No, no, my head's fine, I need a few good backs.
I bought a new coal stove for my basement, the 12 year old one I have toasted its hopper; still OK for wood but coal burns 6X hotter. Anywho, I need to get the old 300lb. stove out of the basement and the new one in. Access is via a 30" wide set of stairs with a 28" wide door on top leading into a tight 90.
I have friends and neighbors but they're all my age.
Put an ad in the paper? Head to Home Depot and grab a coupla day laborers?
Dan
Can you dismantle the stove to smaller, lighter pieces ?
How did it get in there in the first place ?
Know anybody who owns a business that employs a lot of laborers, skilled or unskilled? Around here, I'd be able to get some Mexican or Polish immigrants, probably 3, that would move it for about $100 total - which is really good for what would be about 10 minutes of work.
Otherwise call a mover.
Skids on the stairs and a winch or come a long
Old guys can do it!
You just need more of them.
Neighbors have kids that visit?
I'm lucky in that I have a pretty good bunch of neighbors. We recently gave away our trampoline that my kids outgrew to a family with younger kids. I just hollered over next door where my young neighbor and his dad (my age) were. That made about seven of us and we just picked up the trampoline and walked it about a quarter mile down the road to its new home.
In reply to 914Driver :
Cast iron will break into smaller pieces with a decent sledge hammer. Especially something that has repeatedly been heated and cooled.
going back down is simply a matter of rope and pulleys on a skid long enough to span several stairs at once.
This ^ I've done that with a cast iron tub on the 2nd floor. Wear ear plugs :)
ATV winch came in handy for me recently. I'm sure I'll be using it again.
Hiring some strong backs seems like the best suggestion.
My wife is a teacher and another teacher was willing to give away a piano for free. This means piano moved out of one house, driven about 6 miles and loaded into our house. I did not look forward to the heft, etc and certainly did not want to f-up the other person's house getting the piano out.
I contact the local branch of Allied Van Lines (movers.) They said it would be a by-the-hour-job. Net result $125 and I never lifted a finger. It's not that the guys that showed up were stronger, they were just smarter and better equipped including thing like lift gate truck, ramps and dollies to roll the piano around the house.
It wasn't necessarily the cheapest hourly labor but for less cost than a Casio Keyboard we got a whole piano.
I'm willing to do a fly and lift.
If the stairs are a straight shot and you have an aluminum ladder or two make a ramp with them. The flat metal surfaces on the ladder work well, just make a slide that will use them as a guide. Then a pulley system or HF winch to do the lifting.
If you break up the old one even better then just slide the new one down
In reply to John Welsh :
$125 does sound like a bargain. I've personally been involved in way too many piano relocations. Five unless I've mis-counted. One was a near-death experience. One resulted in a hole kicked into a sheetrock wall. One involved shattering a 4' x 6' plate glass window.
I may have to come to grips with the fact that I'm a slow learner. When we acquired my son's piano, I rationalized that all my experience qualified me to move this piano, and so I did. Surprisingly, it went reasonably well.
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
That day the piano arrived, I talked to the guys. I remember them saying the have a contract with a local furniture store. On two days a week they deliver the furniture for this store. It shows up in a truck that says Allied Movers. Fast forward and my M-I-L wanted to get rid of a sofa/love seat combo that wasn't old but she has never liked and really didn't jive with her space. I find out from my wife this will be coming to our house. Well, the f-er is a 3 seat sofa with two recline mechanisms so the outboard seats can both recline...HEAVY! Unlike many recline chairs, the back does not come off.
That's right. Called the same guys again for move out of M-I-L's and into ours. I can't remember what it cost but I remember being happy that I didn't have to wrangle the damn thing!
Gablessya Stampie, fly 'n lift from Florida?
New stove is still at the dealers. Last time (years ago) they delivered. They will put it on my trailer. Going to call a moving outfit, see how it goes.
Uhaul sells help also. https://www.uhaul.com/MovingHelp/
I know someone who used that help just for the unloading and stacking high portion of putting things is a storage locker/unit. I do not think you have to rent a truck to buy the helpers. For the guy I knew, it got him two 20-somethings. I am not sure if there is a minimum of hours. For my piano company there was not.
Mr. Welsh is, as per usual, giving excellent advice.
Hire the pros. Make this problem go away with money, because you can't take it with you, but this stove could take you with it. Or at least your back. Sure, there are a bunch of ways that you could engineer something to make it work easy enough, but is that juice really worth the squeeze?
I bought a 800lb lathe from an old guy in San Francisco about 20 years ago. The house was old. The "garage" was actually built for a carriage. The lathe was off the garage and up a hallway that had a couple 10-12" steps along the way. I got it out by myself with an engine hoist, cribbing, and a lot of swearing. I asked him how he got it there in the first place. He was a locksmith/safecracker. He told me he had a friend who moved safes for a living do it.
In reply to 914Driver :
I'm stupid and I like fun trips?
U-Haul: two guys two hours ~$100. Easy enough! Stampie, if you find your way up here I can feed and wine you with a free tour of the garage.
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:Skids on the stairs and a winch or come a long
Was thinking this or sheets of plywood and a rope to a tow hook
In reply to 84FSP :
Either would work.
300lbs really isn't that bad. Mine weighs something like 800 with fire bricks in it. I had ramps and just used a wheeled jack to move it around
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