Photos by Laurie Mustard / Winnipeg Free Press
From left, the BMB Moving crew, team leader Frank Tront and Damien Romund, Brian Wood, and Brett Diogo.
My beloved player piano is finally home, and let me tell you, it was like watching somebody trying to raise the Titanic.
For those of you unfamiliar with this saga, a wonderful lady gave me a player piano, a gorgeous old Heintzman — all I had to do was get it out of her basement and over to my place.
Being cheap, I thought, I can probably figure out a way to move it on my own, with a little help from very strong friends. I didn’t want to have to go retail and have to fork over a few hundred bucks to have it moved professionally.
Silly me. It turns out decades ago when the piano arrived for placement in the basement they had taken it apart somewhat to get it in, and since that time, household renovations had made the narrow little basement stairway even smaller. Definitely a job for a pro.
So when Frank Tront and his crew from BMB Moving arrived on Tuesday to haul it up, his first words upon seeing old "Heintz" were something like, "Ohhhhh boy, I’m not even sure there’s room to get this out of here!"
The biggest challenge? The extremely tight right turn at the top of the stairs. And in fact, there almost wasn’t enough height available between the stairs and the ceiling to get the piano up that old wooden hill.
The skid plate they normally put under the piano for the stair climb couldn’t be used because it made the piano too tall to squeeze through. So did the old steel wheels on the piano, which had to come off as well.
Once prepared for liftoff, they put the piano on a dolly and rolled it over to the base of the stairs for grunt time. The piano had about an inch of clearance on either side which made it very awkward for access. It was basically Tront alone at the top, and three guys lifting and pushing from the bottom. No side room was available for manhandling once it was halfway up the stairs.
So once they’re all in position, Tront optimistically says, "Ok guys, crunch time. Ready?"
Silence.
"Good, then let’s get at it. One two three... LIFT!"
From that point on, with Tront repeating the lift chant, it was up one stair, up another, back two, then start again. It was a relentless, merciless battle conquering one stair at a time until finally the piano reached the landing where it first had to make that tight right turn, then go out the back door.
Nope. Won’t make the turn. Stuck in place. Groans.
This not being Tront’s first rodeo, he says with resolve, "Ok, been here before. The only way we can do this is to put the piano up on its end to clear the corner, then back on its bottom, and out the door."
So one of the guys climbs over and joins him at the lift end, while the other two guys guide their side back down a step until the piano is vertical, then they all lift it up and around the corner. Heavy breathing — then Heintz goes back on his bottom.
And I certainly did my part, by taking photos for today’s column.
The haul to the truck, over to my place and in through my back door was a piece of cake. Mission accomplished.
When talking with Tront later I mentioned hearing him say immediately following the lift, "That’s about as tough as these get." I asked him for an example of what might be worse. "That would be when you have to remove the stairs completely and do a dead lift straight up and onto the main floor."
Wow, these guys don’t give up, ever. Great job!
Comments and feedback always welcome!
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