Old plumbing removal in Almaty — with carrying down from the floor and recycling

📖 Overview

Removal of old dismantled plumbing fixtures: breakdown — what to know before ordering

Plumbing gets replaced not during renovation season, but when it bursts. Or when the bathroom is planned anew, and the old cast-iron tub stands in the way of all plans. At that moment, a person isn't looking for 'municipal solid waste disposal' but simply — who will take all this away today or tomorrow. Then the math begins, and for most it goes wrong: it seems like 'a couple of small things,' but in reality, the loaders have half a day's work.

Plumbing removal is about weight and dimensions, not the number of items. One cast-iron tub weighs over a hundred kilograms, and two people can't carry it down from the ninth floor without risking wrecking the stairwell. A toilet, sink, towel warmer, fifty-liter boiler — each item has its own character: some shatter, some need cutting, some can't just be thrown in a container. Below is a breakdown from a logistician who takes these orders and calculates them every day.

We won't retell the price list and work stages — they're on the page above. This article is about something else: how to estimate the volume before calling, how old plumbing removal differs in a panel building versus a private house, what to do with the water inside the boiler, and why sometimes it's cheaper to order one trip than three small ones. From experience, about seventy percent of orders get adjusted on site, and almost always toward 'it turned out to be more.'

What counts as old plumbing and what gets taken away with it

Let me start with what I see most often in orders. People write 'remove the tub,' but in reality, waiting in the yard for loading are: the tub itself, toilet, sink, faucets, towel warmer, boiler, a bunch of pipes and fittings, and sometimes even a bag of broken tiles. So plumbing removal is always not one item but a set. And you need to calculate it not by the number of pieces but by weight and volume.

Here's what usually goes into the truck when we arrive at the address:

• Cast-iron tub — from 80 to 150 kg if it's Soviet, and up to 180 kg if it's a heavy enameled one.
• Steel tub — 30–50 kg, two people can carry it, but it's long and doesn't always fit in the elevator.
• Toilet, sink, bidet — ceramics that shatter if loaded carelessly.
• Boiler of 50–100 liters — 15–30 kg, plus leftover water that needs to be drained in advance.
• Towel warmer, faucets, taps, flexible hoses — small stuff, but there can be a lot of it.
• Pipes: cast-iron risers, steel, polypropylene, metal-plastic — all of this is also plumbing.

Now in order. Cast-iron tub and enameled steel are two different worlds. Cast iron is heavy but sturdy: you can drop it, and it won't crack. Steel is light, but on impact the enamel flies off, and the tub turns into a sieve. Loaders know this and carry cast iron on straps, while steel — in hands, but carefully. If the tub is cast iron, it's often sawed on site to carry it out in pieces — otherwise, you might not be able to turn around in the stairwell.

Cast-iron tub and enameled steel: the difference in weight and approach

The weight of a cast-iron bathtub is the biggest surprise for the customer. Ninety percent of people think it weighs like a bag of cement. But it weighs like two bags of cement, only awkward. Carrying it down from the fifth floor without an elevator is a whole operation. We usually warn: if the tub is cast iron and the elevator is out, be prepared for the crew to take longer, and that will affect the final price. Not because we're greedy, but because the labor is real.

A steel enameled bathtub weighs three times less. Two people can carry it down, but it's long and slippery. If you carry it wrong, you can cut yourself on chipped enamel. So we always use gloves and wrap the edges. When loading, we put steel on top so it doesn't get dented.

Ceramics: toilets, sinks, bidets — what chips during loading

Ceramics are fragile. A toilet, sink, bidet — all of it chips from any impact. When removing old plumbing, we often see that people have already tried to carry the toilet out themselves, and it's smashed to pieces. Then the job gets harder: you have to collect all the shards so no one gets cut, and bag them. If the toilet is intact, we wrap it in stretch film or cardboard. But most often the ceramics already have cracks — we still have to remove them, just more carefully.

Bidets and sinks are usually smaller and lighter, but still ceramic. The main thing is not to knock them against each other. In the truck, we put them in a separate corner and pad them with soft material. If you're ordering plumbing removal, let us know there's ceramic — the loaders will bring extra packaging.

