best way to put a rug under a piano...

so, after having been in our new environs for 8 months i finally had my yamaha C7 tuned and voiced by my esteemed tech. it sounds fantastic.

because the ceilings are low (8'), hardwood floors, lots of glass & plaster walls, he recommended soaking up some of the sound with a large rug, which we've now acquired (13x16). but the trick is going to be how to get the rug (and pad) under the piano. logistically, i think we'll unroll it width-wise so the piano can be lifted one leg at a time.

i'm thinking of calling my piano movers since they're very experienced handling pianos. anyone have any experience/ thoughts on best way to do this AFTER the piano is already in the room?

here's a photo taken shortly after we moved in, for reference:

A couple of buddies can lift one leg at a time with no problem. The cost would be about a case of beer.

For most people, I suggest calling the movers. It is virtually impossible to unroll a medium-sized or larger rug to line up square and flat doing it one leg of a time. In the alternative, you could try unrolling and relaxing the rug elsewhere before lining it up and placing it one leg at a time.

Actually, I think it could be quite easy if you squish up the rug in the middle and then slide the ends in one at a time as some guys hold up the corresponding leg. Of course, you'll probably have to do minor adjustments, as I don't think you'd get it all in one shot.

If the rug is underneath the piano but needs adjustment(which will almost probably occur)this could require lifting more than one leg at a time which is riskier and harder than lifting only one leg at a time.

But with a few men, it can be done.

To avoid having to make a lot of adjustments, you may want to use painter's tape and make straight lines where the rug should go so when you're setting it you can line it up so it's not wonky.

If that seems too hard, then definitely call in a professional.

Call the piano movers. Risking injury to non-professionals (friends) is not a good idea, IMHO.

BTW, have you tried the piano with the carpet under it? Not precisely placed, but to get an impression of the sound. You might find you prefer the sound without the carpet.

yes, been acclimating the piano to the room for 8 months, playing with rugs, cushions, furniture, etc. It's a semi-concert grand in a relatively small space, and experiments have confirmed my tech's opinion re: taking some of the 'liveness' out of the room.

Beautiful room and nice drum set (the piano is nice, too).

I put small support plates under each of the casters on my seven footer by using an inexpensive pneumatic jack (for changing tires) and some 2x4 blocks - one leg at a time. You could slide a rug under each leg one at a time using the same technique. Then you can drink all the beer yourself.

What you describe is precisely what is nearly impossible to do. It's a C7...over 900 lbs. And these neighbors who love endlessly lifting the piano to get the rug just so...exactly where do they put their feet while they are lifting the piano so that you can adjust the rug?

If you do it yourself, you have one shot to align it and unroll it while passing under one leg at a time. If you are happy with where it lays, great. If not, roll it up and start over because there is no adjusting a rug while under a piano.

He said "rug", Sam, not carpet. Who would carpet that wood floor of his?

The way I do these things is lay out the rug where it should be, folding over the corners that go under the legs. Then I lift each leg as someone else unfolds the rug. All they have to do is get the rug under the caster. The rest of the rug can fold up against my legs until I let the piano down. But I have piano moving experience, and know how to lift.

As Painted Post Dave says, I would find a way of lifting up at each leg in turn using a car jack. I'd find a suitable piece of wood and a protective layer to bear at suitable places underside and a good firm base to raise up the jack. If not 100% sure of what you're doing, don't do it.

Another option rather than the rug is to put some sound-proofing materials on the walls. You can buy nice-looking acoustic ceiling tile, paint it, and glue it (or otherwise fasten it) to the walls. It can imitate the look of wainscoting, and be effective without the hassle of lifting piano legs.

My husband lifted my 9' Petrof so I could place caster cups underneath the leg. I figure with a few men they could lift one leg at a time to slide carpet edges underneath. Obviously, you'd have to roll it up and it does depend upon the size of the carpet....if it's much larger than the piano then there's more to deal with.

We did this once when we were installing hardwood floors under our piano! If you're careful, it's a great solution when you're in a bind.

thanks for all the advice; it's helping me think it thru. it's especially tricky because it has to be done twice - once for the pad and once for the rug.

i'm definitely not attempting this with friends & family, will call in some pros. it might make the most sense to actually put the piano on the mover's dolly, roll it out of the room, and have a clear palette to work with. my movers are good; they can do that in about 15 minutes. problem is my fresh new beautiful tuning will get munged, although i was shocked at how well the C7 stayed in tune after the move to the house and how long it stays in tune. they must put extraordinary pinblocks in those things.

ps - i'll post another photo after the job is done.

