It's understandable that you might not want to hire a mover just to move a piano around a room, but these small moves can be surprisingly dangerous. With both grands and verticals, it's primarily the legs you want to watch out for. Breaking a leg on a vertical may just be an inconvenience, but on a grand it can be disastrous. For example, a leg could get caught on an uneven floor or the grate of a heating duct and come crashing to the floor, breaking the legs as well as the pedal lyre.
To safely move your home piano to a new spot in the room, here are some tips:
Grands
If the piano is sitting on carpeting, or if the floor has any obstacles like thresholds, furnace grates, etc., you need to be very careful to avoid straining the legs. First lower the lid. Then position three people around the piano, one near each leg. (Remove belt buckles, rings, etc. that could scratch the piano's finish.) It's not necessary to lift the piano off the floor, but just to take some weight off the casters so they will roll more easily. Move the piano slowly, a few inches at a time. Caution: Never roll a caster over any bump in the floor; always lift it over, one leg at a time, using extra help.
Uprights
The same cautions for grands apply here. At least 2 people should always move a vertical piano. Smaller, apartment sized verticals with free-standing legs should have their legs protected by lifting or tilting the piano back ever so slightly while moving. But remember that most of the weight of the piano is in its back, so be sure you have a firm grip on it and don't tilt so far that the piano is in danger of falling over. Larger verticals and smaller ones without legs can simply be rolled, although this may be hard to do on carpeting. Piano casters can sometimes get stuck unexpectedly, so move slowly with one person on each end of the piano. When making turns, keep the back of the piano on the inside of the turn. And be careful not to push a stubborn vertical piano over your helper's foot!
Expert Advice: Save yourself the above trouble, hire a professional piano movers. Why risk personal injury and damage to your instrument and home by attempting to move an instrument yourself. Often when it comes to moving a piano, the first thoughts are; can save a lot of money by doing it yourself with getting some friends together to muscle out your piano.
Just think, you can escape injury to yourself and others who you may have talked into helping to do a move that no one knows, for sure, how to proceed. And, it won't be necessary for you to try fixing holes in the wall or scratches on the floor because of unexpected bumps or unintentional dragging of a heavy instrument across easily marred floors.
To safely move your home piano to a new spot in the room, here are some tips:
Grands
If the piano is sitting on carpeting, or if the floor has any obstacles like thresholds, furnace grates, etc., you need to be very careful to avoid straining the legs. First lower the lid. Then position three people around the piano, one near each leg. (Remove belt buckles, rings, etc. that could scratch the piano's finish.) It's not necessary to lift the piano off the floor, but just to take some weight off the casters so they will roll more easily. Move the piano slowly, a few inches at a time. Caution: Never roll a caster over any bump in the floor; always lift it over, one leg at a time, using extra help.
Uprights
The same cautions for grands apply here. At least 2 people should always move a vertical piano. Smaller, apartment sized verticals with free-standing legs should have their legs protected by lifting or tilting the piano back ever so slightly while moving. But remember that most of the weight of the piano is in its back, so be sure you have a firm grip on it and don't tilt so far that the piano is in danger of falling over. Larger verticals and smaller ones without legs can simply be rolled, although this may be hard to do on carpeting. Piano casters can sometimes get stuck unexpectedly, so move slowly with one person on each end of the piano. When making turns, keep the back of the piano on the inside of the turn. And be careful not to push a stubborn vertical piano over your helper's foot!
Expert Advice: Save yourself the above trouble, hire a professional piano movers. Why risk personal injury and damage to your instrument and home by attempting to move an instrument yourself. Often when it comes to moving a piano, the first thoughts are; can save a lot of money by doing it yourself with getting some friends together to muscle out your piano.
Just think, you can escape injury to yourself and others who you may have talked into helping to do a move that no one knows, for sure, how to proceed. And, it won't be necessary for you to try fixing holes in the wall or scratches on the floor because of unexpected bumps or unintentional dragging of a heavy instrument across easily marred floors.
