Owning a piano is a wonderful thing. Not only do they add to the decor of your home; they can provide hours of relaxing entertainment. They are a pleasure to both the person playing as well as anyone listening. Often pianos become a family heirloom, passed down from generation to generation. With so many obvious benefits, why isn’t there a piano in every home? One of the main reasons is that moving a piano can be a nightmare.
“How so?”, you may ask. The first issue is the sheer weight of a piano. Uprights are often around five or six hundred pounds but a grand piano can be over 1000 pounds. This weight brings risk. Risk to yourself and those that help you with moving a piano. Risk to the flooring, doorways, and stairwells in both your old place and your new home. Often, sadly, the item at greatest risk is the piano itself. Perhaps this could just be minor scratches or dings, but it could also be catastrophic if you don’t follow the best way to move a piano.
You can solve this problem easily by hiring a professional piano moving service to move your piano. You may feel inclined to try moving a piano on your own. While this may save money it comes with other dangers. At Torex, we understand needing to stick to a budget. While we do our best to keep our prices affordable, we appreciate that you may not be able to afford a professional moving company.
You may wonder ‘how much does it cost to move a piano?’. Call our friendly moving specialists or fill out the online form to get a quick free quote. Either way, we want your precious piano to get to your new home safe and sound. With this in mind, here are our tips on how to move a piano safely.
How do you move a piano?
The best way to move a piano is to first make a plan.
- You will need to take measurements. Measure the dimensions of the piano and all of the areas that the piano will go through to leave the old home as well as the path for it to get into the new home.
- Check your insurance policy. Professional piano moving companies are usually insured for moving a piano. At Torex, we always provide standard insurance and offer additional insurance if you feel it’s necessary. Of course, nobody plans for an accident but it is a good idea to make sure that if an accident did happen your policy would cover damage to the piano as well as the possible injury of your helpers.
- Start recruiting volunteers. Often our friends come in all shapes and sizes. Preferably for this job, you will want strong individuals that don’t suffer from pre-existing back/joint issues. If you have friends that have been trained to lift professionally (warehouse or construction workers) this may help. Professional piano moving companies can sometimes move a piano with only 2 trained movers. For amateur piano movers, it is best practice to have a minimum of 4 movers, one for each corner of the piano.
- Gather the necessary piano moving equipment. The equipment needed for moving an upright piano may be different from the equipment needed for moving a baby grand piano. You will need plenty of moving blankets. If you don’t have these you can usually rent them from piano moving companies or beg, borrow, and steal from family and friends.
You will need either a piano moving dolly or a piano moving cart. Sometimes this is also called a piano moving trolley. Whatever you call it, this is an important piece of piano moving equipment. If you have a grand piano and need to know how to move a grand piano, you should check the model to get the weight of your piano. Then you can see if the piano moving cart can support that weight. You will also need plenty of packing tape to secure the blankets. You will need work gloves for yourself and your volunteers.
Be sure to have straps to secure the piano to the dolly and something to protect the floors in the areas the piano is leaving as well as at its new destination. Stairway railings may need to be removed so be sure you have the necessary drill or screwdrivers handy. You may also need tools to disassemble and reassemble the piano itself, especially when moving a baby grand piano.
Of course, you can’t move a piano with a hatchback. Look into renting an appropriately sized van or truck and ensure you have the necessary straps to secure the piano so it doesn’t move during transport. Professional piano moving companies always employ a ramp for moving pianos, you may want to look into getting one.
Are you still feeling committed to moving your piano? Consider getting a quote for our piano moving service. You may be surprised by how affordable it is to hire our piano movers.
How to secure a piano before moving?
Once your helpers arrive on piano moving day it is a good idea to gather them together for a short safety meeting. Remember this item you have enlisted them to move may weigh up to 1000 pounds (or more). They should all be aware of good lifting and moving techniques (and warned about the bad ones).
Before moving an upright piano you will want to ensure all corners of the piano are thoroughly covered with padding. Be careful not to get tape on the piano itself as it may destroy the beautiful finish. Secure the top of the upright piano as well as the key protector. Remember to wrap and tape the pedals of the upright piano.
Before moving a baby grand piano you will want to disassemble it before the move (this is when planning ahead with your piano moving equipment will pay off). The lid needs to be lowered and secured with moving blankets and tape (remember not to let the tape come in contact with the piano finish). Disassemble the legs and the pedals of the piano. Wrap them in blankets and tape to secure them. Wrap moving blankets around all of the piano sides and secure with tape. Be sure you keep all of the hardware to reassemble the piano with you and don’t forget to bring the tools to reassemble the grand piano in its final destination.
While uprights are best kept in the upright position with a grand or baby grand you will need to tilt it to get it on the piano moving cart. Be careful and remember to keep your helpers appraised at all times so everyone is aware of each step of the process. This is for the safety of the piano and your helpers.
How to move a piano upstairs?
The best way to move a piano upstairs is by setting up a ramp for the piano. Set the ramp in place before moving the piano and double-check that the piano is secured onto the piano moving dolly. Keep the dialogue open with your moving helpers so everyone knows what to expect and can work at the same pace.
Securing your piano for transport
If you are moving with a full truck you can pack your piano on the back wall of the truck. This means it will be the first thing you pack and the last thing you unpack at your new destination. Once furniture and boxes are packed against the piano it won’t be able to shift or move during transport. If you are moving the piano in an empty van or truck bed you will have to properly secure the piano so it doesn’t move around during transport.
Moving a piano into your new home
Be sure you have chosen which room you will be moving the piano into and clear the path for the piano to get there. If you did your pre planning you should have already measured to ensure the piano will get to reach its final destination. If you have any tight spaces be sure to protect them with padding and cover the floor to protect it from scrapes and scratches. Prepare the ramp to move the piano down from the truck/van.
Final details when moving a piano
You will need your helpers to stick around until the piano has been settled into its new home. This is even more important when moving a baby grand piano or a grand piano. This is because you will have to reassemble the piano in the new location and will need assistance to accomplish this task.
Once the piano has been settled and the moving blankets removed you can give it a complete wipe down. It’s a good idea to have the piano tuned professionally after a move. Pianos have a fairly sturdy exterior but their inner workings can be easily affected by even the smallest of bumps as well as temperature and humidity changes. Once tuned your piano will again be a source of great pleasure to the person playing as well as the listeners.
We hope this information helps you to have a safe piano moving experience. As an alternative, you may want to consider hiring our professionally trained piano movers. Torex has been moving pianos for over 10 years and we have all the equipment necessary to move your precious piano. Torex knows how much moving a piano truly costs. If your piano is a precious family heirloom you know it can’t just be replaced if something goes wrong. Trust our piano moving specialists to get your piano safely moved. You won’t regret choosing us to be your piano moving company.