That's a rather large size rug..there used to be a company that made rugs in the shape of a baby grand to just fit under the piano..a little beyond the legs.. not sure if there still around, that would be an easier alternative than jockeying a large area rug..

My wife and I accomplished this ourselves and it was easier than expected. Use a pair of 2X4s to lift the piano. Cut one to a length equal to the distance from the floor to the bottom of the piano. This is the fulcrum. The second one was 6 to 8 feet long. Use this as the lever.

1. Lift the piano end opposite the keyboard and slide the rug in under the pedals and the lifted leg. The edges are folded to miss the other two legs.
2. Lift one side and unfold the rug.
3. Lift the other side and unfold the rug.

I like the idea of using masking tape to position the rug. That is a great tip. We used a round rug which makes positioning a little easier. Using a lever to lift makes it easy for the lifter to hold the piano up. Then the rug wrangler can work slowly and carefully under the piano.

First pre-measure for exact rug position.

-Position rolled up rug so that it unrolls toward the back leg.
-unroll enough of the rug to slide under the front of the piano.
-Pick up the treble leg and slide rug under. Place the leg on to the pre-measured spot. This is the only measurement needed. The rest of the rug us squared to the room.
-Lift bass leg and slide rug under and square it to the room. As the rug is squared to the room, check for bunching under the treble leg. Usually the wheel turns with the rug but if not just lift the treble side as needed to avoid damage.
-finish by unrolling rug under the back leg.

I've done this a few times with little and once with no help from the customer.

yes this is a large rug, which logistically precludes some suggestions about sliding the rug around and unrolling it from certain positions.

i experimented placing a rug under the piano, but frankly visual aesthetics are involved here as well... i, or should i say my wife, doesn't want a potpourri of rugs and baffles hanging off of the walls. with the hardwood floors, glass sliders, plaster walls and low ceilings the most effective and visually pleasing solution is a large rug with a pad underneath. drums, piano & furniture will go on top of it. it should tie everything together nicely.

the rug people have indicated that the only viable solution is moving the piano out of the room, and at this point that's what i'm going to do... have my movers roll it into the hall, lay down the pad and then the rug and get everything lined up perfectly, and then move the piano back in and relocate it a few inches further back in the room (been wanting to do this anyway).

And when everything settles in satisfactorily, invite your tuner back.

i'm hoping if i invite him quickly enough he'll give me a 'touch-up' rate

13 x 16 is a pretty large rug. It looks like it will fill up most of your floor space, so your problem is getting the piano in one corner of the room on top of one corner of the rug.

I would first position the pad and carpet where you want them in the other three corners. You then have the rest of the pad and carpet bunched up in the center of the room. As you lift each leg, have someone pull the pad in under each leg until you are happy where it is positioned. Then repeat with the carpet, which you obviously hope will overlap the pad.

It can be a two person job. For the lifting of each leg, position a chair next to the leg and right at the piano. Sit on the chair and use your knees to lift and hold the leg up. It is surprisingly easy to lift and hold a leg up on a large grand this way.

I read stuff like this and my only comment is "WHERE ARE THE MEN" Are we really this helpless?? So it takes a few go-rounds to get it into position with a couple of friends/neighbors. I have done this kind of thing by myself with a hydraulic car jack and a length of a 4"X 4" with my concert-grands. Alternately, you can make a template of the location of the legs and transfer that location to the rug using some masking tape, then just line up the tape with the wheels. Honestly we can't be this stupid or helpless or it's all over!!!!

Haha, the same thing occurred to me. People are so dainty these days. Calling piano movers to install a rug? Nah, just get a few decent size guys and get busy! Pianos are heavy, yes, but the fact that they are on 3 legs means you never have to lift much of that weight. You just have to get your strategy right before you start lifting.

john pels & ando, you can choose to get your buddies, a case of beer and a car jack to lift your 900 lb $65k piano while trying to jockey a 13x16 pad-then-rug underneath it but even tho i may have slept at a holiday inn express last night i'd prefer to make sure something like the following video doesn't happen...