Boilers, towel warmers, pumps — equipment you can't just carry out

A boiler is a story of its own. Even empty, it weighs a fair bit, and if there's water left inside, that's an extra 50–80 kg. Before removal, it needs to be disconnected from the power, drained, and taken off its mounts. Boilers often stick to the wall so badly you can't remove them without an angle grinder. We do that on site. A towel warmer — water or electric — also needs draining and dismantling. Pumps, filters, hydraulic accumulators — all of it contains metal and plastic, and you can't just throw it in a container.

If the boiler is large, 100 liters, two people carry it out on a stretcher. It's awkward to carry alone, you could drop it and break it. We insure such items.

What we pick up in one go: pipes, fittings, faucets, leftover finishes

Usually a client orders removal of dismantled plumbing fixtures and then asks: 'Will you take the pipes too?' We will. Pipes are plumbing fixtures too. Cast-iron risers, steel supply lines, polypropylene, metal-plastic — it all goes in the truck. Fittings, faucets, flexible hoses — small stuff, but it adds up to a couple of bags. If there's broken tile left from demolition, you can add that too, but that's construction waste, and we'll warn you it's heavier than it looks.

In one go, it's realistic to remove a full set from a standard apartment: bathtub, toilet, sink, boiler, towel warmer, pipes, and small stuff. If there are also leftover finishes, mention it when you book, because the volume can grow, and then you'll need a bigger truck. We always say: better to tell us everything upfront than to load in two trips.

And one more thing: if you're replacing plumbing but don't want to remove everything at once, you can order just the large items. But keep in mind that a second visit costs extra, and it'll be more expensive than removing everything in one go. So we advise against splitting it up.

How to estimate volume and weight before the truck arrives

The first thing a logistics manager asks isn't "what are you throwing out" but "how many bathrooms are in the apartment." It's not idle curiosity. One bathtub versus a bathroom with a toilet, sink, and boiler means two different trips, even though on the request form the difference is just one word. Removing plumbing fixtures is almost always counted by points: how many spots have equipment and what exactly is in each one.

We count by points: how many bathrooms and what's in each

Walk through the apartment and count out loud. First bathroom, second, kitchen, storage room, balcony. Each has its own set: bathtub, toilet, sink, boiler, washing machine, towel warmer. Then for each item — material and approximate weight. That way, what looks like "a pile of junk" becomes a list where you can see what's more: volume or mass.

From experience, "one bathtub" means a GAZelle if you're carrying it out from the first floor. "Bathtub plus toilet plus sink" is already a GAZelle plus movers for two hours. And when you add a boiler and a second bathroom, you need a different vehicle. The request is accepted based on this list, not the number of items.

Cast iron vs acrylic: where weight estimation goes wrong most often

A cast-iron bathtub weighs over a hundred kilograms, and that's without water and without legs. An acrylic one weighs twenty to thirty, and one person can carry it. The difference is fivefold, yet on the request form both are listed as "bathtub." That's where half the surprises come from: the client says "one bathtub," the movers arrive and see cast iron that needs to be cut with an angle grinder, otherwise it simply can't be taken out of the building.

A toilet is ceramic, it chips, but it's heavy. A sink is the same. A cast-iron kitchen sink weighs as much as half a bathtub. A steel towel warmer is about ten kilograms, a cast-iron one is thirty. Count material, not pieces. That's the main mistake in estimation.

Water inside the boiler and condensation — why the load is heavier than it seems

A fifty-liter boiler is fifty kilograms of water plus the casing. Until it's drained, it weighs like a cast-iron bathtub, only more compact and with sharp edges. You can drain it yourself, but many don't think about it, and the movers arrive to a full tank. Then carrying it out takes an extra hour.

Same with condensation in pipes and leftover water in siphons. It's a small thing, but every such small thing adds weight and mess. From experience, if the water is drained in advance, the trip goes noticeably faster and without a puddle on the stairwell. It's not about saving money — it's about not flooding the neighbors below.

When a second trip is needed and how it doesn't turn into two full trips

A second trip is needed when the volume doesn't fit in one vehicle or when the movers physically can't carry everything out at once. That doesn't mean you pay twice as much as for the first trip. The difference is that the second trip follows an already loaded route, and part of the work is done.

Order matters more than speed here. First, things that are cut and chipped are carried out, then whole items, then small stuff. If you do it the other way around, the small stuff scatters across the truck bed and clogs the space needed for the bathtub.

