Learned something about moving furniture this weekend

[timothy42b]

I helped one of my kids move this weekend.

It's an unpleasant task - between lifting the heavy awkward stuff, and moving the light stuff endlessly, it gets old fast. One of the worst is the mattress. They're not heavy, but there's no handle, and they have to be manipulated around corners and stairs.

I bought a "Shoulder Dolly." It's a harness that two people wear, with a connecting strap. You squat, adjust, stand up, and walk away with it. Check youtube for examples. The mattress was effortless. The filing cabinet was moved with the drawers in place, no problem.

I wish I'd had one years ago. I highly recommend it. The Uhaul place where we rented the truck had several variations available at reasonable prices.

[Matt K]

Yeah, between those and handtrucks, you can move just about anything. I just picked up a handtruck a few months ago and have no idea how I lived without it. They can even traverse stairs with heavy stuff without too much of a problem. I'm tempted to get a second one and modify it so that I can put all my gigging stuff on it and just pop it in the back of my car.

[SteveFoote]

Add a four wheel dolly with a pull rope to your other equipment and you will be ready go in the moving business! Hopefully you will not have to move a piano. I've also used these under pieces of furniture that will not fit on a dolly and even under a couch turned up on one end to manipulate it through doorways and around various bends. Any device that allows you to roll rather than lift an object is a good friend!

[SlidemanSailor]

Young, strong friends are priceless.

[tanstaafl49]

I've had similar experiences with moving heavy furniture, and I agree, it can be a real hassle. The Shoulder Dolly sounds like a game-changer for handling bulky items like mattresses and filing cabinets, especially when navigating stairs and tight spaces.

[OneTon]

Yeah, between those and handtrucks, you can move just about anything. I just picked up a handtruck a few months ago and have no idea how I lived without it. They can even traverse stairs with heavy stuff without too much of a problem. I'm tempted to get a second one and modify it so that I can put all my gigging stuff on it and just pop it in the back of my car.

They make two wheel hand trucks that lay down on two smaller wheels. Use caution with two wheel hand trucks. Use even more with four wheel devices. Small wheels like to come to sudden stops. Newton unloads the cart for you. I have used and abused a collapsing luggage roller with the most success. It takes up less space in a car and resists upsets fairly well.

[BrassSection]

I have a convertible 2 wheel/4 wheel cart. Anytime I use it, I use a ratchet strap to secure the load to the cart. Works great. For heavy stuff outside, like unloading four 200 pound protein tubs for my beef cows off my truck, or moving my 300 pound 60” mower deck I’ve found my tractor with a front loader translates to working smarter, not harder. Those 200 pound tubs seem to be heavier now than they were 20 years ago!

[Crazy4Tbone86]

We bought all new kitchen appliances two years ago. Seeing the delivery guys use those shoulder dollies to move all the old appliances out and the new ones in was rather impressive. I think the entire exchange only took 6 or 7 minutes. Still ……moving large equipment like that is not for those who are faint of heart, or have back troubles.

[izMadman]

I upgraded my kitchen appliances a few months ago, and boy, what a process that was... But when it came to getting rid of the old ones, I called up the folks at Three Movers. They made it so easy and hassle-free, handling everything like pros. If you ever need help moving stuff, give them a shout.

[ghmerrill]

I bought a "Shoulder Dolly." It's a harness that two people wear, with a connecting strap. You squat, adjust, stand up, and walk away with it.

A few years ago my wife bought something like that to help us move her @&z?Ч#Ж#Щ!! large potted plants (like an 8' Norfolk Island pine, and a similar potted Bird of Paradise plant) that she "moves inside" for the winter months. Now in our mid/late 70s, we can't cart those around by hand like we used to. Those various kinds of strap carriers can be very effective. I need to get something like it for moving large chunks of plywood. Or maybe I just need to stop moving giant plants and large chunks of plywood.

[ghmerrill]

I bought a "Shoulder Dolly." It's a harness that two people wear, with a connecting strap. You squat, adjust, stand up, and walk away with it.

A few years ago my wife bought something like that to help us move her @&z?Ч#Ж#Щ!! large potted plants (like an 8' Norfolk Island pine, and a similar potted Bird of Paradise plant) that she "moves inside" for the winter months. Now in our mid/late 70s, we can't cart those around by hand like we used to. Those various kinds of strap carriers can be very effective. I need to get something like it for moving large chunks of plywood. Or maybe I just need to stop moving giant plants and large chunks of plywood.

One of the other "moving items" we got about ten years ago was a small 4-wheeled hydraulic lift cart from Harbor Freight. Invaluable! And at its top height it is almost exactly as high as the pickup bed.