Piano Moving near you

An upright piano usually travels in one piece, standing on a padded dolly or strapped to a board for the stairs. Its weight sits high, so it can tip if it's rolled too fast, turned sharply or set down on uneven ground. Smaller spinets and consoles are easier to handle than tall studio and full-size uprights, but none of them is a job for a couple of friends.

A grand piano is partly taken apart. The movers remove the pedal lyre and the legs, turn the piano onto its straight side on a padded piano board, wrap it and strap it down, then reverse the process and level it at the new home. Baby grands, parlour grands and concert grands differ in length and weight, but each needs the same careful sequence.

Piano movers bring equipment built for the job: a padded piano board, sometimes called a skid, to which a grand is strapped on its side; heavy-duty dollies with soft, non-marking wheels; lifting and ratchet straps; thick blankets and fitted covers; and ramps for front steps and the truck. The truck itself needs tie-down points so the piano can be secured against a wall of the cargo box for the drive.

Many general moving companies decline pianos, or take only small uprights on the ground floor, because the risk of injury and damage is high and their crews and coverage aren't set up for it. If your mover offers to include the piano, ask who on the crew has moved one before, what equipment they'll bring and how their liability applies to the instrument.

The path from the piano to the truck decides how hard the job is. Indoor and outdoor stairs, a landing with a tight turn, a narrow hallway, a door that opens the wrong way or an icy walkway each add time, people and risk. The outdoor staircases common on Montreal duplexes and triplexes, and the narrow stairwells of older homes, can make a move impossible without taking off a door, a railing or a window, or using a hoist, which only a specialist should plan.

A piano often goes out of tune after a move less because of the bumps on the road than because of its new room. The soundboard, bridges and pin block are made of wood that swells and shrinks with humidity, which changes the tension on the strings. Canadian homes swing from humid summers to very dry heated winters, so a piano that moves between seasons, or from a damp house to a dry apartment, will drift before it settles.

Rather than tuning it the day it arrives, let the piano adjust to its new room first, then book a qualified piano technician for the tuning and a check of the action, pedals and legs. Place it away from radiators, heating vents, fireplaces, sunny windows and exterior doors, and if you use a humidifier or dehumidifier, aim for steady conditions rather than big swings.

A piano is exactly where basic mover liability falls short. It's calculated by weight rather than value, so a fine instrument may be covered for a small part of what it's worth. The federal Office of Consumer Affairs notes that your home insurance and the mover's coverage together may protect you, and that replacement value protection can be purchased for more complete coverage. In Quebec, the Office de la protection du consommateur suggests checking that the mover is insured for the goods it moves and carries civil liability insurance.

Ask the piano mover for its liability terms in writing, whether it offers added protection, and whether its coverage applies on the stairs, in the truck and in storage. Before the move, photograph the piano from every side and note existing scratches, chips and sticking keys; for a valuable instrument, keep a recent appraisal on hand. At delivery, look it over before you sign.

When a piano has to wait, between homes, during a renovation or while it's up for sale, the storage conditions matter as much as the move. An unheated garage, shed or basement exposes it to cold, damp and swings in humidity that can crack the soundboard, loosen tuning pins, rust strings and attract mice.

A rented dolly and a few friends can look tempting for a short move, but a piano that tips on a stair or slides off a dolly can seriously injure the people around it, and a dropped piano can crack its case or its cast-iron plate and damage the floor, the walls and the stairs. Check with your insurer before trying, since a do-it-yourself move may leave you without coverage for the piano or the building. Even a move to another room is worth a professional crew when there's a step, a threshold or a finished floor in the way.