I Got Some New Springs In!

We picked up three box springs last week so I want to continue my series on how to take out the springs. The box springs are a little harder to take out then the mattress springs, but they are not nearly as messy, and if you use the tricks that I am about to show you to take the springs out then the city trash will haul the empty box springs away for you.
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Tools needed are:
A good set of wire cutters
A large screw driver
One set of old box springs

First you need someone who drives around the city a lot to keep an eye out for box springs for you like my sister Marna who drives a KAT bus for Knoxville. She has found most of my springs for me. 

 Then you need to check inside the box springs because there is nothing worse then bringing a box springs home in anticipation of getting some good springs out of it to discover that there is either the square springs in your find or just an empty box without any springs at all in it. 

This has happened to me many times. So again I want to say this because it is very important. Open your springs up so that you can see just what is inside before you bother loading them up in your truck to take them home with you. 

Next turn your springs up so that the cheese cloth like covering is on the top, and tear it completely off, and throw this piece in the trash. 

Now take your big screw driver and insert it between the top of your springs and the board that it is stapled to, and pull back towards you to loosen the staples that is holding the springs to the wood. When you get tired of doing that you can bang on the top of the springs with the hammer. They will come loose using both methods.

The amount of springs that you get from a box springs varies. 

These are the types of springs that you might find inside a good set of box springs.  

My Craiglist Ad for Springs!

I got an email Thursday from a lady from Craigslist who had a box springs and mattress that she was giving away, and all I had to do was just pick them up. 

I am still looking for an automatic pickup truck that I can afford so I had to ask my neighbor to go get them for me. 

He could not find the house from the directions that she had given me Thursday, and it was Saturday before I could reach her again to get new directions. 

He found them this time, and he only wanted a few dollars to cover his gas so I gave him $15 and a big thank you.

I wanted to get the covers off the springs so that they could begin the rusting process using the rain that we have been getting today, and supposed to get  and tomorrow so I took the covers off when I caught a few minutes lull in the rain. 

I was very disappointed to find that the box springs were not a type of springs that I could use, but the mattress had over 300 of the hourglass type springs so not a bad haul for $15. 

Where do I find all my springs?

One day I was out in a neighborhood with some friends, and I found the perfect set of box springs laying beside the road ready for the city trash pickup. 

I do not own a truck though, and the only way that I could get them home was to pay my neighbor to go get them for me, but this was on the weekend, and my neighbor was gone all weekend. 

By the time he came home Monday and could go get them for me the trash pickup crew had already came by and hauled them away. 

Feeling very disappointed I called the city trash pickup number and asked them if they had any more springs to be picked up. 

The girl on the other end of the line asked me what in the world did I want with old box springs. I told her that I put dolls on them, and I also sold the springs on Ebay. 

After laughing for a few minutes about the crazy things people buy on Ebay, she promised to call me when her next pickup order came in. 

Two days later she called me back telling me that she had an order to pick up a box springs and mattress set, but that they both had to be picked up that evening because the truck was scheduled to run the next morning. 

This time my neighbor was home and could go right away and get the springs for me. He was happy when he got back because the lady at the house where he picked them up paid him $20 for taking them away so all he charged me was $10 for going and getting them for me which made me very happy also. 

I have also had friends and relatives give me their old mattresses and box springs, and I have had a little success with a Craigslist ad asking for old mattresses and box springs.  You just need to be careful with this way because most mattresses sold today do not have springs in them that we can use.