It may shock you to realize that a grand piano can weigh up to 2,910lb/1,320kg!

Let’s put that in context. A one-year-old baby elephant weighs about 1395lb/633kg. How would you feel about grabbing a few buddies and trying to lift a couple of them?

The problem is that the sheer weight of a piano – even a regular upright one – is not the only challenge you have to face. Pianos are not designed to be portable instruments. The more you think about moving one, the more you realize a professional piano mover is a super-skilled professional.

Let’s take a deep dive into why – no matter how tempting it may be – you always need to hire a piano mover in Kemptville.

Lifting a piano isn’t just hard, it’s dangerous

Lifting anything – even a box full of feathers – is fraught with dangers if you don’t do it right. When lifting heavy objects, you need to use the right technique at all times. That means:

Creating a strong, balanced base with your feet
Squatting
Keeping your back straight
Lifting slowly, using the powerful muscles in your legs
Keeping the load close to your body

This is not easy to do, especially when you are not used to lifting heavy loads day in and day out. If you and your buddies don’t lift anything heavier than a cappuccino most days at work, you’ll have your work cut out getting a heavy piano off the ground.

It’s not just about achieving lift-off. You’ve then got to navigate the route safely.

That means getting through tight doorways and onto paths on public roads. They can be slippery from rain, ice, leaves, and more. If you don’t have a clear plan and the right equipment, it’s an accident waiting to happen.

Remember – these things are on wheels. The last thing you want to do is lose control of a piano and find it careering down your street out of control.

The danger of lifting heavy objects

Lifting objects that are really too heavy for us puts us at risk of all kinds of musculoskeletal injuries. At the milder end, you’ve got strains and sprains. At the more serious end, you’ve got tears and fractures.

And, of course, there’s the ever-present risk of hernias. Hernias happen when tissues breach a weak part of the muscular wall of your stomach.

If that sounds painful, you’re right; it is. And it requires surgery to correct it. That’s not how you want your friends to remember the day they helped you move house.

They’re an awkward shape

Whether you’ve got a bijou upright model or a concert-sized grand, pianos are an awkward shape. This can make squeezing them through doorways and along narrow passages a bit of a challenge.

Here’s the good news. If you know what you’re doing and can control the piano, it won’t damage them to tilt them a little, even to momentarily move them onto their backs or sides. But if you attempt any of these moves, you’re asking for trouble.

When you try to maneuver a piano, you’re likely to drop it or bump it against a wall. Now that will do damage. Bashing it against a wall can damage the exterior, and dropping it can do damage to internal mechanisms.

Professional Piano Movers May Dismantle Pianos

Piano movers understand how pianos work. They can even dismantle certain styles of piano, allowing them to be moved more safely. 

Take, for example, a grand piano. The upper parts of grand pianos can be unscrewed before moving to reduce the risk of them getting damaged. Piano movers can then gently lift the piano onto a moving trolley and unscrew the legs.

They’ll then cover it with protective wrapping. The piano is now ready to be safely transported to the moving vehicle without damaging the home or the piano. This eliminates the issues with trying to move awkwardly shaped pianos along narrow hallways.

Easy to damage, easy to do damage with

Pianos feel like one of the most sturdy and almost indestructible pieces of furniture in your house. That is until you try to move them.

Pianos do not like being moved, and it’s a good idea to move them as little as possible. If you’ve ever watched a piano tuner at work, you know that there’s a delicate mechanism inside. It’s made up of thousands of little parts that do not appreciate being moved and jostled.

Coming back to the visible parts, there are lots of things that can go wrong. It’s very easy to snag a pedal as you’re moving it and do a lot of expensive damage to both the pedal and the exterior of the piano. If the lid opens and the keys suffer any trauma, you’ll have the expense of replacing them. 

When you move a piano through your old house and into your new one, it’s hard to move it through doorways. It’s very easy for them to get jammed on the door frame or take a chunk out of it. They can also do a number on hardwood floors and baseboards if they’re given half a chance.

This is more than an irritation. If you’ve sold your house, it can seriously sour relations with the buyers and lead to out-of-pocket expenses for you to put things right.

They’re valuable items

Your piano may be a family heirloom that holds deep sentimental value. It’s not uncommon for these beautiful instruments to be handed down through the generations. In this case, the value may be incalculable.

Others have invested in newer models that can easily cost thousands of dollars. They’re not something you want to take a risk with. If you try to move them with a few friends, you won’t have any moving insurance in place.

If you damage your piano, you’ll have a costly repair bill on your hands.

Difficult to transport

You’ve managed to get your piano safely out of the house. No one’s hurt, you didn’t drop it, and you didn’t do any damage to the house. Now you’ve got to figure out how to get it to your new house in one piece.

If you’re planning to put it in the corner and wedge the rest of your furniture around it, think again. Pianos are on wheels. It doesn’t matter how tightly packed the moving truck appears. Once you hit the road, things are going to start moving!

A Kemptville piano moving company will have special ties, straps, and moving cloths designed for this purpose. First, they’ll put a protective cover over the piano so that it doesn’t get scratched or damaged in transit. Then they’ll secure it to the side of the truck using heavy-duty strapping.

This will keep it in place so that it doesn’t go on a freewheeling adventure en route to your new home.

Piano moving needs specialist equipment

We can see with a degree of confidence that you don’t have a couple of piano dollies gathering dust in your garage right now. What about a piano jack? Didn’t think so.

That’s nothing to be ashamed of – why would you have them? They’re the tools of the trade for a piano mover, and they are well-trained in using them.

Specialist piano moving equipment keeps pianos and piano movers safe. It’s designed to carry the load and reduce the amount of heavy lifting needed. They’re also kinder to floors.

A job that would take you and your assistants a couple of hours may only take a few minutes for piano movers who know what they’re doing. There’ll be no fuss, just a pristine piano at the other end ready for you to enjoy. Well, let it sit for a few days to get it acclimated, get it tuned, and then enjoy it.

Stay on good terms with your friends

There’s nothing like a horrific strain, sprain, or hernia while moving a piano to put the kybosh on a good friendship. Your friends may be happy to move a few boxes, even to move furniture. But they’ll be so glad to see you’ve hired a Kemptville piano moving company to handle the heaviest load.

It ultimately saves you money

Ever heard the old adage, “do it once, do it right”?

It’s a false economy to not hire professional piano movers. Sure, it’s an expense you’d rather avoid, but think about the alternative. Paying to repair the damage done to the house, your buddies, or the piano during the move will cost a lot more!