1. We count bathrooms and items in each — that's the basis of the request.
2. We determine the material: cast iron, ceramic, acrylic, steel.
3. We drain water from the boiler and siphons before the movers arrive.
4. We measure doorways and the stairwell — whether the bathtub will fit through whole.
5. We decide what gets cut on site: cast iron usually does.
6. We plan the order of removal: the awkward and heavy stuff first, then the whole items, then the small bits.
7. We check if everything fits in one truck or if we need a second run.
8. If a second run is needed, we agree on it right away, not after the fact.

Removal of dismantled plumbing fixtures only forgives mistakes at the request stage. Fixing them later costs more: the loaders have already arrived, the truck is waiting, and cast iron doesn't cut itself. That's why we estimate by points and materials, not by inspiration. Once the list is ready, the trip goes smoothly, and a second visit, if needed, turns out not as two separate plumbing removals but as a continuation of one.

Panel building, Stalin-era building, private house: how plumbing fixture removal differs

The logistics specialist doesn't look at the address but at three things: where the truck will park, how to lift the load to the floor, and how many times we'll have to come back. The building type is just a consequence. Because removing dismantled plumbing fixtures from a nine-story panel building and from a three-story Stalin-era building are two different jobs, even if the load is the same.

The fastest is a panel building with a working elevator. Everything is straightforward: load into the cabin, exit on the first floor, roll to the truck. Often we don't even cut the bathtub — a cast-iron one fits diagonally in the freight elevator if turned correctly. A couple of minutes to turn it, and off we go. The only mistake is thinking it'll be like that everywhere.

Elevator works vs. elevator doesn't: two different loading scenarios

An elevator without light or under repair throws off the whole time estimate. Carrying cast iron to the ninth floor by stairs is no longer loading — it's an operation with ropes, safety, and a third person below. Two hold, one belays at the turns. It goes slowly, and no one complains — we don't want to damage the railing or neighbors' doors.

In panel buildings, stair flights are short but landings are narrow. There's almost no room to turn a bathtub between flights. So it's usually not carried up the stairs — it's cut on site or lowered down the facade. A boiler is easier: it's compact but heavy at the bottom, and you can't tilt it more than forty degrees if there's water inside.

If the elevator works but the freight one is taken by neighbors — that's another scenario. We wait, and that time isn't charged separately. The driver just stands in the yard and stays in touch by phone. It's annoying, but it happens more often than you'd think.

Narrow Stalinist staircases: why a bathtub is sometimes cut on site

A Stalinist building means high ceilings and staircases built for people, not for cargo. Long flights, landings with windows, ninety-degree turns. A cast-iron bathtub physically can't make that turn. No way. Not even with four people, not even sideways.

So it gets cut. An angle grinder through enamel and cast iron, four or five cuts, twenty minutes of work and lots of sparks. Then we carry out the pieces — they fit everywhere. This isn't 'damaging property'; it's the only way to get the item out of the apartment without tearing down a wall. You can't cut on the landing — sparks fly onto wooden railings, so we usually work in the bathroom or on the stairs with protective covering.

Sometimes neighbors won't allow cutting. Then the only option is through the window — with a rope and someone below holding the guide line. More time-consuming, but safer for the stairwell.

There was a case on Gagarin — a Stalinist building, third floor, the bathtub was brought in through the window in '68 and couldn't be taken out any other way. We cut it right in the apartment, the owner held a vacuum cleaner to keep enamel off the carpet.

Also, Stalinist buildings often have no freight elevator at all. There's a passenger one, but no one will let you put dirty cast iron in it — and it wouldn't fit height-wise anyway. So it's the stairs, and that means twice as many trips.

Private house: carrying out through the yard, gate, and lawn

In a private house, the hard part isn't lifting — it's getting to the door. The truck stops on the street, then it's the yard, the gate, the path. The gate is seventy centimetres wide — and a bathtub won't fit through. So it goes through the driveway gate, and that gate is often blocked by the owner's car or building materials.

Lawn and paving take a beating. A cast-iron bathtub dragged across wet grass leaves a groove the whole way. So we put down sheets, boards, whatever we've got. We're careful with the paving in the yard too — cart wheels leave chips. Let us know in advance if the path is new, and we'll lay down more protection.

There's an upside: in a private house you can almost always carry everything out through the garage or the summer kitchen straight to where the truck is parked. That saves half an hour, sometimes a whole hour.

