You have a piano? That’s great.
You’re moving that piano to another home? That’s not so great.
Moving a piano by yourself is a very risky endeavor that can result in irreversible damage to the expensive instrument, lead to costly property damage to the house or apartment, or even cause a serious personal injury due to the numerous risks and dangers associated with the brave decision to move a piano without using professional piano moving services.
A risk assessment early in the home moving process will help you make an informed decision about what’s best for you and your valuable musical instrument.
In fact, the best way to stay safe and stress-free when moving a piano to another home is to identify the imminent DIY moving perils and recognize your own limitations as a person who’s not and has never been a professional mover.
Here are the top 7 reasons why you should hire piano movers when you need to have your piano moved risk-free.
1. Pianos are super heavy
You can tell your piano weighs A LOT just by looking at it. But do you know how much your massive musical instruments weighs in reality?
Spinet pianos, the smallest upright pianos on the market, weigh around 300-400 pounds. Larger upright pianos weigh between 500 and 800 pounds, while grand pianos can go up to 1,300 pounds.
But why are pianos so heavy? Some of their internal components are made of cast iron (the harp) while the sound board and the entire casing can be of solid wood.
Professional piano movers come equipped with specialized piano moving equipment, including moving trucks with motorized lifts that will lift and load your heavy piano easily and safely.
Useful info: What moving equipment to rent when moving by yourself
2. Pianos are pretty oversized
Sheer weight aside, the excessive bulkiness of pianos makes them extremely difficult to be handled safely and damage-free by non-professionals.
One problem that soon becomes evident is that the piano weight is not evenly distributed so it’s relatively easy to lose the overall balance of the load when you’re moving your piano around. And because of that imbalance, maneuvering the large musical instrument around tight corners and along steep stairs becomes plain dangerous.
Luckily, professional piano movers specialize in moving all types of pianos out and inside all types of homes. Moving a piano safely requires a unique set of skills that comes only with years of experience.
See also: Why are some things more difficult to move than others?
3. Pianos are rather expensive
The minute you decide you’re taking your piano with you, your first thought will probably be how to keep the piano moving costs to a minimum. And that’s perfectly understandable – you surely don’t want to pay more than you really have to, right?
Everybody knows that pianos can be very expensive. Depending on their make, model and age, a piano can cost from a few hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Yes, you must have paid a fortune for your lovely musical instrument but then again, damaging your high-priced piano during a DIY move won’t help your cause much.
Even re-tuning your piano after the move can cost $150-$300 dollars so the last thing you’d want is to see your piano seriously damaged during a self-move.
4. Pianos can have sentimental value
Pianos are beautiful musical instruments that, in most cases, have some sort of sentimental value to their owners.
Unlike soulless IKEA-like furniture which you don’t really care about, you must love your piano and you just have to have it in your new home. The question is not open to discussion – you’re taking your valuable piano no matter what it takes, and that’s it.
If the piano you have in your home is a family heirloom, passed down from generation to generation, then its safety and well-being during the move become monumental. Why would you put your priceless piano and yourself in danger when you can hire piano moving experts for peace of mind?
5. Pianos can be easily damaged during a move
Appearance can be deceptive. Pianos do seem very strong and even indestructible but in reality, they are extremely delicate and can be damaged quite easily. But how is this possible?
Pianos are complex mechanical instruments that contain too many delicate moving parts inside – some models have more than 7,000 internal components! The most serious and costly type of damage a piano can sustain while being moved is to its internal sound mechanism and its playing mechanism.
Of course, broken keys or damaged legs or castors can also cause some strong headaches during a house move. Remember that your piano casters have mostly decorative functions – you should never use them to wheel your enormous musical instrument out of your home.
Superficial damage – scratches, dents or cracks – along the piano casing is the least serious type of harm that your valuable instrument may sustain during a house move. Hire quality piano movers to eliminate any chance of damage to your prized possession.
Good to know: When to hire movers: 6 instances when it’s worth hiring a mover
6. Pianos can lead to moving day accidents
One thing that you should understand right from the start is that no matter how valuable your great musical instrument is, there’s something much more valuable and important than that – your health! And the health of your loved ones as well.
Due to its extraordinary weight, excessive dimensions and delicate nature, your piano falls into the category of the most difficult and dangerous things to move to another home. As a result, your courageous DIY piano move attempt may lead to a moving day accident, which in turn can result in a serious personal injury of some sort – a hurt back, crushed fingers, or broken limbs. /Common moving injuries and how to prevent them/
Naturally, professional piano movers will charge you to get the job done quickly and safely. Still, the cost of piano movers will be, in the majority of case, well-justified simply because one wrong Do-It-Yourself step on your part may ruin your chances of an accident-free move.
Read also: How to prevent accidents when moving house
7. Pianos require special moving equipment and experienced hands
So, why hire piano movers?
It’s simple, really – moving a piano between two homes is a risky job, both for the lovely musical instrument and for the non-professionals involved in the move. Anything can happen when a super-heavy and super-big item is being moved from one place to another, sometimes hundreds or thousands of miles away – especially when that item happens to be also fragile and expensive.
Fortunately, professional pianos movers have the right moving equipment and the know-how to finish the job hassle-free. Did you know that sometimes pianos will need to be partially dismantled to be taken safely out of a house? In case you were wondering, pianos don’t like going up or down the stairs too.
And the best part? You may find out that those specialty piano movers are more affordable than you thought in the beginning. Basically, the more accurate information you provide to the pros – type and size of the piano, pick-up and drop-off locations, time constraints, etc. – the more precise piano moving quote you will get.