OT-Moving Grand piano to Install wood floor

[BluesKeys]

I need to move my 6'10 Kawai Grand around so I can remove old carpet and install new Hardwood flooring. Any suggestions? I was thinking about trying to rent a spider dolly

like they have in concert halls but I really have no idea what that would cost and need to do this on the cheap since I have no work at this time.

[tunaman]

Try the plastic furniture sliders: https://www.uline.com/BL_7909/Furniture-Slides

[Reezekeys]

These 3-wheel dollies are rated at 300 lbs each - so might work if your piano weighs less than 900 lbs:

 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Shepherd-12-in-Steel-Tri-Dolly-with-300-lb-Load-Rating-9442/100140490

 

These guys have a much higher load rating but might be tricky to get the three legs of a piano positioned correctly:

 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Shepherd-18-1-4-28-in-Aluminum-Steel-Appliance-Rollers-2-Pack-9603/100168406

[Docbop]

I'd move it like a piano mover or hire a mover and pay to rent his piano board and dolly for a few days.

 

Moving a grand (my back hurts remembering doing it a few times) basically you drop it to the long side onto a piano board. The board is long enough to get some leverage to lift it up enough to kick a se large wheel dolly under and drop the piano back down onto the dolly. Yes, I'm leave a number of details out like removing legs, pedals, strapping and such. Once on the dolly it's actually pretty easy to roll the piano around and the dolly isn't that long make it easy to pivot around corners and etc. So talk to a piano mover about just coming and putting the piano on the dolly so you can move it around, then when floor done come back and set the piano back up again.

[bourniplus]

I'm guessing that you'd remove some of the carpet before moving the piano, so it might not have to roll on the carpet that much? If there are three persons moving the piano, and you're making sure the wheels are always rolling, and/or that no leg is dragging, or getting "stuck" on the carpet, I don't see why you'd need anything special to move it a few feet across. Especially if it's a short carpet. I'd say that moving by alternating keybed, tail, etc, would be even safer than going in one direction.

 

This is free advice so take it for what it's worth...

 

You could also put it on its side in another room, but maybe you have your reasons not to do so.

[Delaware Dave]

Just tackled this exact same event 3 years ago; we installed hardwoods in my living room replacing the wall-to-wall carpet. My son and I moved the 122 and B3 ourselves. I left the piano in tack, cut the carpet at the tripod legs of the piano, removing that carpet. The little bit that was left under the piano legs we simply lifted the piano and pulled the carpet from under the 3 legs. When the installer came and put in the hardwoods when he got to the point where we had to move the piano we put down some plywood and gently pushed the piano on the plywood. the plywood extended from the legs of the piano to about 5 feet onto the hardwoods so the piano never came in contact with the hardwoods. He finished the hardwood in the room then we pushed the piano back rolling it again on plywood and moved the piano back to the original spot. I think we put a moving blanket in between the hardwood and the plywood so that the hardwoods wouldn't get damaged. Not a scratch was created. He said he's done that trick dozens of times.

[BluesKeys]

Just tackled this exact same event 3 years ago; we installed hardwoods in my living room replacing the wall-to-wall carpet. My son and I moved the 122 and B3 ourselves. I left the piano in tack, cut the carpet at the tripod legs of the piano, removing that carpet. The little bit that was left under the piano legs we simply lifted the piano and pulled the carpet from under the 3 legs. When the installer came and put in the hardwoods when he got to the point where we had to move the piano we put down some plywood and gently pushed the piano on the plywood. the plywood extended from the legs of the piano to about 5 feet onto the hardwoods so the piano never came in contact with the hardwoods. He finished the hardwood in the room then we pushed the piano back rolling it again on plywood and moved the piano back to the original spot. I think we put a moving blanket in between the hardwood and the plywood so that the hardwoods wouldn't get damaged. Not a scratch was created. He said he's done that trick dozens of times.

 

Dave, that is my plan as well. My house is only 750sqft so moving to another room is not an option. I sold pianos for a couple years and learned how to use a grand slide. I moved it into this house with the help of several friends. I was just curious how someone else had tackled this delema. I will cut the carpet around the piano and use plywood to roll it into place after I install the hardwood.

[Ledbetter]

Did the same as DelDave when we installed the wood floor. Cut the carpet away around the piano, then after half the wood was installed, pivoted it twice onto the 6"2'.

 

Those tri-steel dollies Reezekeys posted looked handy to have around.

 

Best of luck and let us know if you find a tuner who"s working!

[Biggles]

A four wheeled moving dolly is $7 to rent at Uhaul.

 

Three dolly"s is therefore $21.

 

Each dolly rated at 1000lbs