When the truck can't pull up to the entrance — what we do then

A narrow yard, a barrier, cars parked bumper to bumper, a playground right under the windows — in Almaty that's the norm, not the exception. A six-metre GAZelle can only back into a yard like that nose-first, and only if there's room to pull out. Otherwise we park at the entrance and carry everything by hand.

What helps before we even arrive:

• Tell the dispatcher there's a barrier in the yard and how it opens.
• Let us know if cars are parked two rows deep by the entrance — we'll ask them to move.
• Tell us the floor and whether there's a freight elevator — that decides how many trips we make.
• Let us know what the walls are made of and whether there are wide openings between rooms.
• Decide in advance whether the bathtub can be cut up if it won't make the turn.
• Drain the bathtub if the boiler or washing machine is still connected.

None of this changes the price, but it changes the time. And time in this kind of work is the only real currency. Plumbing removal where everything is planned in advance takes forty minutes. The same removal of dismantled plumbing fixtures, but with a bathtub stuck in a turn and arguing neighbors, stretches to three hours. The only difference is preparation.

Where old plumbing goes after loading

The door slammed shut, the truck pulled away — and that's where people's interest in the topic ends. But the cargo route isn't just one or two stops, and by the way, it determines how many trips you'll need. Removal of dismantled plumbing fixtures works like this: the unloading address isn't one point but two, and sometimes three.

First we sort the load. Right in the yard, without driving far, because hauling mixed cargo across the whole city means losing time and space. Cast iron and steel go one way, ceramics another, boilers and pumps separately — until everything extra is taken out of them.

Sorting isn't an end in itself. It's how we take away more in one trip than would fit 'by eye'. Ceramics break into pieces and fill the gaps between the big chunks of metal — that's why we don't throw out the shards, we pack them into the crevices.

Cast iron and steel: why they're hauled separately from ceramics

Metal has weight, and it's the scrapyard that pays for it, not us. A cast-iron bathtub, radiator, towel warmer, pipes — that's scrap, and hauling it in with the general load, meaning to the landfill, means throwing away money and space in the truck. From experience, the metal from an ordinary flat with an old bathtub and bathroom adds up to eighty to a hundred and fifty kilogrammes. That's not small change.

Ceramics, porcelain and glass don't count as scrap — that's a different story. Mix cast iron with shards and you'll have to sort it all over again at the yard. Easier to separate it right away.

Ceramics and porcelain: breaking, shards, leftover volume

A toilet and a sink are hollow shapes. While they're whole, they take up a lot of space and weigh little. Smashed, they take up a third as much. So in the truck we don't baby them: we break them, pack them in, tamp them down. The leftover volume after breaking is about a third of the original — and that's not theory, it's daily practice.

Broken pieces need to go into something, otherwise shards end up all over the truck bed. Bags or old boxes — a five-minute job on site, but if you don't do it right away, you'll be picking them out of the whole bed later.

Electronics inside boilers and pumps: what we take out

A boiler isn't just a tank. Inside there's a heating element, wires, plastic parts, sometimes a magnesium anode. A pump is a motor with copper winding — that's a whole different story too. All of this gets dismantled on site, because no one at the receiving point will sort a mixed load — they just won't accept it.

Wire and copper parts go into non-ferrous scrap, but the volume is small — a few kilos per apartment. More hassle than profit, but you can't just throw it in the general pile, so we separate it.

What happens to the site after loading

After the items are carried out and loaded, the place is left the way the movers left it. If something spilled in the stairwell, it's swept up. If shards are left in the yard, they're cleared. This isn't a favor — it's part of the job: sweeping is included in plumbing removal, not a separate line item.

People often think, "since they're hauling it away, they'll pick up the trash too." No — we only pick up what we spilled ourselves. Someone else's bags that were sitting by your door aren't our load, and no one's obligated to take them. Though if you ask and there's room in the truck, we usually don't say no.

Here's the order we do things — exactly like this, no other way. The order matters because it determines how many trips the truck makes and how long it takes.

1. We dismantle boilers and pumps on site: remove the heating element, wires, copper parts, plastic.
2. We stack cast iron, steel, and pipes tightly in the truck bed, no gaps — heavy stuff at the bottom, closer to the cab.
3. We break ceramics and earthenware and fill the gaps between metal so it doesn't shift on the road.
4. We collect shards in bags, otherwise they'll be all over the truck bed by the first pothole.
5. We put plastic, rubber, and insulation on top — that's the light fraction, it belongs at the end.
6. We check the site and stairwell: sweeping up anything spilled is our job, not yours.
7. We go to the metal recycling first, then to the general stream — that order saves mileage.

