how to move an upright piano with a dolly

If you found this article helpful or have any questions, please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! Then, we extricated the dolly from under the bottom side of the piano and placed it between the piano and the stairs to protect its bottom and to expedite the dolly remount at the top of the stairs. So be sure to place the dolly parallel to pianos bottom and let the piano down onto it. Figure on tuning it once its in the house. Knowing how to strap a piano to a dolly is crucial to ensuring a high level of safety when moving a piano to another home. . I would never recommend anyone try to lift that. Pushing a grand piano around on its leg casters can even cause a leg to break. 275,497 views Dec 4, 2016 Lifting a piano with a pneumatic jack you have right now. To move an upright piano, protect the keys and pedals by covering them with a blanket and use tape to secure them in place. Table of Contents Step 1. When you get there, have your third mover join the first mover at the end of the piano that will either be guided down or pushed up the staircasethese are the areas where you need as much muscle as possible when you move a piano up stairs or down. HYTPJX 4 pcs 6" Steel Tri-Dolly 200 lbs 3 Wheel Mover Moving Furniture Dolly Load Capacity Mover Dollys for Moving Heavy Furniture Grand Piano Table Black. How to move an upright piano. Small uprights start at 300 400 lbs., so even they are quite heavy. Still be cautious about maneuvering, however, as upright pianos are top heavy and are more prone to falling sideways. A moving dolly: attempting to move a piano yourself without the invaluable assistance of a furniture dolly reads like the script of a sci-fi film. The pianos base should never be mounted upon the dollys wooden arms either. say, moving a piano locally is much cheaper than moving a piano across the However, with the right equipment the two of us can pretty easily move a piano (within reasonsee below!). Thanks! If the bottom of the pianos case was centered on the rubber caps (instead of flush to the back of them) with no dolly protrusion in front, the piano would be out of balance depth-wise. Step 1: Secure and protect the keys and pedals. A basketball or soccer ball and a bike pump. Below highlights where each dolly should be used: Showroom Piano Dolly J-4025 These dollies are designed for use in piano refurnishing shops or showroom, where experienced movers can transport a piano quickly over a short distance. If you have to go up or down steps, Duarte says you'll likely need a piano board, which is a specialized piece of equipment movers use for pianos. Notice in the action picture below that the first step has beencheatedwith the dolly and just 3 more steps are well covered by the pianos bottom. Let me explain: Piano movers usually have a few different metrics by which they charge. Lift piano on the dolly. Roll the piano to the staircase. Remember, you are lifting a delicate mechanism that weighs 300-900 lbs.approximately eight inches up off the ground and gravity is going to be working against you as you do it. This is probably the most difficult part of the move. The way to move your upright piano over 1 step is by just using a slight tip of the piano on the dolly up/down as it is being pushed along. Be extra careful of any door thresholds that may be damaged if the heavy wheels roll over them. When the piano is properly mounted upon the dolly, the dolly iscenteredunder the pianos pedals and the dollys rubber caps areflushwith its back. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. Grip that with one hand and hold under the keybed with the other. 39. The built-in casters on most upright and grand pianos make it easier to move the instruments. Theyre heavy, often very valuable instruments and it takes very specific equipment and knowledge to move them successfully. You can purchase a piano board at a local moving-supply store. To do this, measure the ends and note the size. The hardest part is over! US DOT: 1481550. The rubber caps should never protrude from the back of the piano. Xpress Movers works best with JavaScript enabled. Bend your knees, keep your back straight, and lift! Finally, roll the piano to wherever you're moving it to, using a ramp if you need to move it up or down a set of stairs. This is the first and easiest part of piano moving, but it can still be tricky and dangerous. Moving pianos is expensive! Fully adjustable, some digital uprights do need a deeper center plate for support, so please provide us the make and model of your piano. So, starting at the place where the piano is sitting, if no more than 1 step will be encountered at any given point in the move path going to/from the truck, the piano is to beliftedortippedup and onto the piano dolly as shown in the picture below. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. Keep the tape from contact with the piano's surface. 4. Notice that no one needs to hold this properly mounted piano because it is so well balanced! This will be explained again in more detail as you proceed through our instruction. Everyone should use the piano moving equipment and good piano moving techniques and should be constantly thinking of easier ways to accomplish each task with the minimum amount of human exertion. When the dolly is properly placed under the piano, both its rubber caps are gripping the bottom of the piano, and their back edges will be flush with the back of the piano. Make sure the blankets cover the front, back, and sides of the piano. Moving an Upright Piano When moving an upright piano, you'll want to make sure the pedals and keys are well-protected. As they are doing here, you always want to try to use as little human strength during a piano move as possible . The piano can slip forward and tip with these. Strap the piano to the dolly with dolly straps. Moving an upright piano is not something you should do on your own unless you are 100% prepared for the piano moving challenges ahead of you. First, remove the pianos music rack and save it and its screws for replacement when the piano move is fully accomplished. To do this, the person wedging the dolly under the piano needs to lift one end of the dolly so that its angle matches the tilt of the piano. It has a padding to help protect the finish since grand pianos . The three brackets which connect the grand piano legs together, prevents any possibility of a leg getting caught and falling off while moving (something that could happen with just individual single leg dollies, damaging the piano and the individual). Using moving straps or rope, tie the piano down to the dolly. how to move an upright piano with a dolly. It also requires that you take your time and be careful not to damage the piano, other furniture, walls, and floors. Drive the truck to a position on the street or in a parking lot as close to the destination point as possible. In the piano moving method I use, the ground always takes most of the wait, and the movers simply lean the piano as needed to accomplish the desired move. Firstly, measure the piano. A piano properly balanced on a dolly is effectively almost weightless to move because a light hand pushing it easily overcomes inertia on level surfaces. Upright pianos are easier to handle than grand pianos mainly due to their size and the way they can be moved. You can also schedule the delivery time in advance. Before the pandemic she loved playing concerts at retirement communities, bringing the joy of music to those populations. If you rent a piano Dolly to move your piano you can see how to use that dolly to move your piano. This will naturally help lift the other end, and make lowering easier to control. And there you have it: How to move an upright piano. 0. Monster Moving Supplies Mt10001 Wood 4-wheel Piano H Dolly 104 3 offers from $64.99 Melody Cradle Piano Dollies for Upright Piano (Dark Brown) 36 2 offers from $325.00 SOLEJAZZ Moving Furniture Dolly Connectable, 440 LBS Capacity Piano Moving Dolly, Heavy Duty 4 Wheel Moving Cart for Moving Heavy Furniture, Black, 1 Pack 185 7 offers from $22.49 When moving a 500+ pound instrument every little bit helps! To use this dolly, you remove the wheels from your digital piano, and then set it on the dolly. It will be properly wedged and cause the lowering piano to easily (and amazingly the first time you see it happen) pop right up onto the dolly. Make sure you are completely prepared before you begin. Here is a view of the correct dolly mount from the bottom of the piano. Perhaps you wanted the piano in your living room by Christmas for caroling? Required fields are marked *. (If the casters dont work and/or they will ruin the floor, you can do the same thing but slide the piano onto a moving blanket instead.). Make sure the boards are thick enough that even if they bend under the weight of the piano, they will not break. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/1\/1f\/Move-an-Upright-Piano-Step-1-Version-3.jpg\/v4-460px-Move-an-Upright-Piano-Step-1-Version-3.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/1\/1f\/Move-an-Upright-Piano-Step-1-Version-3.jpg\/aid1135545-v4-728px-Move-an-Upright-Piano-Step-1-Version-3.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"