If you’ve ever moved houses or worked in removal services, you’ll know how hard it is to move furniture upstairs.
Large and bulky objects make it challenging to maneuver around corners while traveling up or downstairs. Because of this, the thought of moving to a new office block or apartment can be extremely off-putting.
But here’s the thing:
With the right equipment, things don’t have to be as difficult as you might think. In this article, we’re going to be explaining how to move furniture upstairs without awkwardly squeezing your way through.
Let’s start with some things you should consider when moving furniture upstairs:
2 Things to Consider to Move Furniture Upstairs
The trick to moving furniture upstairs efficiently is by understanding what type of furniture you’re moving and what type of stairs you need to maneuver.
In this section below we’re going to give the tip you need to correctly assess your situation:
What Type Of Furniture Are You Moving Upstairs?
Unfortunately, some furniture just won’t get up the staircase no matter how hard you try. So what do you do?
The trick is to plan ahead and understand what type of furniture you’re going to be carrying. Ideally, you should measure the furniture and how much space you have in the staircase.
This will give you confirmation that you can actually get the furniture up the stairs without damaging anything.
If things are looking a little narrow in the staircases, you can always try to take things apart. You can take things like tables, cabinets, beds, bookcases apart to give you more space to move.
Couches are a different kettle of fish, they’re usually quite hard to take apart, and most of the time they can’t be taken apart at all.
What Type Of Stairs?
There are so many different styles of stairs out there. They could be straight, spiral, or helical in shape. And then you have to think about what they were made with; they could be wood, stone, metal, or marble.
The most manageable staircase to navigate is straight staircases due to you not having to navigate any corners. It’s a simple case of getting it up the stairs, and you’re done.
Things get a little more complicated when you try to navigate helical staircases, especially if you’re moving a bulky piece of furniture. It can make the task extremely dangerous if you don’t get things right.
Spiral staircases are narrow, steep, and don’t have much space for error, making them the most challenging to navigate.
Luckily for you, you can make your life a lot easier with the right piece of equipment.
Moving Furniture Upstairs By Yourself
Moving furniture by yourself is a challenging and dangerous task if you haven’t got the right equipment. It only takes one miss-step, loss of balance, or the furniture getting too heavy before you’re in real trouble.
So, what can you do?
Your best option is to use a powered stair climber to help take the weight off your arms, back, legs and provide safety as you maneuver the stairs.
As you can see by this video…
Powered stair climbers make it effortless to get your furniture up the stairs, and more importantly, it doesn’t matter how big or strong you are.
To take the weight of your back, the stair climbers use wheels to maneuver the equipment. All you have to do is tilt it back. If the furniture still feels too heavy, you can pull out the foldable arms to help you secure the object at a 45°angle.
They also use a rotating arm to help lift the furniture up the stairs safely and efficiently, so you don’t have to lift a thing.
But they’re not the only tools you can use to help you move furniture:
Tools For Moving Furniture Upstairs
As with anything in life, if you have the right tools for the job, it will make your life a lot easier. And that’s why we’ve created this list of tools that can help you move your furniture upstairs with ease.
Electric Mini Lifter
Sometimes it doesn’t matter how strong you are; you just can’t lift the furniture to put it on your stair climber, which can be a problem.
This is where a mini lifter can come in handy, as you can see in this video:
The mini lifter can pick up your item high enough for you to slip your stroller underneath, ready for transporting up stairs.
The best thing about this method is that it reduces the chance of you damaging your back trying to lift a heavy object off the ground.
Stair Climbing Dolly
Once you’ve lifted the furniture off the ground, you need something that’s going to help you get it up the stairs.
And the best way to do that is with a stair climbing dolly.
Stair climbing dollies use a rotating arm to lift the furniture upstairs with zero effort. It’s a simple case of pulling the dolly to the edge of the stairs and letting it do the hard work for you.
Safe Strap
The next thing you should think about is keeping your furniture secure while you’re moving it. The last thing you want is the new furniture falling down the stairs.
Not only can it cause damage to your furniture, but it can also injure anyone that’s following behind you.
4 Wheel Dolly
The last thing we want to mention is a four-wheel dolly. Maneuvering large furniture around tight corners is definitely a challenge and not something you want to come across if you’re not prepared for it.
And this is where four-wheel dollies come in handy. They allow you to spin the furniture 360° making it easy to slip your furniture around corners.
What is The Easiest Way to Move Furniture Upstairs?
If you are looking for the best way to move furniture upstairs, then you have a few options.
- Hire a company to do it for you
- Or do it yourself
- Ask your friends to help
Obviously, the first option requires less effort due to you not having to worry about a thing. As for the second option, it’s not actually that hard to get the job done if you have the proper equipment.
We highly recommend getting a powered stair climber at the bare minimum. It takes the weight off you, so you don’t have to worry about a thing.
Here are some top tips you can use to make your life easier.
Tips On Moving Furniture Upstairs
Even when you have the right equipment, you can run into problems, which is why we want to use our experience in moving to give you some top tips:
Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help.
What’s the point in making yourself struggle when you ask for a hand. No matter how strong you are, some things just aren’t possible to move by yourself.
Go and ask a neighbor, friend, family member… anyone you can think of that will come to give you a boost.
Use A Powered Dolly And Straps
By far, the easiest way to get your heavy furniture up steps is by using a powered dolly. But just as important is strapping the furniture to the dolly.
Roll the dolly backward towards the steps; as you move backward, let the dolly lift the furniture one step at a time.
Getting Couches Through Doorways
The easiest way to get your couch through the doorway is by having it faced upright. The problem is:
Some couches are too small to fit through standard doorways. If your sofa is too tall for the door, your best option is to lean the couch slightly so you can slip it under the door.
Use A Shoulder Dolly
For items that have a base too large for dolly, you will have to use different methods. And your best option is to use a shoulder dolly.
A shoulder dolly is a strap system for two people. The strap runs from one person under the object to the final person. This can make it tricky to maneuver steps and requires the strongest person at the bottom.
Final Thoughts
Moving furniture up and down steps is a task that no one looks forward to, but things can be made very easy with the right equipment.
Make sure you follow our tips above and acquire the right equipment for the job. Using a powered stair climbing dolly is the key to success.