Removal of dismantled plumbing fixtures isn't just 'loaded and hauled away.' It's disassembly, sorting, and two addresses instead of one. If everything were dumped into one truck, it would drive half-empty, and you'd have to pay for a second trip. So metal separately, ceramics separately, electronics separately. Boring, but cheaper.

What not to mix with old plumbing during removal

The easiest thing, of course, is to sweep everything into one corner and wave it off — "the guys will figure it out." We do figure it out, but not always. There are things that turn a routine plumbing removal into a whole saga: either the movers get flooded, or the truck leaves half-empty and the second trip has to be paid as a full one. Below aren't excerpts from laws, but things we've stumbled on ourselves.

Water in the boiler and in the drain: where it goes on site

A fifty-liter boiler that was unplugged a week ago still holds about thirty liters. Sometimes forty. That's forty kilos of sloshing water inside a steel cylinder, and when you tilt it on the stairs, water runs down the lid and onto the steps. We've seen this before, so we ask you to drain it in advance. Open the inlet valve, unscrew the bottom pipe, put a basin underneath — and wait. Twenty minutes, no less: the stream is thin at first, then it just drips, but the tank is still splashing.

Same story with the toilet flush, only the volume is laughable. There's literally a liter or a liter and a half left in the bend, but if you tip it on the landing, that liter ends up on the floor. The movers will put down plastic, of course. But you can't put plastic on the stairs — there are other people's carpets by the doors. From experience, it's easier to scoop it out with a ladle into the neighbor's toilet... just kidding. We scoop it into a bucket, pour it down the drain, then carry it dry. Three minutes of work versus a showdown with the building manager.

Chemicals from the toilet tank: why we ask you to drain it in advance

Many tanks don't hold water but blue toilet cleaner — tablets, gels, air fresheners. By itself, that's not dangerous. The problem is different: when you tip the tank, the blue goo pours onto the movers' feet. And never mind just the feet — it gets into the truck bed, where a cast-iron bathtub will be loaded next, and then it'll have to be scrubbed off. A GAZelle smells pretty bad after that, and our next order might be furniture.

A separate story is leftover aggressive chemicals. Someone cleaned pipes with caustic soda, someone kept vinegar in the tank to remove limescale. If a bottle is sitting next to the toilet and you're handing it over with everything else — let us know. We pack such things separately, put them in a box, and don't tip them over. Not because we're afraid of inspections, but because a spilled reagent in the truck bed will ruin both the metal and the day.

Construction debris next to plumbing: when it's two separate orders

Demolishing a bathroom isn't just the bathtub. There's tile, screed, drywall, bags of adhesive, pipe offcuts. And that's when people pile everything into one heap and say: take it away. But that's essentially two different loads now. Cast iron pulls down, bulky stuff pulls up: tile pieces and screed chunks fill the whole truck bed even though they weigh less. You can load them into the dumpster together with the bathtub, but then you're paying for a dumpster that's a third full of cast-iron scrap.

Second point: the movers carry broken tiles with cement in large bags, and an old toilet next to them is a risk that the ceramic will crack on the road and shards will cut everything around. We don't mix them in the same layer. If there's really a lot of debris, it's more honest to say so when you place the order: part will go in one trip, part in another. Sometimes it works out to one dumpster instead of two GAZelles. You need to do the math before dispatch, not on the landing.

Household waste in the same pile: what we do with it

Next to the bathtub there's often a bag of stuff that's just too good to throw in the dumpster: rags, bottles, old shoes, leftovers from yesterday's feast. That kind of neighbor doesn't scare us, but there's a nuance. Food waste in a closed truck bed turns into a source of odor over the day, which then soaks into the wooden sides. So we ask you to separate the bag with food — it'll be picked up first and taken away immediately, instead of being driven around town all day.

Glass, lamps, thermometers, paint leftovers — also not in the common pile. A mercury thermometer broken between the toilet and the bathtub is no longer removal of dismantled plumbing fixtures but a small environmental alarm. Loaders don't haul that away with cast-iron scrap. The easiest is to take hazardous items out separately, in closed containers, and mention it when ordering. We'll tell you what to do with them — in Almaty there are places to drop them off.

