Furniture Shipping in Pittsburgh Starts at the Front Steps
Every estimate includes packing on site and white glove pickup from the first floor of the house, so the crew wraps and loads the furniture. In a city built on hillsides, what helps most from you is a clear picture of the stretch between the front door and the truck: how many steps there are, how steep the street is and where a truck can stop.
Hillside Houses Above the Street
In Beechview, Brookline, Troy Hill, Polish Hill and the South Side Slopes, plenty of houses sit well above the sidewalk at the top of a concrete stairway. Canton Avenue in Beechview, with a 37% grade over a short stretch, is often cited as the steepest public street in the country, and the City of Pittsburgh counts more than 800 sets of public steps.
If the house sits above a long stairway, or the street is too steep or tight for a truck to stop in front, call (866) 333-8018 to check access at your house before you book.
Rowhouses and Victorians
The Mexican War Streets and Allegheny West on the North Side, along with Bloomfield, Friendship and Highland Park, are full of brick rowhouses and Victorian homes that went up long before today’s sofas. Doorways and stairways can be narrow, and an armoire carried up years ago may not come back down in one piece. A quick measurement of the tightest point, usually a stair turn or a vestibule door, lets us plan for legs or feet that need to come off.
What Pittsburgh Customers Ship
Large older houses in Point Breeze and across the city often hold heirlooms a family divides after an estate is settled, and one heir’s share going to another state is a typical Ship Smart shipment. Other common loads:
- Solid wood dining sets, sideboards and corner cabinets
- Sectionals, sleeper sofas and reclining chairs
- Queen and king beds with headboards, dressers and chests
- Grandfather clocks, china cabinets, mirrors and framed art in custom crates
- Desks, drafting tables and bookcases from a home office or studio
- Cartons of books, kitchenware and linens added to the same load
Snow, Ice and Pickup Day
Pittsburgh averages about 44 inches of snow a year (NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals at Pittsburgh International Airport), and a hillside street that is easy in October can stop a truck after a January storm. Before a winter pickup, clear and salt the steps between the door and the curb the night before.
Shipping Furniture to Pittsburgh
Our shipping services work the same way in reverse: furniture coming into Pittsburgh from another state is priced by weight and space. Choose the delivery that suits your street: Will-Call, where you collect it at the destination terminal, costs least; Curbside Delivery brings it to the nearest accessible point at your address; Full Service has the crew carry each piece inside. If the house is up a long flight of steps, say so at booking so the delivery crew comes prepared. Arriving before your lease or closing date? Short-term storage at the destination terminal can hold the shipment until you are ready.
