Winter piano moving. Temperature concerns!

[erick86]

Hi all,

I'm moving an 85 year old Baldwin baby grand tomorrow.  It is going quite far (to a different city), and will be in a small covered trailer for about 24 or 30 hours with outdoor temperatures forecast to drop as low as -12 C  (10 F) overnight. 

I'm concerned about the massive temperature fluctuation on the piano, and its soundboard in particular.  Has anyone successfully moved a piano in an unheated trailer in the winter?  Is there anything to worry about?

Nervous...   


Cheers--

Eric

[Bob]

Ouch.  Temp and humidity, yes. 

Heated trailer?  Humidifier or those piano saver whip things? 

Don't stop while moving it so it's outside as briefly as possible?  Or park in an enclosed space that's heated?

Wait and move it later? 

Or have it checked over and tuned as soon as it gets to its new location?

I would think it would adjust a bit just from being moved around through physically. 

[iansinclair]

This may not be the best idea in the world -- but you have to do what you have to do.  Wrap it thoroughly -- all around -- in moving blankets (of course, also make sure its braced so it doesn't move in the trailer!).  The more insulation the better, within reason.  If there is other stuff going in the trailer, all the better; pack it as full as you can, with the piano in the middle.

When you get to your destination, put it in as cold a room as possible in the structure, and let it warm up to that -- then move it where it is to go, if you can do that.

Don't think of playing the poor thing until it has warmed up evenly -- probably a couple of days.

[erick86]

Thanks for the advice.  Unfortunately it will be in the trailer for a long enough period that it will inevitably reach that outdoor frigid ambient air temperature. 

That's a good idea to let it warm up slowly.  I'll probably bring it in and leave it wrapped in a million blankets for a couple days before even unwrapping it.

I'll let you know how it turns out....in a week or so.  The poor thing...


Eric

[lhorwinkle]

Don't even think about moving it yourself.  Self-moved pianos often turn out as catastrophes. Instead, hire an insured professional.

(If not, please take a video of the move and post it on You Tube.  That will serve as a lesson to the next person who needs to move a piano.)

[erick86]

Moved the piano, did a lot of research ahead of time, prepped it well, and it went quite smoothly. 

We built a narrow sturdy sled for it made of 3/4" plywood and 2x4's.  We installed eyehooks on both sides so that the piano could be strapped snug to the sled, and some eyehooks on the front and back with seatbelt strap as slings for leverage when manuevering up stairs.  We screwed strips of puck board on the skids of the sled, so that it could just slide effortlessly when on flat surfaces. 

Temperature was a gong show.  It was cold.  When it was parked overnight, we had a space heater which kept the temperature around freezing inside the trailer.  But at some point in the middle of the night the breaker tripped, and it was -15 C in the trailer when we woke up.     What can you do...

Brought it into the new house, wrapped it in blankets to let it warm up slowly.  Set it all up without breaking bones or backs (miraculous), and now it is delightfully out of tune.  Nothing seems to have cracked or been compromised.  We are just going to let it sit for a month in the new place before getting it tuned.  It might need two tunings to get it back into full stable tension.

But yes, we had the camera rolling the whole time just in case we ended up with epic footage.  We nearly had such an event while trying to set it up and get the legs on.  We were mere seconds away from complete muscular failure which would have likely resulted in the piano crashing through the floor and landing in the basement.  But thankfully, we prevailed.  It just would have been a lot easier with 4 people instead of two.

[iansinclair]

Glad you made it OK -- and the piano, too!

But two people only?  I'd love to have watched!

[hfmadopter]

Glad you made it OK -- and the piano, too!

But two people only?  I'd love to have watched!

We moved mine years ago with two guys, a skid with rollers on it. I borrowed a box body truck with a lift gate on it. The piano was going on the first floor so only two steps up and it came pout of a floor level shop, literally rolled it out their door. I backed the box truck up to the steps at my house and let down the lift gate onto the top step and we rolled it off on a plank right into my downstairs hallway. I don't recall getting the piano upright on it's leg as any particularly large struggle. I guess it would be today since I'll be 64 next week and the guy that helped isn't much younger. But three guys would work out fine.

Actually who am I kidding, I have all I can do to lift my portable digital piano these days !!

Anyway, I too am glad all went well.