Storing a grand
Clean, dry and insured storage between homes or during a renovation, wrapped and kept off the floor by the same team that moves it.
About piano storage →Grand piano removals
Grand piano movers across Yorkshire
Baby grands, boudoir grands and full concert instruments, moved by people who do this every week. Skid boards, trained hands, full insurance and a plan worked out before anyone lifts anything.
Baby to concertgrands moved weekly
A grand is not just a bigger upright
An upright will stand on a dolly and go where it is pushed. A grand will not. It has to come apart, travel on its side and go back together square, and the difference between a job done properly and an expensive afternoon is entirely in the preparation.
We take the lyre and pedals off, close and secure the lid, remove the legs and bring the instrument down onto a padded skid board so it travels on its straight side, strapped and blanketed. That is how a grand is built to be moved. The case takes the load along its strongest edge, the legs are not carrying anything they were never meant to carry, and the whole thing becomes a shape that will actually go round a half-landing.
At the other end it goes back the way it came off: legs on, levelled, lyre refitted and the pedal action checked before we leave. If the room is not ready or the floor needs protecting, we will say so rather than set a two hundred kilo instrument down on something that will mark.
Measuring up before you ask
The single most useful thing you can send us is the length of the instrument, measured with the lid closed from the very front of the keyboard end straight back to the tail. That one figure tells us most of what we need to know about crew, vehicle and time.
As a rough guide, anything up to about 5ft 6in is generally called a baby grand, 5ft 6in to 6ft 6in a parlour or medium grand, and beyond 7ft you are into semi-concert and concert instruments. Weight climbs quickly with length: a baby grand is often around 250kg, a full concert grand can be nearer 500kg.
The second figure that matters is the narrowest point on the route. Because a grand travels on its side, the width of the case is usually what has to fit, not the length, so a doorway that looks impossible often is not. Measure the door, the hall and the turn at the bottom of the stairs, and send a photograph if you would rather not measure at all.
Country houses, period homes and rooms that deserve care
A good part of our grand work is in houses where the floor is as valuable as the instrument. Period staircases with a shallow return, flagged halls, polished boards, stone steps up to the front door and gravel between the van and the threshold are all normal to us.
We have moved grands in and out of country houses and estate rooms across the county, through the kind of doorways that were built before anyone thought about furniture vans. Floor protection goes down first, the route is agreed with you before we start, and nothing gets forced.
That work takes us right across the affluent side of the region: Harrogate, Ripley and Knaresborough, Wetherby, Boston Spa and Bramham, north Leeds through Roundhay, Alwoodley and Adel, and the whole Wharfedale run from Otley and Burley to Menston, Ilkley and Addingham. If your grand is in one of those houses, it is a road we are on most weeks.
Venues, schools and concert work
Venue work has a clock on it. There is a loading slot, a get-in route that other people are also using, and a rehearsal that starts whether the piano is on stage or not. We are used to working to that, and to the paperwork and insurance detail that halls and local authorities ask for before they will let a vehicle near the dock.
We move instruments for concert halls, churches, theatres, school music departments and recording rooms, on and off stage, between sites, and in and out of storage between terms. If you need the same instrument back in the same place on a fixed date, tell us and we will hold it.
When the stairs will not take it
Occasionally a grand simply will not go the way it came in, usually because a room has been reconfigured or a staircase replaced since the piano arrived. That is not the end of the job, it is a different job. A window or balcony lift takes the instrument up or down the outside of the building on a hoist, crated and controlled, and sets it in through an opening rather than round a turn.
We survey the lift first: the opening, the ground for the equipment, the overhead clearance and the wind on the day. You get told before anything is booked whether this is a stairs job or a lift job, and what each one costs. There is a Yamaha grand we lifted to a first-floor window near Bretton in our news section if you want to see how one of these actually goes.
Moving one within the house
Room to room, floor to floor, or out of the way for building work. Often a half-day job rather than a full removal.
Internal moves →Parting with a grand
If it is beyond economic repair we collect and recycle it under a licensed waste carrier, with under 1% going to landfill.
About disposal →Tuning after the move
Independent tuners across Yorkshire, listed by town, for when your grand has settled into its new room.
Find a tuner →Grand pianos · good to know
Moving a grand piano: your questions
Do you take the legs off a grand piano to move it?
Almost always, yes. A grand travels on its straight side on a padded skid board, with the lid closed, the lyre and pedals removed and the legs taken off. It is the safest way to move one and it is how a grand is designed to be transported. Everything comes off with the right tools and goes back on at the other end, level and tight.
How much does it cost to move a grand piano?
It depends on size, distance and access at both ends rather than on a flat rate. A baby grand between two ground-floor rooms in the same town is a very different job from a concert grand going up to a first floor. Send us the make, the length and a photo of the doorway or stairs and we will put a proper figure together, usually the same day.
Can you get a grand piano up a staircase?
Yes. On the skid board a grand goes up stairs on its side, controlled by belts, with the turn worked out before we start. Tight Victorian half-landings and period staircases with a narrow return are routine for us. Where the stairs genuinely will not take it, a window or balcony lift is the answer and we will tell you that up front rather than find out on the day.
What size grand will fit through my door?
A grand goes through on its side, so the limiting measurement is usually the width of the case rather than its length. Most standard doorways will take a baby grand once it is on the skid. Measure the narrowest point on the route, including any turn at the bottom of the stairs, and send it with your enquiry.
Do you move grands for schools, churches and concert venues?
Regularly. We move instruments in and out of halls, churches, theatres and school music departments across Yorkshire, including get-ins with a loading time to hit and a rehearsal waiting on the other side. Tell us the access and the slot and we will work to it.
Will my grand need tuning after the move?
Expect it to. Any piano shifts a little with the change in position, temperature and humidity, and a grand shows it more than an upright. Most people leave it a couple of weeks to settle in the new room, then have it tuned. Our tuner directory lists independent tuners across Yorkshire if you need one.
Moving a grand piano?
Send us the make, the length and a photo of the way in. We will come back with a clear price, usually the same day.