Deciding Where the Piano Goes Before It Arrives

A piano is the one item in a house that genuinely should not be repositioned casually afterwards. Deciding where it goes before the crew arrives is worth doing properly, and most people leave it until the instrument is in the doorway.

Just-In-Time Moving moves pianos across West Valley City and Salt Lake County.

Start with what to avoid

Uninsulated exterior walls. The traditional advice, and still sound in a dry climate with cold winters. An exterior wall is the coldest surface in the room and the one where humidity swings most.

Heating vents, radiators and fireplaces. Direct heat dries the soundboard faster than anything else in a house.

Direct sunlight. It damages the finish visibly and the interior invisibly.

Rooms with large temperature swings. Sunrooms, converted garages, unheated basements, and anywhere the heating is switched off when nobody is in.

Beside an exterior door that opens repeatedly in winter.

Then the practical checks

Can it get there at all? Measure the route from the front door to the intended spot: doorway widths, turns, the staircase and the headroom above it. A grand needs the room to be lowered off the board and reassembled once it arrives.

Will the floor take it? On a ground floor over a slab this is a non-question. Over a crawl space, on an upper floor, or in an older home, an eight hundred pound instrument concentrated on three points is worth thinking about, and if you are uncertain, ask somebody qualified before rather than after.

Is there room to play it? A bench needs space behind it, and a grand needs the lid to open.

Can the lid and top be accessed? Tuning and any future work need the technician to get inside the instrument.

Sound, which people forget

A piano in a room with hard floors and bare walls is loud and harsh; the same instrument on a rug in a furnished room sounds considerably better. If you have a choice of rooms, this is worth weighing.

Corners exaggerate bass. A little away from the wall usually sounds better than hard against it.

Tell us the answer when we arrive

Mark the spot. A piano set down in the wrong place is not something you shift later on your own, and moving it twice in a day is time you are paying for.

Call (435) 862-3080 or email office@movingjustintime.com.