# How did you move/unload your soapstone stove?



## Jack22 (Mar 30, 2011)

Hi everyone. I am very excited to say that I just ordered a Woodstock Keystone this morning. I live in New Jersey and have not decided if I am going to travel 6 hours each way to pick up the stove or have it delivered. Woodstock will deliver it for free to a business. Either way it is going to end up in the back of my pickup truck. So my question is: What is the best way to unload these heavy stoves from the truck? I was thinking I might be able to use an engine hoist. Once I get it off the truck I think a dolly will do the trick? If anyone has any ideas or would like to share their experience, I am all ears. Thanks.


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## raybonz (Mar 30, 2011)

Jack22 said:
			
		

> Hi everyone. I am very excited to say that I just ordered a Woodstock Keystone this morning. I live in New Jersey and have not decided if I am going to travel 6 hours each way to pick up the stove or have it delivered. Woodstock will deliver it for free to a business. Either way it is going to end up in the back of my pickup truck. So my question is: What is the best way to unload these heavy stoves from the truck? I was thinking I might be able to use an engine hoist. Once I get it off the truck I think a dolly will do the trick? If anyone has any ideas or would like to share their experience, I am all ears. Thanks.



Congrats on the stove purchase Jack! I hear many good things about those stoves and Woodstock as a company.. I'll let those experienced in moving your stove spell things out for you...

Ray


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## cmonSTART (Mar 30, 2011)

Hi Jack, if you're planning on moving it and installing it yourself, you best plan is to have a lot of friends over and supply a lot of beer and food.  Once out of the truck you can rent an appliance dolly pretty cheap which will be a huge help.


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## shawneyboy (Mar 30, 2011)

Jack,

First off congrats on the purchase and welcome to the forum   Read all that you can here and shorten the learning curve.  
Burning for primary heat is NOT as simple as "toss a few logs in and go", but it isn't rocket science either.

As far as moving the soapstone, I personally didn't move mine, I had it installed for me but....  I can tell you this, get some hump straps, and some strong backs.  That is what it takes.  Our install was a ground level install that had easy access.  It still took 2 very strong guys and some serious muscle.  The Mansfield I have weighs 550 lbs, the Keystone is 430 lbs.  So you will still need 2 strong guys and some hump straps , just a little less muscle.  

They ran the straps under the sucker and dead lifted it and moved it.  You may be able to use a mover dolly or maybe even an appliance dolly, just be careful and don't get hurt.

As a woord of advice, while you figure this out, start getting your wood for next year, these units want/need well seasoned wood.  Don't believe the resellers when they say their wood is seasoned, it usually insn't.  Start stocking up now !!

Good luck and enjoy,

Shawn


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## Wood Heat Stoves (Mar 30, 2011)

Sounds like a beautiful stove. I would recommend going to an equipment rental store and renting the proper dolly to move it. It's worth protecting your investment by using the proper equipment so you don't damage the stove,your house and especially yourself (watch your back) moving it. We use a lift called an Escallera, which has an electric motor to "walk" the stove up stairs with a chain and rubber knobs and a set of forks that can go up to the height of your pickup bed and then lower the stove down. It works great.


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## certified106 (Mar 30, 2011)

Wood Heat Stoves said:
			
		

> Sounds like a beautiful stove. I would recommend going to an equipment rental store and renting the proper dolly to move it. It's worth protecting your investment by using the proper equipment so you don't damage the stove,your house and especially yourself (watch your back) moving it. We use a lift called an Escallera, which has an electric motor to "walk" the stove up stairs with a chain and rubber knobs and a set of forks that can go up to the height of your pickup bed and then lower the stove down. It works great.



I would concur with the above advice, it's not worth your back to wrestle the stove into your house. Get a 4 wheel dolly and ramps or rent the right appliance hand truck. The electric one mentioned above rents for $15 buck a half day at the rental store near us.


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## begreen (Mar 30, 2011)

cmonSTART said:
			
		

> Hi Jack, if you're planning on moving it and installing it yourself, you best plan is to have a lot of friends over and supply a lot of beer and food.  Once out of the truck you can rent an appliance dolly pretty cheap which will be a huge help.



If you have a pair of stout ramps or 3-4 2x10s, with the help of some friends you can slide it right down to the ground (drop the pickup gate). The ratchet strap it with some corner padding to a heavy duty dolly and roll it in. 

PS: Save the beer and food for the celebration afterward, once the stove is in place.


