Piano Removals: Specialist Movers for Uprights and Grands
Giant Van moves pianos across 146+ UK towns and cities. Our crews use the right skates, boards, and straps for upright and grand pianos, so your instrument arrives in the condition it left in.
Why a piano move needs a specialist crew
A piano is not shaped like other furniture. Its weight sits low and off-centre, and a small knock can throw the internal mechanism out of tune or damage the case. Standard removal trolleys and straps are not built for that kind of load. Giant Van sends crews trained specifically in piano handling, with the equipment and technique to lift, wheel, and load a piano without putting strain on its frame or its legs.
What's included in every piano move
- Goods-in-transit insurance for your piano as standard
- Piano skates, padded boards, and ratchet straps
- A crew sized to your piano, not a generic removal team
- One fixed price agreed before moving day
Upright and grand pianos, moved the right way
An upright piano stands on castors and can often be walked short distances on a piano skate, though its height still makes doorways and stairs tricky. A grand piano is a different job. Its legs and pedal lyre are usually removed before the move, and the body is wrapped and strapped onto a padded piano board so it can be tilted and carried safely. Giant Van crews assess your piano type before the move and bring the right equipment for the job, not a generic set of straps.
Stairs, doorways, and tight access
Staircases, narrow hallways, and tight turns are the main reason piano moves go wrong. Our crews measure doorways and stair widths before the lift begins, and use piano boards, ramps, and stair-climbing equipment to keep the piano level and under control the whole way. Where a staircase is too tight for a safe carry, we can talk through options such as hoisting through a window or removing a door, so the move still goes ahead safely.
Piano moving costs by home size
See typical piano removal costs and packing time for your size of home or office.
Piano removals near you
146 towns and cities covered, listed across 2 pages — you are on page 1.
After the move: settling and tuning
A piano needs a few weeks in its new room before it is worth tuning. Moving changes the temperature and humidity around the instrument, the soundboard and strings respond to that change, and a tuning done the day after the move will drift as the piano settles. Two to three weeks is the usual advice from tuners.
Where you put it matters as much as when you tune it. Keep a piano off an outside wall if you can, away from radiators, and out of direct sunlight through a window, because heat and dry air do more damage over a year than a single move ever does.
Decide the exact position before the crew arrives rather than after the instrument is in the room, since a piano is not something to shuffle around while you think about it.
What we need to know before the day
Four measurements decide how a piano leaves a building, and it is quicker to check them than to discover them. The narrowest doorway on the route, the width of any staircase, the number of turns and half-landings in that staircase, and whether there is a lift and what its internal depth is.
An upright will usually go where a large sofa goes. A baby grand or a grand comes apart for the move, with the legs and lyre removed, and it travels on its side on a board, so the constraint is the height of the doorway rather than the footprint of the instrument.
Tell us the make and model if you know it, or the length from the keyboard to the tail for a grand. Those two things tell a crew the weight and the handling method before anyone turns up.
Piano removals: frequently asked questions
What's the difference between moving an upright and a grand piano?
An upright piano is narrower and can sometimes be wheeled on a piano skate for short, flat distances. A grand piano is wider, heavier at one end, and usually needs its legs and pedal lyre removed before the move. Both need trained handling, but a grand piano generally takes longer and needs a padded piano board to move safely.
How do you get a piano down stairs or through a narrow doorway?
We measure your doorways, hallways, and stairs before the move starts. The piano is strapped onto a board or skate and carried or wheeled at a controlled angle, with one crew member guiding each end. On tight staircases, we may use a stair-climbing trolley or, in rare cases, remove a door to create enough clearance.
What equipment do your piano movers use?
Our crews carry piano skates for uprights, padded piano boards for grands, thick moving blankets, ratchet straps, and stair-climbing trolleys for tight access. All of it is sized and padded specifically for piano moving, not general household furniture.
Is my piano insured during the move, and will it need retuning afterwards?
Yes, every piano move includes goods-in-transit insurance as standard. A well-handled piano rarely needs more than its usual tuning check, since changes in temperature and humidity affect tuning more than a careful, short move. We recommend booking a routine tune-up a few weeks after you settle in, as you would after any house move.