It's just a matter of physics, Entheo. If you think it through, it's not so hard. I've moved heavier things than your piano with just a few strong men. But if you want to hire a mover, be my guest. Don't know why you started a thread asking for different opinions if you only see one possibility though. I wish you luck with the move though.

+1

My wife and I alone have moved our Yamaha G7 (not light) all over our main floor. We moved it to the kitchen while carpet was installed, moved it to different locations in the living room for various reasons. I'm 70 years old and we recently moved it so we could have a flat screen mounted above it and then moved it back. Not a big deal and we never even considered calling a mover. It's a puzzle to me too.

appreciate the good wishes ando; yes i have now thought it thru with the help of others here on this thread, and the many possibilities have been narrowed down to one.

The thread was started to get various opinions and then make a decision on how best to proceed.

Mission accomplished.

Your piano is much smaller and you didn't mentioned anything about trying to put a rug underneath the piano which is far different from rolling a piano. On a hardwood floor several people can usually move a piano no problem, but even there disasters can occur (and sometimes occur even in piano showrooms where the people have moved pianos hundreds of times).

Why do you assume he only had one possibility in mind when he started the thread?

Helpful as always, PL...

Your comment was incorrectly critical of the OP. I already gave my opinion about what I thought was the best way to put the rug under the piano earlier in the thread.

Apparently OP didn't agree with your idea and you found it necessary to insult him for no reason. Your rude and sarcastic comment about him starting a thread but not wanting different opinions was just plain wrong. He got a large variety of opinions and reached a conclusion.

Entheo, I'm just trying to have you give yourself more credit. As my family will attest, I perpetually play a game of "how do I get off the island?" If you really have to solve a problem, you will. As far as the beer goes, I don't drink, and as I have said, I have done this myself, and I told you how. Admittedly my pianos are a bit heavier, 1200 lbs and 1500lbs respectively, but it is still doable by lifting one leg at a time. In truth it is easier than rolling a piano, even on hardwoods which puts considerable stress on the legs and their attachment points. For what it's worth, I took down a tree about the same size as that in the video a few weeks ago. I notice that he seems to have no guy wires to persuade the tree to go in any particular direction.My plight was that going the other direction would have landed my tree on my neighbor's roof. He's a good neighbor, but as we know THAT has its limitations.

I laud you for asking for advice, but don't give up too quickly, nor sell yourself short!

I really don't think my G7 is much smaller than a C7, probably pretty darn close. The G7 is 7' 4". I haven't weighed it.

We moved the piano, had a whole room carpet installed and moved the piano back onto it. It was not a problem, obviously you have to use common sense and care.

john, i'm not one who gives up easily -- i cycled up two of the hardest climbs in all of professional cycling (alpe d'huez and mont ventoux) last summer. but discretion is the better part of valor.

after moving in we decided that we wanted to move the piano back a few inches. my stepson (a strapping 25 year old) and his friend were called upon to lift each leg so i could remove the caster cups. the tail wasn't so bad, but it took almost all of their strength to get the subsequent legs up and the cups out. that's like 1/2" lifting. sure, rolling it on a hardwood floor is no big deal, but lifting each leg possibly as much as a foot to get the remaining rolled rug under it (while they're standing there, and having to lift their legs as well while lifting the piano for the passage of the rug) seems a good way to use up one's hernia deductible. and there's the little matter of perfectly lining up the rug with the pad, of which there's a 1" tolerance.

so i prefer to solve problems i'm well qualified to. both the rug store and my piano mover, along with many esteemed opinions here (sam et. al.), indicate that the best way to do this is to get the piano out of the room first, lay the pad & rug to my satisfaction, then return the piano on the dolly (it will have to be broken down just like it was being moved to another location) to the new location and set her back up.

the risk (injury to piano and/or people, and/or a rug that's ill-placed and/or out of alignment) just ain't worth the reward (saving under $200).

The gifts just keep on coming...

fait accompli...

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!

What a piano! This reminds me of when I removed the rug under mine by myself...much harder than it sounds! On one knee I wedged my shoulder under the corner and lifted each side up, pulling the rug out from underneath the legs inch by inch. I would never attempt it again.

Look what the cat did!... the cat is very proud, and rightfully so. The room looks great.

How has the rug effected the sound?

thanks for the compliments.

the rug definitely dampens down the room, much dryer sound now, which is both good (not clangy or brassy sounding anymore) and bad (i can no longer hide poor technique with room reverb, altho i can compensate by overpedaling :-)