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## CTburning (Mar 30, 2011)

I dropped my Fireview or rather slid it down a 2x8 with a brace under the board so it didn't break.  I had two buddies help guide it down and we dragged it into my garage.  When it was time to move it inside, by myself if rigged a rope to aid in leverge and leaned it back on the furniture dolley.  That was kind of stupid and I highly recc getting two other people to help you.  I was lucky in that I only had to go up one small step in my garage.  It is a three person job.  I removed the firebricks, doors, top I believe to lessen the weight.  Two of us lifted the stove up a couple of inches and a third person removed the wooden platform and carpet I had underneath to protect the hearth.  You will need two strong backs but it is not that bad of a job, unless stairs are involved.


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## Highbeam (Mar 30, 2011)

I arrived home with my super heavy stone stove bolted to a pallet in my pickup under a canopy. It's on a pallet, there are no pick holes for overhead lifting with an engine hoist. You'll need to fork it out, lift it out, or slide it out. 

I removed the tailgate. Never trust those tailgate cables. Then set two 4x4 fence posts on the bumper up against the bed to make a no lip slide for the pallet. For a safety I stacked concrete blocks under the ramps in case they slid off the bumper. So me and one other ligthweight guy slid the stove out of the truck bed. That was the hard part. 

Then we just slid a regular style but heavy duty hand truck under the pallet, used both guys to roll back the hand truck towards equilibrium and then rolled it in place. The pro installer did the final setting on the hearth but that is much easier than getting it out of the truck.

Maximimum risk for damage to you, stove, and truck is when unloading from bed height to the ground.


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## Eaglecraft (Mar 30, 2011)

Hi Jack.

I had my Hearthstone Clydesdale delivered to my utility trailer. It's an open trailer that has a drop down tailgate. I rented an "Lectric Truck," which was mentioned previously. This is an electric 4-wheeled hand truck which can climb stairs. Once I got the Clydesdale strapped to the "Lectric truck," I discovered that I could not tip the beast back to get it rolling - too heavy. So I enlisted the help of my Sumo wrestler friends and they helped me tip it back, get up the two stairs into my house, and onto a raised platform that I built to the same height as my hearth.

I suggest that you consider renting a small, open utility trailer with drop down tailgate from U-Haul, and the "Lectric Truck," and enlist the help of a few friends to get your stove off the trailer and into your house. It's worth the money to rent the right equipment for this job. You don't want to get hurt handling this stove, or hurt your friends either.  It is not a one-man job. The advantage of using an open trailer is that it minimizes the possibility of dropping the stove from height. 

The folks at the plant can place the stove into your trailer with their fork-lift truck, and you visit the plant while you are there. Bring a tarp and hold down straps to keep the stove secure in your trailer.

Good luck with your stove.


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## Todd (Mar 30, 2011)

volemister said:
			
		

> Hi Jack.
> 
> I suggest that you consider renting a small, open utility trailer with drop down tailgate from U-Haul, and the "Lectric Truck," and enlist the help of a few friends to get your stove off the trailer and into your house. It's worth the money to rent the right equipment for this job. You don't want to get hurt handling this stove, or hurt your friends either.  It is not a one-man job. The advantage of using an open trailer is that it minimizes the possibility of dropping the stove from height.
> 
> ...



+1
I used my trailer that has a drop down ramp for a tail gate and an appliance dolly. I slid the stove down the trailer ramp then used the dolly to roll it inside. This method worked just fine with only me and the wife but the more people the better.


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## lukem (Mar 30, 2011)

This won't work on carpet, but does on hardwood/tile.  Put a towel folded over several times under the stove and push it.  Glides surprisingly easy.  That's how I moved my stove into position...it's not a rock...but it is over 400 lbs of steel.  Once in place, remove towel.  I was able to do this by myself.

A trick I use a lot for getting heavy stuff out of a pickup is to back the truck up to a hill (not up the hill...right to the point where the tires start to go up the hill).  This effectively raises the ground and makes the incline a lot less steep or eliminates the incline all together.  This is what I do with tillers/splitters/lawnmowers/etc.  If you have a small hill handy it could work for a stove just as well.


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## Backwoods Savage (Mar 30, 2011)

Congratulations on the purchase of a fine and beautiful stove Jack.

Piano or furniture dolly. Purchased at Harbor Freight for $9.95






We had our Fireview delivered to a business in town. They had a fork lift so was able to unload it from the truck and sit it onto our low trailer. When we got it home, I left it in the crate and slid if off the trailer right onto the dolly....by myself. Yes, it was over 500 lb. but was surprisingly easy to handle as long as it was in the crate. 

