Piano Movers in Manchester
Piano removals across Manchester and the surrounding towns, uprights and grands.
- Tell us the type, the make if you know it, and the floors at both ends
Our customers' reviews
Why a piano is not just heavy furniture
Weight is the obvious part and it is not the difficult part.
A piano is difficult because of where the weight is. Most of it sits in the cast iron frame and the strings, high up and toward the back on an upright, low and toward the keyboard on a grand. It is not distributed like a wardrobe. It does not tip like a wardrobe either, and it does not recover if it starts to.
Then there are the details that catch people out:
The wheels are not for moving
The small wheels on an upright are for adjusting position on a level floor by a few inches. They are not designed to roll a piano across a room, and certainly not over a threshold. Plenty of damage to floors, and to pianos, comes from someone trying.
The case is furniture, the inside is an instrument
A knock that would leave a scuff on a sideboard can knock a piano out of regulation, which is the mechanical adjustment of the action. That is not visible damage. It is the piano playing differently afterwards.
Nothing about it is proportional
A small upright can be heavier than a big one. Two pianos that look identical from the front can differ by a hundred kilos.
The rough weights, so you know what you are dealing with
Approximate industry ranges, and worth knowing before you ask anybody to help you shift one:
Small or apartment upright
140 to 200 kg
Standard upright
200 to 270 kg
Large or overstrung upright
270 to 350 kg
Baby grand
230 to 320 kg
Medium grand
300 to 400 kg
Concert grand
450 kg and up
For comparison, a full-size American fridge is around 130 kg. So the smallest upright is heavier than the heaviest thing most people have ever moved, and a medium grand is more than double it.
This is the main reason piano moves are quoted separately rather than counted as one item among many.
Uprights and grands are different jobs
An upright stays upright
It does not go on its back, and it does not go on its side. The internal action is built around gravity acting in one direction, and turning it changes the load on parts that were not designed for it. The practical constraints are the doorway and the staircase: an upright is deep front to back, which is what makes tight turns awkward, and it is top-heavy once it starts to tilt.
The legs and the lyre come off
A grand is a different proposition entirely. The instrument travels on its bass side rather than upright, which is how a grand fits through doors it could never pass through otherwise. That means a grand move is partly a dismantling job, and it needs planning rather than improvising.
Not a piano, for these purposes
Most weigh between 20 and 80 kg, many separate from their stand, and they travel like heavy electronics rather than like an instrument. If yours is digital, say so, because it changes the job completely.
What decides whether it is straightforward
Almost always the route, not the piano.
- Steps and stairs. The number and, more importantly, whether they turn. A straight flight is a different problem from a half-landing.
- Doorways. Width, and whether the door can come off its hinges.
- Thresholds and level changes. A single step at a front door matters more than the distance from the van.
- The floor surface. Gravel, grass and soft ground behave differently from a paved path.
- Where the vehicle can stop, and how far it is from there to the door.
- Whether there is a lift, if a flat is involved, and whether it can be booked.
None of that is unusual information. It is just the information that actually determines the job, and it is worth having ready when you get in touch rather than working it out on the phone.
What to tell us
For a piano, the useful details are specific:
- Upright, grand or digital
- The make and model if you can find it. Usually on the fallboard above the keys, or on the cast iron frame inside the lid. It tells us more about the weight than a description does
- Approximate age, if known
- Floors at both ends, and whether there are lifts
- Steps, thresholds and turns on both routes
- Where a vehicle can stop at each address
- Anything you already know is awkward. A narrow gate, a step at the front, a turn at the top of the stairs
If you can send a photograph of the piano and of the route out, that is more useful than any description.
Get a piano quote
Tell us whether it is an upright, a grand or a digital, the make and model if you can find it, and the floors at both ends.
After it arrives: it will need tuning
This surprises people, so it is worth saying plainly. A piano needs tuning after it is moved. Every time, regardless of how carefully.
That is not about handling. It is about the instrument. A piano holds roughly twenty tonnes of combined string tension across a wooden soundboard, and that assembly responds to changes in temperature and humidity. Moving a piano between two buildings means moving it between two climates.
Two pieces of standard advice from the piano trade:
Wait before you tune it. Most technicians suggest leaving the piano two to four weeks in its new home so it can settle to the temperature and humidity there. Tuning it the day after tends to mean tuning it again shortly afterwards.
