Say a person wanted to have a Yamaha C7 in a cozy second-floor piano room. Say that piano is 7'4" and 913 pounds. How hard is it going to be to get that thing upstairs?

The stairs go straight to the second floor with no intermediary landing or turn, so that seems good.

The turn at the top seems possibly problematic, so much so that when we remodel the room at the top of the stairs, maybe we should put a door there for maneuvering purposes. It's not like this is the only bunglesome item that might ever need to make it up the stairs. I think that this might solve maneuvering problems.

However, I can't figure out how to get more than two people on the staircase to lift it, and two people can't carry 913 pounds up a flight of stairs. Do piano movers have specialized equipment to help with this?

Here's the floor plan, the photos I currently have of the stairwell, and the lovely room that will eventually house the piano. I hope. Perhaps I'm going to have to trade down, just to get something that'll go up the stairs.

The piano room is on the bottom left, labeled Primary Bedroom. The room labeled Second Floor Kitchen is the future Primary Bath, with the Primary Bedroom to its left. The Second Floor Kitchen's partial wall will be finished off during the bathroom conversion, and I suppose it's possible that a door could be at the top of the stairs, but that's not the preference.



Glimpse of stairs from future primary bedroom.


Future piano room.
The fireplace is not functional, so we don't have to worry about piano safety. The radiator, alas, is, so piano placement will be tricky. I have never had radiators before. Can the radiator be turned off to an individual room? We will be installing split systems for A/C, which can supply heat.

Otherwise, I love the room. The window overlooks a lovely street of trees and Victorian homes.


So any thoughts on how I can get my piano up there?

Ask around for local piano movers and have them look. I'm always surprised by what 2 guys are able to lift...

So the stairs go up into the second floor kitchen? Is that a wall between the kitchen and stairwell? That might have to come down as there's not enough room even if you broke the piano over onto the floor (tail end above the stairs).

Rather than taking it all the way out you might could just make an opening big enough to slide it into the kitchen, then through the office or storage room into the guest bedroom where you'd have enough room to turn it to get it into the piano room. That would just be some drywall repair and maybe one stud, assuming there's no electric or ductwork in that wall. Doesn't look like there would be. Since you're remodeling that room you'd likely have to do that anyway.

They'll move it with the long end on the skidboard. I wouldn't worry about how many people. They'll know how.

Let me know if this doesn't make sense and I'll draw a picture.

Where is the house? Is this on the East Coast? There are some good piano movers there. Back when Carl Demler was alive, Beethoven Pianos could pretty much figure out how to get pianos into places other companies gave up on (he once moved a grand piano that wouldn't fit in an elevator *on top* of the elevator). You could try calling them.

Here's a tip from my own experience--take the piano action out of the piano and move it separately. It will still be in tune and regulated when you put it back in. While if you move the piano with the action and keyboard inside, no telling what will happen.

Don't scrimp on who you hire. They'll come look at the situation and tell you what they can and can't do.

Good advice.

Ask Big John
Had more than one 5'11" piano moved up a flight of stairs with a hard right turn at the top.
The Piano Book by Larry Fine has a formula to use to find the maximum size piano for a room.
I think the piano size for the space may be the larger problem than the moving.

from Piano World:
https://forum.pianoworld.com/u...019/type/thread.html

Once saw two wedding planner guys measure a standing grand piano to check its width. Then they disqualified a venue because the door was more narrow than the width of the piano.

Nothing to add regarding moving the piano.
Beautiful, well-kept rooms!

quote:

take the piano action out of the piano and move it separately

piqué, does this advice hold for long distance moves as well? Do piano movers regularly do this?

An individual radiator can be turned off. I once lived in an apartment building in which the radiator in the common area vestibule where the mailboxes were located was shut off. The landlord didn’t want to heat the vestibule.

900 pounds of piano between two movers is 450 pounds each and that sounds like it might be too much. A winch to lift the piano up the stairs might do the job but the winch would have to be anchored to something.

Then there are aerial deliveries. I think jon-nyc once had an aerial piano delivery using a crane with the piano going through a window.

These guys work it around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpMtD2aGejs

If I were the owner of that piano, I would be curled up in a ball in a closet as far away from the staircase as possible!!!

Some useful advice in this video: Also includes pics of things gone wrong

The video Mik posted shows how easily a piano can move up a straight staircase (last part of video) along with how tough it can be to maneuver through a tight spot like a landing.

I used to help move my father's Hammond organ (a C3) as he often took it to churches or other locations for special services, weddings, etc. We had a closed trailer and a four-wheel dolly to roll it on, but it was a heavy load for two of us to get up on a stage or a flight of stairs. I was a much stronger farm boy back then.

Is this thread initiated by thoughts of a prospective move?

Big Al

There are a few of these gizmos around - probably not a solution for your situation!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4oXSgS1m1E

Big Al, that video is super helpful!!