Saturday Follies

Sep 03, 2006 7 Replies

Loaded a Hawk hood today (to keep this thread on topic)...



Almost everything is loaded. Even this PC is stripped down to just a monitor. Kind of like the silence. No Microsoft dings and chimes and boings... One of the bigger ugly pieces to load is our antique square grand piano (some call it a coffin piano, because when it is closed up it looks like a coffin. It was built sometime between 1862 and 1868 in Portland, Maine by Calvin Edwards... I moved it once from the UP (Yooper country) to Illinois (Fib country)... Had the moving company bring it to Florida... Got a quote for $300 to load it, $100 a month to store it, $500 to ship it, and $300 to unload it. Went to Harbor Freight and bought one of those hydraulic carts and a couple of the smaller moving dollies.

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removing the pedal assembly and rods, we wrapped the piano in moving blankets and put a small 2x3 frame on one side (to keep the piano from putting weight on the lid when it was on it's side).. Ratchet strapped everything snug. Centered the hyd cart underneath and lifted the piano off of it's legs.. Unscrewed the legs (about a 3"x6 tpi wood stud!) and set the piano back down on the dollies. Repositioned the cart and raised it so the weight was just on the cart and rotated the piano 90 degree's on the cart so it was sideways (to go through the door). Set it back down onto the dollies and put one dolly about a foot further toward the center. Rolled the piano into the garage door so the long end was hanging over the edge (about an 11" single step down to the garage floor) Put the hydraulic cart under the end and picked it up off the one dolly. Rolled it further out the door and set the one end down on to the other dolly (now on the garage floor. Repositioned the hyd cart in between the dollies and picked up the piano again, but now on the garage floor. Set it back onto the two dollies and rotated the piano flat again. Raised the piano with the cart to pickup bed level. Backed the pickup as far as possible underneath and slid it into the bed (with 2 2x4 runners underneath) Took the three of us (my wife, daughter and myself) about 20 minutes. No grunting, sweating, or even any scary parts. The truck will be tarped and kept inside until the trip up and then it will be kept under cover until it goes in. Jeff


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I got to help move one of those out of a neighbor's basement about 5 years ago. Took three grown men about an hour to get it up about 10 steps and around one 90 degree turn. I've now figured out that's why they invented electronic keyboards.

Having moved around 100 pieces of old oak/walnut furniture (ie. heavy) recently for dad's estate sale and having his storage building's elevator start injecting hydraulic oil directly deep into the ground after trip #2 down to the main floor I've learned that those furniture dolleys are your best friend and with a little work can even help you down steps.

Lee

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> After removing the pedal assembly and rods, we wrapped the piano in moving > blankets and put a small 2x3 frame on one side (to keep the piano from > putting weight on the lid when it was on it's side).. Ratchet strapped > everything snug.

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Heh... odd that this should be brought up.

just did a house inspection yesterday; while there, the current owners offered to leave a large, old upright Wurlitzer piano that for some reason they didn't want to move to Oregon (go figure.) It's in the loft above the garage.

The other future tenant of this house realized that this piano was actually nicer than hers, so is thinking that it should be moved into the house.

*sigh*

you thought roll cabinets full of tools were heavy...? I thought that this time maybe I could get away with not having to move a piano up/down any stairs. Guess I was wrong.

nate

(my medical > I got to help move one of those out of a neighbor's basement about 5 years

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Better yet, ask the sellers for a disposal allowance, tell them you want $500 to move and dispose of the piano. Then list it on E-Bay. If it doesn't sell, pianos are lighter in pieces than as a whole.

Lee

"Grumpy AuContraire" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@GrumpyvilleNOT.com...

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I went through sort of the same thing (but no where as complicated as Jeff's) several years ago when my wife was determined to get rid of an antique upright piano we had been moving around for more than 30 years. It was a solid cherry piano that weighed 700 pounds. The piano had belonged to my cousins' grandmother who was given the piano a a yong girl in the late

1800s. I sort of hated to see it leave the "family" so I worked a deal with my one cousin who wanted it. After getting the $1,000 quotes to move it, I offered to truck it out to them (Eastern West Virginia to Norman, OK) at no cost since I was going to be coming that way soon anyhow to help my son move back east from Kansas. Problem was, when I was ready to load it, my wife was off at the beach and my older son was working some distance away leaving onle me to load the thing. So, I rented one of the four-caster furniture dollies, dragged the piano away from the wall and tipped it up on end on the dolly (couldn't go through the front door upright)and pushed it out front and off the front porch (ramp, no steps) on to my half-circle drive. I had my beaver-tail car trailer sitting there and I pushed the piano up to the tail of the trailer then tipped it on its back on to 2x4 runners on the trailer. I used my tow strap and a come-along.to drag it to the center of the trailer. I covered it with a tarp and tucked it under the desges then I strapped it with my car tie downs. I drove the 1350 miles with no problems, but it took four of us to get the thing off the trailer, get it upright and push it up my cousin's sloping drive. Paul Johnson BTW- she had it made into a desk.

Ever seen one of the professional piano movers work? One (1) guy took the legs off a baby grand, loaded it on a dolly, rolled it down a flight of steps, around a tight corner and through a door, then down the porch steps, across a soft grassy yard, then up into the semi-trailer - all by his lonesome! (and made it look easy) I offered to help, but he refused. I thought he did great, and told him so once he was done.

I am amazed at that, and what they charge for that, too... I'll go slow and scared for my money .. Jeff

Ever seen one of the professional piano movers work?

In the early 1960's, I bought an antique piano and it took six of us to get it into my basement. Then, when I was in the Army, my mother had it taken out in pieces...

JT

(No respect I tellya!)

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