With the holiday season in full swing I want to take this opportunity to discuss piano moving. It’s fairly often that I return from winter break to find that Santa brought one of my students a new piano for Christmas. What a great gift! 🙂 When I was 16 and had just gotten my driver’s license, I had the choice to get a grand piano or a car. I chose the piano. It was a difficult decision at that age, as all of my friends were getting their license and driving. I’m so grateful to this day that I chose the piano. There’s been plenty of time for me to have a car and drive. The piano I got at age 16 is in my house today, and I adore playing it as often as I can.
Parents of our students often ask us about the best way to move their piano. It is something certainly worth discussing. A piano is so heavy that it’s not easy to move like a piece of furniture. When my parents moved from Connecticut to the DC area, I had to decide whether to have their normal movers move my piano or to hire specific piano movers to move the piano. It was a tough decision, as the piano movers were significantly more expensive. I’ll explain what I decided in the piano moving dos and don’ts I share below.
Do:
- Hire professional piano movers
They are experts at moving pianos and do so all day long. They know how to move any type of piano out of and into any type of space even if there are stairs, turns, etc.
Piano movers have the tools to move your piano. They have something to cover your piano to keep it protected. They have straps to strap it into the truck and dollies to help move it. Also, if it’s a grand piano, they have the tools to easily remove the legs and to reattach them when they bring the piano into your new home.
When my parents moved, I ended up going with the professional piano movers. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I decided to do that. The movers ended up damaging so much of my parent’s furniture. If they had moved the piano and damaged it, I would have been crushed.
Don’t:
- Try to move the piano yourself
Pianos are extremely heavy weighing between 300 pounds (for an upright) and 1000 pounds (for a grand). The experts recommend having 1 person/ every 100 pounds. For an upright piano, that’s 3 people, and for a grand, that’s 10 people.
While I have no problem asking my husband and friends to help move some furniture, I do not feel comfortable having them move my piano.
Do:
- Know exactly where you’d like to place your piano in your new home.
Once your piano has been placed, it won’t be easy to move it. I suggest carefully considering where in your house and where specifically in the selected room you’d like to place it.
Do:
- Tune it after it’s been moved.
Don’t:
- Tune it immediately after it’s been moved.
The piano needs some time to settle into it’s new environment and adjust to the humidity level. I recommend waiting a month before tuning your newly moved piano. Check out this post for more information on piano tuning.
I have personally recommend Johnson’s Piano Moving. They moved my grand piano on two occasions, and did a wonderful job. They are local to the DC area, but can also move pianos up and down the East Coast– even for last minute moves. I recently noticed via their website that they also sell upright pianos for $300 or less. In addition, if you need a place to store your piano, while your home is renovated, they can keep your piano in a climate controlled space. I love that!
Thanks so much for reading! Now I want to hear from you. Have you ever moved your upright or grand piano? How was the experience? Leave a comment below. Subscribe to the newsletter and “like us” on Facebook. Since today is the last day of lessons for our students until the new year I wish everyone a safe and happy school vacation. We’ll look forward to seeing you again for lessons in 2014!
Sincerely,
Cassie
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
This article share a great information about piano. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for writing this Cassie. Always hire a professional piano mover.
Good post!
You could move the piano yourself but you’ll be needing a lot of help. In my case we always advise to hire professional help. You wouldn’t want to damage this precious thing.
Very good information, I thought I was an expert on Piano Removals, but I got some further tips in this article. Thanks.!!
Such a great post! I enjoyed reading and found some really useful tips. Also, one of the most important things here is if the piano needs to be stored, always have in mind that the piano needs to be in a safe environment, such as climate-controlled storage that regulates the temperature and protects your piano from the damage.
How long would I have to wait to PLAY it??
You got my attention when you said that you can consider having your newly moved piano serviced for tuning after a month to ensure that it would have enough time to adjust to the humidity level. With this in mind, I will make sure to hire a professional that offers a tuning service. Our piano has been settled in our new house since February, and we want to start playing it again. We use it as our stress reliever. Thanks for sharing this.
Hi Cassie.
Your extremely comprehensive article has given me a lot of useful ideas for move my piano. Your article gives me a practical example of this and ensures that I can swiftly investigate your suggestions. Please keep up the good work and share more.
I thought it was interesting when you mentioned that it is a good idea to hire professionals when you need to move a piano. I need to move my piano from my second-floor apartment to my new house. Hiring a professional seems like a good way to get the piano down from the second floor safely.