• Drain the boiler completely before loading — otherwise thirty or forty liters will ride down the stairs with you.
• Fish the blue tablet out of the tank beforehand: it leaks onto the mover, then eats its way out of the truck bed.
• After removal, the toilet gets tipped on its side, but only with an empty trap — otherwise you've got a puddle on the landing.
• Broken tile and the screed from the plumbing go separately: these are two very different loads by weight and volume.
• Aggressive chemicals left over from drain cleaning go in a separate box, and we don't tip it over.
• Food waste near the bathroom goes in a separate bag and on the first run, so it doesn't stink all day.
• A mercury thermometer or lamps don't go in the common pile — tell us about them when you book, not when they're in the truck.

If you're not sure what can travel with what, just snap a photo of the pile in the bathroom and send it to WhatsApp. A photo shows more than a description, and we'll tell you right away what to move into a separate bag. We get plenty of orders with questions like this, and that's fine: better five minutes of texting than a second run because of blue water on the floor.

What the price depends on and why two small trips cost more than one

The cost of removing dismantled plumbing fixtures comes down to four things: weight, floor, elevator, mileage. Everything else is derivative. And weight and volume pull in different directions: a cast-iron bathtub weighs more than it takes up space, while a 50-liter plastic boiler is exactly the opposite.

Weight and volume: what tips the scale

What matters to a mover isn't how many items there are, but how many kilograms and what size. A cast-iron bathtub is a hundredweight plus, but at least you can carry it upright. A toilet is 20–30 kg, but fragile with sharp edges. A sink is 15–25 kg, but if it's old faience, it chips at the slightest knock. A 50-liter boiler is 60–80 kg, and there may still be water inside that nobody drained.

Volume counts too. Three toilets take up as much space as one bathtub, but weigh five times less. That's why we ask for both when you book. If you just say "a bathtub and a sink," we'll send a small truck, four movers will show up — and it still won't be enough.

Floor and elevator: where time turns into money

Got an elevator? Consider yourself lucky. Even if it's a passenger one and the bathtub won't fit, it's still faster than walking. But if there's no elevator or it's broken, every floor adds time. A cast-iron bathtub gets carried up to the ninth floor by four people, and even then with breaks. On the first floor, two can handle it in ten minutes.

From experience, the difference between a first floor with an elevator and a fifth floor without one is about an hour of work. An hour for one item. And if there are five items, that's half a day. That's exactly why we always ask: which floor, is there an elevator, are the stairwells wide. A narrow stairwell is a whole other story: sometimes the bathtub has to be taken apart on site.

Haul everything at once or in parts

People often ask: can we take the bathtub first and the rest later? You can, but two small runs will almost always cost more than one big one. The reason is simple: you're paying not just for weight, but for the truck to show up, for the movers' time, for fuel. Split the order over two days and those costs double.

There's a second thing, too: old plumbing gets replaced in stages. First the bathtub, then the toilet, then the sink. Calling a truck each time adds up. It's easier to coordinate with the plumbers so the removal happens on one day and the pickup the next. Then it all goes in one trip. By the way, that's how plumbing removal in Almaty is usually ordered — all at once.

But sometimes it's the other way around: if the driveway is narrow and a big truck can't get in, you'll have to haul it out in parts on a GAZelle. Then saving money is the least of your worries.

When the suburbs add mileage

Almaty is a sprawling city. From Talgar to Turksib is a whole different route. Outside the city, mileage gets added to the cost: they count the distance from the city limits to the point. And back again. If you're in the suburbs, say so right away — otherwise the wrong truck will show up.

Mileage is the only part that doesn't depend on weight. Even if you're hauling one toilet, outside the city it'll cost almost as much as a full run within the city. So for the region, it's better to gather everything at once: old plumbing, construction debris, junk from the garage. One trip — one price for the kilometers.

Here are the main factors that affect the total. They're easy to remember:

• Weight — a cast-iron bathtub goes at one rate, a plastic one at another.
• Floor — every flight without an elevator adds time and manpower.
• Elevator — a passenger one doesn't always fit a bathtub, and that's factored in too.
• Dimensions — narrow stairwells and turns mean disassembly on site.
• Number of stops — one address or several along the way.
• Suburban mileage — counted both ways.
• Disassembly — if the boiler or towel warmer is still on the wall, we take it down on site, that's the loaders' time.