Because we didn't install it until a couple months later it just sat in the carport. When it was time to install, I enlisted the help of 2 men. We put planks (2 x 10) to roll it up onto the porch, then moved the planks to get it inside the door. It was a very short distance from the door to the hearth. We placed the crate directly in front of the hearth and then finally took the crate apart. This was our first look at the stove! 

We then lifted the top lid off the stove (very easily done), removed the firebox door and also removed the fire brick. This lessened the amount we would have to lift. Our hearth is 16" high so we did have to lift. One man on each side with 2 x 4's slide under the stove and me directly in front of the stove making sure it did not tip. We were amazed at how easy all this was. Nobody even worked up a sweat.

Other folks have used the 2 wheeled dolly to move the stoves but I felt the 4 wheeler would be the simplest and easiest. I still feel it was the best way plus now I have the dolly for use for other projects so not even that $10 was wasted. 

We also made sure to keep all the crating material to use just in case we had to return the stove. After starting to use the stove it did not take us long at all to know that the stove would be excellent for us and it has not disappointed us in any way nor has the company.

btw, with the free shipping it seems to me the best way to go would be to have it shipped to you. If you wish to visit the factory, that also could be done some time when the company has one of their outings. This is what we did even though it took us 3 years to get to the factory. We were glad we went as we got to talk to many of the folks who actually build the stoves plus all the customer service people. As an added benefit we got to see the new stove in R & D. We met lot of folks, even some from this forum. We even had a free dinner and beer too.


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## drozenski (Mar 30, 2011)

See if some one in your area rents these

http://www.escalera.com/faq/index.htm


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## wkpoor (Mar 30, 2011)

I set my stoves in the house with the front loader on the tractor and lifting straps wrapped under the stove. I set it on a furniture dolly and then rolled into place. Other option as been mentioned is furniture gliders. I've used those and they work well. Last stove came on a semi. I just drove to road, unloaded of the truck with the bradco forks on the loader, drove down to the house and set inside the doorway on the dolly.


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## cmonSTART (Mar 31, 2011)

Wood Heat Stoves said:
			
		

> Sounds like a beautiful stove. I would recommend going to an equipment rental store and renting the proper dolly to move it. It's worth protecting your investment by using the proper equipment so you don't damage the stove,your house and especially yourself (watch your back) moving it. We use a lift called an Escallera, which has an electric motor to "walk" the stove up stairs with a chain and rubber knobs and a set of forks that can go up to the height of your pickup bed and then lower the stove down. It works great.



Ya, if you can rent one of those that will make the job super easy.  I have a different make and it makes it super easy.


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## Jack22 (Mar 31, 2011)

Thanks to everyone for the kind wishes and great ideas. I believe my dad has an Escallera, and I know he has a dolly. I also have a small utility trailer that I did not even think of using until now. Thanks again to everyone for the ideas. Pictures to fallow...


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## Woody Stover (Mar 31, 2011)

Yep, low utility trailer was used here also. Then appliance dolly up two steps into the house.
My nephew and I were able to lift the stove off the pallet and place it on the hearth, despite my advanced age.  :lol:


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## Backwoods Savage (Mar 31, 2011)

Jack, please let us know how it all turns out.


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## gpcollen1 (Mar 31, 2011)

i used one of those hand trucks from home depot that you can use as a regular hand truck or you can lay it down and use it with 4 wheels.  It was my Olympic [450 pounds].  You can get it up a few stairs on the 4 wheels - like when i brought it in last time after i painted it.  I did it on 2 wheels too but had 2 helpers instead of one.


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## brogsie (Mar 31, 2011)

I picked up my Fireview at the factory. 
I made a dolly similar to the one Dennis showed a picture of.
At the factory they loaded the stove onto my pick up with a hand fork lift. They placed the stove right on the dolly sitting in the bed of my truck.
I strapped it down with ratchet straps. When I got home I used some ramps and rolled the stove right in the front door.
I took the top lid off and the door and took out the fire bricks. My two sons and I where able to lift the stove off the dolly onto the hearth pretty easily.
The guys at Woodstock where awesome. They wrapped up the stove box with tons of that saran wrap packing tape which was great because it snowed on the way home.
I bought all the stove pipe from Woodstock and they didn't forget one thing. Once I started the install I did not have to get any additional parts.
Good luck.


