The short answer
Wet and mildewed furniture is priced exactly like clean furniture. A sofa is $126. A queen mattress and box spring set is $143. A large area rug is $68. There is no hazard fee, no cleaning fee and no extra charge for something that smells.
The reason this article exists is not the price. It is that in Northeast Florida, an enormous amount of furniture is written off by humidity alone, without a flood, a leak or any single event - and most people do not realize a piece is finished until they tip it over.
Minimum $75 per visit. Disposal included.
Unconditioned space is not storage in Jacksonville
This is the rule that governs everything else. In Jacksonville, air conditioning is not just cooling - it is dehumidification, and it is the only thing standing between your upholstery and mold.
Which means these five places are not storage, whatever you have been using them for:
- The garage or carport. The default overflow room in a city with no basements.
- The backyard shed. Worse than the garage - less airflow, more ground moisture.
- The screened lanai. Screens keep out mosquitoes. They do not keep out humidity or wind-driven rain.
- The Florida room. If the enclosed back porch is not on the house HVAC - and on the older Arlington, Lakewood and Murray Hill ranch stock it usually is not - it is outdoors as far as your sofa is concerned.
- The attic. Punishing heat plus moisture. Boxed clothing and books do not survive multiple summers up there.
A sofa in a Riverside detached garage for eighteen months is not a sofa in storage. It is a sofa being slowly composted.
The vacant-house mistake
Worth its own section because it is expensive and entirely avoidable.
People turn the air conditioning off in an empty Jacksonville house. It happens when a home is listed and staged, when an estate sits through probate, when a Navy family PCSs out and the property waits for a tenant, and when a snowbird closes up for the summer.
Six weeks of a closed-up Florida house in July with no AC running will grow mold on the inside of the windows, in the closets, on leather, on curtains and right through upholstery. It is not a slow risk, it is a fast and reliable outcome. Leave the system running with the thermostat set high rather than off - and if you are the person who has just walked into a house that sat closed all summer, prepare yourself for the soft furnishings to be a total loss.
The four ways it happens here
- Ambient humidity. No event at all. Time plus dew points. This is the most common and the most surprising.
- The AC condensate line. A clogged drain line backs up and floods the air handler closet, then the hallway, then the adjoining bedroom carpet - often overnight and often unnoticed for days. This is one of the single most common causes of indoor water damage in Florida homes.
- Storm water. Wind-driven rain through a window or a soffit, roof damage, or standing water in low-lying areas. Riverside and San Marco sit near the St. Johns and the river is tidal, so water gets into ground-floor rooms in ways people from drier states do not anticipate.
- Plumbing. A failed supply line or water heater, same as anywhere - except that here the drying window before mold starts is short.
What can be saved and what cannot
Be realistic, because chasing a salvage that will not work costs you weeks and, if you sleep on it, more than that.
Generally gone: upholstered sofas, armchairs and recliners; mattresses and box springs; carpet and carpet pad; particleboard and flat-pack furniture, which swells at the joints and never recovers; cardboard boxes and their contents; books; stored clothing; bean bags; anything with foam in it. Mold grows through porous material, so surface cleaning treats the appearance, not the problem. You cannot get it out of the inside of a cushion.
Usually recoverable: solid wood, if it has not delaminated or warped - cleaned and dried properly; metal; glass; ceramics; and hard plastic. Solid-wood furniture with a surface bloom on the finish is often fine after cleaning. Solid-wood furniture with joints that have opened up is not.
Never sleep on a moldy mattress while you decide. That is the one item where the decision should be immediate.
What it costs to clear
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Sofa / Couch | $126 |
| Sectional Sofa (3-Piece) | $185 |
| Armchair / Accent Chair | $77 |
| Recliner | $98 |
| Futon | $111 |
| Mattress - Queen | $103 |
| Mattress + Box Spring Set | $143 |
| Area Rug (Large, 5x8+) | $68 |
| Area Rug (Small, up to 5x8) | $33 |
| Carpet (rolled) | $68 |
| Carpet - Removal (per room) | $71 |
| Bookcase - Particleboard / Flat-pack | $100 |
| Box of Books | $45 |
| Bag of Clothes | $35 |
| Dehumidifier | $77 |
Water-damaged living room: sofa $126, armchair $77, large area rug $68. $126 + $77 + $68 = $271. A quarter truck is $241, so book the quarter.
Bedroom after a condensate leak: queen mattress and box spring set $143, carpet removal for the room $71, dresser $126. $143 + $71 + $126 = $340. A 3/8 truck is $338 - book that.
The garage-stored pile: sofa $126, futon $111, ten bags of debris $132. $126 + $111 + $132 = $369. Again, the 3/8 at $338 is the better booking.
How we handle it
Practical, not dramatic. Crews use respirators and gloves on visibly moldy material. We bag or wrap soft items before they come through the house rather than carrying an open moldy cushion past your kitchen. We keep the route short and we take the outdoor route where there is one, which in Jacksonville there usually is - a lanai door, a Florida room door, a garage side door.
We would rather you were not in the room while heavily moldy upholstery is being moved. Open the exterior doors along the route, run the AC afterwards, and give it a couple of hours.
Where we stop
We remove contents. That is the job, and for most humidity damage it is the whole job - get the porous material out and the room can dry.
What needs a different trade: structural remediation. If mold is in drywall, insulation, subfloor or the HVAC system, that is a licensed remediation contractor, and in a Florida house with a long-running leak it very often is. Ducts in particular are worth a look, because a system that has been circulating through a damp return is going to keep re-seeding rooms you just cleared.
Fix the source first if you can - the condensate line, the roof, the plumbing. Otherwise you will be booking the same removal again in a year.
Frequently asked questions
Do you charge more to remove moldy or water-damaged furniture?
No. A mildewed sofa is $126 and a soaked queen mattress set is $143, exactly the same as clean ones. There is no hazard fee and no cleaning charge.
Can moldy upholstery be cleaned instead of thrown out?
Generally not. Mold grows through porous material, so cleaning addresses the surface and not the inside of the foam or the cushion. Upholstery, mattresses, carpet, particleboard and books are usually a write-off. Solid wood, metal, glass and ceramics can normally be saved.
Why does furniture go moldy in my Jacksonville garage with no leak?
Ambient humidity alone. Air conditioning is what dehumidifies a Florida home, so a garage, carport, shed, screened lanai or unconditioned Florida room is not storage - it is slow exposure. Eighteen months is often enough.
Should I turn the AC off in an empty house?
No. Set it high rather than off. A closed-up Jacksonville house in summer with the system off grows mold in closets, on leather, on curtains and through upholstery within weeks. This catches out sellers, executors and PCSing families constantly.
Do you do mold remediation?
No. We remove the affected contents, which is usually what lets the room dry out. Mold in drywall, insulation, subfloor or ductwork needs a licensed remediation contractor, and the source - often a clogged AC condensate line - needs fixing first.
Is it safe to keep sleeping on a mattress with mildew on it?
Do not. That is the one item where the decision should be made immediately. A queen is $103, or $143 with the box spring, and we can usually come quickly.