How to move a safe?

[jetmechG550]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuYX5FYTwQU You can rent these at Sunbelt rentals...usually takes them a couple of days to get one in but well worth it....I think it was around $80 or $90 buck for a day..My son and I moved safe to downstairs in our house ourselves....

$50 for a day, just rented one for the second time two weeks ago when we moved. I moved my 550lb safe downstairs about a year ago by myself and back up just two weeks ago, by myself. It was easier going back up than down. Place in Carmel rents it and so does Grand Rental Station

 

[concrete dog]

Are there any other movers in Northen Indiana other than James?

 

[JollyMon]

I hired Jeff Johnson a while back to move my safe..... Easy as can be, no damage to anything and was a simple process...

 

[Rookie]

I want the story about how it got downstairs in no time at all...

 

[JettaKnight]

Cave troll. (they work evenings only)

 

[Mark 1911]

Are there any other movers in Northen Indiana other than James?

Blythe's sport shop in Griffith is a big safe dealer and they do all the moving. Not sure if they would go to Goshen. Give them a call. Their number is (219) 924-4403.

 

[concrete dog]

Highly recommended: James Weimar. 260-417-1345
He's a pro and has all the equipment. Not high price. picked my safe up at store,delivered to my house, installed in basement for under $250. Even hauled off the packaging.

He quoted me $650 to move it 50ft. and down 6 steps! Called johnson and he quoted me the same price! They are hours apart!

 

[Rookie]

Heck I'll do it for $600.

 

[concrete dog]

Heck I'll do it for $600.

I heard he was reasonable, but wow $650 for the short drive and short move....Just crazy I think!

 

[weezy]

Sell it with the stipulation that they have to move it . Then just buy a new one.

 

[jamil]

I heard he was reasonable, but wow $650 for the short drive and short move....Just crazy I think!

Sell it with the stipulation that they have to move it . Then just buy a new one.

If it costs that to move the safe, might as well get a new one.

 

[Rookie]

I heard he was reasonable, but wow $650 for the short drive and short move....Just crazy I think!

You're right. $100, you supply the bobcat. We're taking it right through the front door! I will not be responsible for "accidental" damage.

 

[Clay]

I've hired a local moving company to move heavy items like this into a basement.

Typically they bring lots of plywood, moving dollies (both floor type (just rollers) and vertical type (2 wheels and a strap), lots of people, and heavy nylon climbing/repelling type rope. They put plywood down from start to finish, or at least over tile and down the stairs, screwing the plywood on the stairs down. They lay the object on its back, tie a rope to it, and using multiple people, slowly let it down the stairs. Roll it where ever it goes and flip it back up.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

I worked for a moving company for a few years during college. Part time during the school year and full time during the summer. I moved lots of big heavy things.

A 600 lb safe in a basement can be a real task without good help and good equipment. One thing that could absolutely rule out my trying to do it myself with anything less than a great climbing stair dolly is the upstairs landing.

How much room is there when you come up the stairs and step off the top step before you walk straight into a wall? If there is at least 1.25 x the height of the safe on the landing, you might be able to do it by getting a regular appliance dolly, laying it down and muscling it up the stairs and at the top, dragging it onto the landing on it's back, then standing it up. It would be a chore and a great way to get someone really hurt, especially if the guys doing it were not used to moving things like this and moving things like this together.

If the safe has to come up the top step more or less upright to clear the wall, I would forget it and either hire a safe mover or seriously look into a stair climbing dolly (one with an electric motor that does the climbing one step at a time like some of the guys have mentioned above. I never used one, but I hear, if you get a good one and you know what you are doing, they are nice).

Bottom line is, you can kill the **** out of someone messing around with things like this, but in all reality if something goes wrong, you will probably just hurt someone really bad and maybe screw up their back/legs forever.

Myself, having moved lots of really heavy things and knowing lots of guys to call who have done it, I would either cough up $600 or take a good look at the electric stair climbing dollies. The decider would be how much of a pain in the ass it would be on the delivery end.

If I could break it down into 2 pieces that each way 300lbs, I would man up, guilt some buddies into helping with a regular appliance dolly and just do it.

 

[concrete dog]

I just need it moved 20ft to the stairs, down 6 steps,and then 20 feet to the corner...My point was someone 2 and half hours away will do it for the same as a guy in FT.Wayne..

 

[matthewmaze]

take the door of and move it separately.done it several times with great effect

 

[Sirshredalot]

Welp, got the safe moved with no real damage. A few enormous friends, a winch on my bumper, a tow strap, and some 2x4's and plywood. Definitely wasn't $600 worth of work and took about 2 hrs from basement to the new resting place.

Screwed the 2x4's to the stairs for runners, stapled some scrap felt down for slickness, strap around the safe and winced it up the stairs.

God bless
- Shred

 

[BE Mike]

Welp, got the safe moved with no real damage. A few enormous friends, a winch on my bumper, a tow strap, and some 2x4's and plywood. Definitely wasn't $600 worth of work and took about 2 hrs from basement to the new resting place.

Screwed the 2x4's to the stairs for runners, stapled some scrap felt down for slickness, strap around the safe and winced it up the stairs.

God bless
- Shred

Now, you were a man with a plan! I just helped my SIL move a 430 lb. safe. There were just a few steps to negotiate. One thing that made it easy to get into and out of my pickup truck was a double folded wool Army surplus blanket. Once we got it into the front door, we tipped it up and put 1" wooded dowl rods. We pushed it upright and rolled it on the dowls on the wall-to-wall carpet until it was in place. No damage to people or property was reported. We used 3 dowls, but 4 might have been better. One thing I caution is if moving up stairs, don't have anyone push from the downstair side. If the safe gets out of control, serious injury or death is a very good possibility.