A house move is hard on anything with a neck, a soundboard or a fragile case. Most damage comes from weight stacked on top, a knock on a stair, or a loose item sliding in a soft bag. You can prevent a lot of that before the van arrives.
Pianos
An upright or a grand is not a sideboard. It needs enough people, covers and a path that has been looked at. Tell us about stairs, gravel paths and tight turns in older houses. Photos of the piano and the narrowest doorway are more useful than the brand name alone.
Our piano removals page explains how that job is quoted in Barnsley. Do not add a piano as a surprise on a small van booking. Close the fallboard, remove loose music from the rack and clear the route to the door. Book a tuner for a week or so after delivery, once the instrument has stood in a steady room. We move pianos. We do not tune them.
If the floor at the new house is weak, or a flat has a weight rule, check that before the day. A piano is heavy enough to matter.
Guitars, cases and smaller instruments
Hard cases are worth it. Soft gig bags are for careful car trips, not for a removal van. Loosen the strings slightly on guitars if your luthier has told you that is right for that instrument. Do not improvise a big detune if you are unsure. Keep cases closed and latched. Put a label on the handle with the room name.
Violins, flutes and similar instruments stay in their cases and should travel with you if the collection is small and valuable. The van is for items that are packed and stacked. A loose bow on a sofa is how things get snapped.
Keyboards and amps can go on the van if they are in cases or boxed, with cables in a separate labelled bag. Photograph the back of any unit you will forget how to plug in.
What to say when you book
List every acoustic instrument, not only the piano. Say which ones you will carry yourself. On move day, point them out before loading starts so nobody treats a case as a step. Temperature swings matter for wooden instruments. Do not leave a guitar in a cold van overnight if you can avoid it, and do not stand a piano against a wet outside wall at the new house.
If the rest of the household is moving the same day, keep the instrument plan inside the main booking so the crew expect the extra time.
Planning a move in Barnsley?
Get a free, no-obligation quote, or try the cost calculator for a rough idea first.