To avoid overpaying, it's best to say everything upfront: what items, which floor, is there an elevator, where to go. Then you'll get one price and it won't change after loading. And if you forgot something — better to call before dispatch, not when the movers are already at the entrance.

And another thing: don't think a small trip is cheap. A small trip means the same truck, the same loaders, the same fuel. Just less cargo. So removing dismantled plumbing fixtures is more cost-effective in one go, even if you have to wait a couple of days for it.

The table sums it up, but in real life there are nuances. For example, if there's no room in the yard for a big truck, you'll have to order a GAZelle — it can end up costing more even with less cargo. Or if the plumbing needs to be taken down from the mezzanine — that's time too.

So there's no universal answer to "how much does it cost." There's a conversation where you describe the situation and get a quote. And if it's fixed before dispatch, it doesn't change after loading. That's the company's rule, and it takes away half the stress.

Hopefully now it's clear why two trips aren't an option. Better to gather everything at once and haul it out in one go. Cheaper and faster.

The bottom line

If you don't have time to read it all — here's a quick summary. It doesn't replace the breakdown, but it helps you see if this is your case or not.

What we take and what we don't

We take cast iron and steel bathtubs, toilets, sinks, bidets, towel warmers, boilers, faucets, pipes. The only things we don't take are items classified as hazardous waste on paper: mercury thermometers, lamps, leftover chemicals in canisters. Plumbing removal doesn't cover those — that's a different story, and it's best to be upfront about it on the phone.

A cast iron bathtub is the heaviest item, often over a hundred kilograms. It doesn't go down in the elevator — only dragged along the stairs or out the window on ropes if the opening allows. A toilet and sink are ceramic, they crack easily, but the shards cut your hands even through gloves, so our movers wrap them in thick film. A fifty-liter boiler isn't just the casing — there's water inside too if it hasn't been drained. A towel warmer may still have water in its tubes — better not leave it outside in freezing weather.

How to estimate the volume before you call

Volume isn't counted by the number of items but by how much space they'll take up in the truck. One bathtub plus a toilet and sink will almost fill a GAZelle if you don't disassemble them. Dismantled plumbing takes up less space, but disassembly takes time, and that's factored into the quote too.

A simple trick: mentally pile everything up by the entrance. If the pile is higher than your waist and wider than two meters, a GAZelle might not be enough. If it's one bathtub and a couple of small items, it will. If it's three bathtubs and two boilers, you'll need a ZIL or a dumpster. A logistics specialist can tell you more precisely from a photo, but you can make a rough estimate yourself.

• Cast iron bathtub — 80 to 150 kg, depending on length and wall thickness.
• Steel bathtub — 30–50 kg, but bulky and awkward to carry.
• Toilet with tank — about 20–30 kg, ceramic is fragile, needs wrapping.
• Sink — 10–20 kg, often removed together with the vanity or mounts.
• Boiler, 50–80 liters — 30–60 kg, plus water if not drained.
• Towel warmer — 5–15 kg, but a couple of kilograms heavier with water inside.

What to prepare before the truck arrives

First — clear the path. If the plumbing is behind a cabinet or a washing machine, move it to an open area in advance. Second — drain the water from the boiler and pipes, otherwise it will all spill onto the stairwell during lifting. Third — warn the concierge or neighbors if you're working on a weekday during the day: the noise of cast iron being dragged across tile can be heard several floors away.

You don't have to take everything apart yourself. You can leave it as is — the movers will dismantle it on site, but that adds time. If the bathtub is bolted to the wall or tiled in, mention it when you book: it may need to be removed, and that's a separate job. If there's an elevator and the bathtub fits the dimensions, that will speed up removal of the dismantled fixtures a lot.

When to call if you're unsure

Call as soon as you know you'll be replacing it in the next few days. Not because we're rushing you — but if the plumbing is already dismantled and sitting in the yard, it might get taken or block the passage. If you haven't removed the old bathtub yet but have already bought a new one — call anyway: we'll tell you the best time to order the truck so you don't pay for downtime.

Not sure whether to order plumbing removal at all or just carry it out yourself? Weigh the effort and time. If you have movers, a truck, and a free day — you can do it yourself. If the bathtub is on the ninth floor with no elevator and you've only got one back — better to call us. We work every day from nine to nine, so you can call in the evening too.