Think about where it goes before it arrives. Not against an exterior wall if that can be avoided, not next to a radiator, not in direct sun, not beside a frequently opened external door. Decide the spot before the day, because a piano is not something to reposition on a whim afterwards.
We are removals contractors, not piano technicians, so we do not tune. Any decent local technician will, and it is worth booking one for a few weeks after the move rather than leaving it.
Pianos in flats
Worth its own section, because it comes up constantly and the answer is not obvious.
The lift is the first question, not the stairs. If there is a lift, the questions are whether the piano fits inside it, whether it can be booked, and whether the building permits it to be used for moves. Many managed blocks restrict lift use for removals to certain hours.
If there is no lift, the staircase becomes the whole job, and the number that matters is not the number of floors but the turns. A straight flight to a second floor can be more workable than a tight turn to a first.
Communal doors and corridors are often narrower than the flat’s own doors, and there may be fire doors that close automatically and cannot simply be propped.
Tell us the building when you get in touch. Blocks have their own arrangements and it is easier to establish those in advance than on a Saturday morning.
Buying or selling a piano
A good share of piano jobs are not house moves at all. Somebody has bought one, or sold one, and it needs to get from one address to another.
If you are buying, ask the seller for the make, the model, and photographs of the piano and the route out of the property. Ask which floor it is on and whether there are steps at the entrance. Those four answers are what determine whether the collection is straightforward.
If you are selling, having that information ready makes your piano easier to buy. A buyer who cannot find out whether it can be got out of the room is a buyer who hesitates.
If it is being delivered to a room it has to reach, decide the final position before the day. A piano is not something to shuffle around afterwards while you make up your mind.
If it genuinely will not go
Occasionally the answer is that a piano cannot reach the room it is meant to reach. It is uncommon, and it is far better to establish it before anybody has paid for anything.
The usual causes are a staircase with a tight turn and no headroom above it, a doorway that has been narrowed since the piano arrived, or a communal entrance that will not accommodate the depth of an upright.
There are normally three possibilities: a different route through the property, a different room, or accepting that this particular instrument and this particular property do not go together. All three are easier to face in advance than on the day, which is why route information matters more than almost anything else at quote stage.
Please do not try it with friends
This is the one piece of advice on this page that is genuinely about safety rather than convenience.
Piano injuries are usually crush injuries, and they usually happen on stairs, and they usually happen to someone who was helping as a favour. The weight is enough that if it starts to go, it is not stoppable by hand.
If you are weighing up whether to get help with it: an upright is heavier than any single object in most houses, its weight is high up, and its wheels do not roll where you want them to.
Standard jobs, and the ones that are not
We have standard services and for most piano jobs one of them is the simplest way to book: a piano on its own, or a piano as part of a house move.
Some do not fit. A piano going into storage while a room is decorated. A piano collected from one address and delivered to a second on a different day. A piano moving within a building rather than between two. A piano being collected from a seller you have bought it from.
Say so and we will tell you what can be arranged around it.
The quickest route is the form. Give us the outline, we will call you, and pianos usually warrant a proper conversation rather than a quick quote.
Questions people ask
Can you move an upright up or down stairs?
Tell us the number of steps, whether the flight turns, and the doorway widths at both ends, and we will talk it through before quoting.
Do the legs come off a grand?
Yes, on a grand the legs and the pedal lyre are designed to be removed, which is how a grand gets through doors it would never otherwise pass.
Can an upright be laid on its back?
No. Uprights stay upright.
How heavy is my piano?
Uprights are roughly 140 to 350 kg depending on size, baby grands 230 to 320 kg, larger grands more. The make and model tells us more than a description.
Will it need tuning afterwards?
Yes, always, and most technicians suggest waiting two to four weeks so it can settle in the new climate first. We do not tune, so a local technician is the person to book.
Can you move a digital piano?
Yes, and it is a much simpler job. Say if yours is digital, because it changes everything about the quote.
Can you move a piano within the same house?
Tell us the rooms and the route and we will let you know.
Can you take one into storage?
Tell us how long for and we will talk through what is sensible, because a piano and a storage environment need thinking about together.
Get a piano quote
Tell us whether it is an upright, a grand or a digital, the make and model if you can find it, the floors at both ends, and anything you already know about the route. Photographs help more than descriptions.
RCM Removals
20 Swan Street, Manchester M4 5JW
Telephone: 0161 768 2056
Email: info@removalscompanymanchester.co.uk