Moving House With a Piano

Of everything you own, the piano is probably the heaviest, the most awkward and the most fragile, all at once. Moved well, a piano shrugs off a house move completely. Moved badly, it can suffer damage that costs far more to repair than the move would have cost to do properly. Here is what we tell customers who are moving home.

Use specialist piano movers, not the removal van

An upright piano weighs between 200 and 300 kilograms, a grand more still, and the weight sits awkwardly in a case that scratches and chips easily. General removal firms will often agree to take a piano, but they rarely have the piano shoe, the skids and the experience that make the difference on a staircase or a tight turn. Specialist piano movers do this every day, they are insured for it specifically, and a typical local move costs between £150 and £400. Against the value of the instrument, it is the easiest decision of the whole move.

Before the move

Lock or tape the lid closed so it cannot swing open, and clear the route at both ends. Measure doorways, hall turns and stairs, and tell the movers about them honestly when you book. If the piano is a grand, the legs, lyre and lid come off and it travels on its side on a padded board. That is entirely normal and entirely safe in trained hands, and not something to attempt without them.

Choosing the piano's new spot

Where the piano lands matters as much as how it gets there. An internal wall is better than an external one, because it avoids the temperature swings that come through outside walls. Keep it away from radiators, underfloor heating, direct sunlight and draughty doorways. What a piano wants most is steadiness: a steady temperature and steady humidity will do more for its health than anything else in your home.

After the move: wait, then tune

A piano needs a few weeks to settle into the climate of a new room before it is worth tuning, so resist the urge to book the tuner for moving week. Let it acclimatise for three to four weeks, then have it tuned. Expect it to have drifted, even after a careful move. That is the timber adjusting to its new surroundings, not a sign of damage, and it is also why a piano that has just moved sometimes needs a second tuning a few months later before it fully stabilises. There is more on tuning, settling and care on our frequently asked questions page, and on how good habits extend an instrument's life in How long do pianos last?

If the piano is not making the journey

Sometimes a house move is the moment a family decides the piano should find a new home instead. If that is you, we buy good pianos, and we can arrange the collection ourselves. Details are on Sell your piano to The Piano Gallery. And if the new house deserves a better piano than the old one had, you know where we are. Get in touch and we will help with both ends of the swap.