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## Backwoods Savage (Mar 31, 2011)

Sounds great Brogsie. Did you take the opportunity to see the Frankenstove? Hopefully you got to meet some of the customer service reps too.


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## Flatbedford (Apr 1, 2011)

We drove from the Lower Hudson Valley, NY to pick up out stove. We made a little vacation of it. They forked it into my F250. At the house I removed the tailgate and set a two 2x12s on the back bumper and used cinder block supports in the center of the span. I was able to slide the stove on its pallet down the ramps. For safety, I rigged a block and fall that my wife and son used to control the decent down the ramps. I probably did not need it, but Mrs. Flatbedford was afraid it would slide down out of control and crush me. Once on the driveway, I used a refrigerator dolly to bring it in the house. I did not have to climb any steps. Once in the house I had a friend come over and the two of us lifted it onto the hearth pad.


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## bjkjoseph (Apr 1, 2011)

slid mine on wood planks by my self..off the trailer..up two steps, then on to the hearth...they say the fireview is 500lbs,it felt like it was a little lighter,


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## brogsie (Apr 1, 2011)

Dennis,

I picked up my Fireview just about a year ago.
I did get to see the new stove but it was still somewhat crude (wires and no soapstone) as they where still in development.
I installed the stove this fall and am using it sporadically. The house is still under construction so I light it when I am working on the house.
I am looking forward to overnight fires.

When we were driving to the factory we stopped at a rest stop and they had an older Woodstock heating the lobby.
We got a kick out of that, it was the first Woodstock we had seen in person.


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## Backwoods Savage (Apr 1, 2011)

Hey brogsie, I'm betting if you went to Woodstock today you would see basically the same stove. The stone is one of the last things. I think it even goes for EPA testing w/o the stone but not sure about this. I know they are having some problems with some suppliers, like the cast parts.


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## Sparkster (Apr 1, 2011)

I'm surprised that I've never seen my method mentioned on this site.
I borrowed a motorcycle lift.  The type that rolls under and lifts the frame via a small hydraulic cylinder.
Jack it up, roll it around, set it in place.   No lifting off dolly and risk breaking a leg. (stove that is)

http://www.harborfreight.com/1500-lb-capacity-atv-motorcycle-lift-2792.html


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## leeave96 (Apr 1, 2011)

My Keystone was loaded on my Nissan 2x4 truck from the loading terminal to which the stove was delivered.

When I got home, I backed my utility trailer to the truck and lowered the tailgate of the trailer to the truck tailgate.  With heavy duty dolly, rolled the stove off the truck and onto the trailer.  Backed the trailer to my front porch, lowered the tailgate onto it and rolled the stove into my living room.

Other than the door, not much to remove on the Woodstocks to reduce the weight.  My new Englander 30 was much easier to handle with firebricks and door removed - and who cares if it gets a scratch - it's a steel stove.

Handle your Woodstock with care.

Good luck,
Bill


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## VCBurner (Apr 2, 2011)

I picked up my Dutchwest last year with our minivan, it weighed 436 pounds.  The guy who sold me the stove had a small material lift that was like a hadtruck/ hoist.  It was small and had two forks in the front that fit under the materials or pallets, perfect for stoves.  The forks were cable lifted with a pulley type system and a crank type handle.  You probably can't find one of those anymore, he told me recently.  Genie, a lift company has a similar hand operated lift, but they cost a small fortune.  Anyway, getting back to my point, I moved the Dutchwest with my own handtruck dolly.  It is easily done with some straps to hold the stove on it and some ramps or planks to roll the stove off.  I recently moved a VC Defiant Encore that weighs 350 pounds by myself the same way.    Good luck getting your stove home.


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## Wood Heat Stoves (Apr 2, 2011)

This sounds like the Escallera I was describing. It's a combination hand truck/lift/stair climber. They make models that have forks that are either operated by a hand crank/cable or a motor/cable combination.


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## VCBurner (Apr 2, 2011)

Wood Heat Stoves said:
			
		

> This sounds like the Escallera I was describing. It's a combination hand truck/lift/stair climber. They make models that have forks that are either operated by a hand crank/cable or a motor/cable combination.


Yes, what a nice piece of equipment to have!  I bet it would come in handy for lots of projects!  I moved three cast iron stoves into the house in the past three years and I sure could have used it.  I'll have to look it up and see how much one goes for.  I saw some similar used lifts on Ebay some were almost as expensive to ship as the cost of the lift itself.


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