Equipo en español, sacaron muebles viejos y el sótano completo. Precio fijo, rápido, sin sorpresas. Muy recomendable."
"Walk-up move-out — couch and mattress down and out same-day, no stair fee. Fair flat price."
"Rental turnover, hauled everything left and swept clean, same-day. Reliable."
How much does it cost in Columbia Heights?
Flat, photo-quoted: sofa $170, loveseat $160, queen mattress $139, twin $111, dresser $169, small dining table $138, medium TV $91, washer $179, refrigerator $221. Apartments and basements run the truck-fill ladder, $325 at 2/8 up to $985 for a full truck. $75 order minimum, stair-carry and disposal included. DC sales tax applies at checkout.
¿Hablan español?
Sí — atendemos en español de principio a fin: la cotización, la cita y el equipo que llega a tu puerta. Most DMV competitors run English-only sites and phone lines; in a metro with roughly 260,000 Salvadorans that never made sense to us.
Will DC bulk trash take it instead?
Only if your building has three units or fewer. DPW serves single-family and ≤3-unit addresses via 311 or dpw.dc.gov, seven items per appointment, no renovation debris, curbside, on a scheduled date. Condos, co-ops and 4+ unit apartment buildings are excluded and must use a private, licensed hauler — which covers most of the big blocks on 14th St and Park Rd.
Is there a stair fee on the fourth floor?
No. No stair fee, no floor surcharge. The photo price is the price, and we do the carrying.
Can you do the whole apartment on moving day?
Yes, and it is one of our most common bookings here. One photo of the unit, one truck-fill price from $325, swept when we leave, usable pieces donated.
Do you take the refrigerator?
Yes — $221, with EPA-certified refrigerant recovery included. Washer $179, dryer $172, mini fridge $155.
Cheaper than a franchise hauler?
Quoted more honestly, at least. HomeGuide's 2026 research puts franchises at roughly $400–$600 for a half truck and $700–$1,000 for a full one, by volume, confirmed on site. Ours comes from a photo before we drive out, and one sofa is $170 rather than a truck estimate.
Sí — atendemos en español, de principio a fin. Call or text in Spanish, send the photo with a note in Spanish, and the quote, the scheduling and the crew at your door all come back in Spanish. Most junk-removal companies in the DMV run English-only websites and English-only phone lines, which is a strange thing in a metro with roughly 260,000 Salvadorans in it. We treat Spanish as a first language for this service, not a translation afterthought.
It depends entirely on how many units your building has. DC DPW bulk trash, requested through 311 or dpw.dc.gov, serves single-family homes and buildings of three units or fewer, takes up to 7 items per appointment, is curbside-only and does not accept renovation or construction debris. Condos, co-ops and apartment buildings of four or more units are excluded from the program and must use a private, licensed hauler. That excludes most of the large apartment blocks along 14th Street and Park Road — a whole neighborhood of renters with no free option at all.
No. There is no stair fee and no floor surcharge. Whatever the piece is and whichever floor it is on, the flat price you were quoted from the photo is the price. We carry the sofa, the mattress and the dresser down ourselves — you do not drag anything to the curb, and nothing waits on the sidewalk for a collection date.
That is one of the most common Columbia Heights bookings we take. Send one photo of the whole unit rather than photographing pieces one at a time; a move-out prices as a single truck-fill from $325, not as a list of items added together. Same-day is usually open, we sweep behind ourselves, and what is still usable goes to donation instead of the dumpster.
Yes. A refrigerator is $221, a washer $179, a dryer $172, a mini fridge $155, a window AC from $117. Anything with refrigerant in it — fridges, freezers, air conditioners — goes through EPA-certified refrigerant recovery before disposal, which is a real cost and a real legal requirement, and it is already inside the flat price rather than added at the door.
It is quoted differently, which is what actually matters. HomeGuide's 2026 cost research puts national franchise junk removal at roughly $400 to $600 for a half truck and $700 to $1,000 for a full truck, priced by volume and typically confirmed only after an estimator comes out to look. Ours is per item or per truck-fill, quoted from a photo before anyone drives to your block, and it includes the carry-out and the disposal. For one sofa you pay $170, not a truck-volume estimate.
Donation first. Usable furniture is routed to Goodwill of Greater Washington, the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity ReStore or A Wider Circle in Silver Spring, which furnishes homes for families leaving homelessness and will issue documentation on request. Metal goes to scrap, electronics go to the District's e-waste stream, and only what nobody can use is tipped at a regional transfer station.