# Best way to move a stove...



## buggyspapa (Sep 26, 2012)

...or in this case, two stoves?. So, I would like to move the landlord's stove to the basement for a refurb, and mine to the first floor living room. His is a VC Encore 2550 and mine is an older Jotul Alpha that I took completely apart last year and recemented. The easiest way to move is out the walk-out basement door, up a gentle grade on the lawn to access the porch door of the first floor. Not really too many obstacles, just distance over the lawn.  The ground is pretty soft here in the marshes of Maine. The interior stairs have lousy turns and treads so that is out. 

Obviously, six friends and two cases of beer is easiest, but probably the most I can drum up is two at one time. The weight of the Encore is 350lbs, and the Jotul is 400lbs. I am looking around for a dolly or handtruck with pneumatic tires, but no luck so far. Considering buying such wheels and renting a fridge dolly, putting my wheels on for the moves.  Solid wheels worry me. The Encore has legs and doesn't have a solid bottom, but I am hesitant to try turning it over. The Jotul has a decently solid pedestal. I am concerned about jarring and shifting the plates and breaking the stove cement that makes everything airtight.  Next year, I will have to reverse the procedure, so I'd like to think that an equipment purchase will be justifiable.

Any input would be helpful. I realize that most stoves make two moves in their lives, in and out. These specimens will be going above and beyond.


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## rwhite (Sep 26, 2012)

Rent a stair walker dolly. I have moved my 700lb safe several times up and down stairs and the $35 was more than worth it


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## MasterMech (Sep 27, 2012)

I bought a $50 hand truck at Harbor Freight that has 12" pneumatic tires on it.  Moved a couple fridges downstairs with that one.


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## bogydave (Sep 27, 2012)

rwhite said:


> Rent a stair walker dolly. I have moved my 700lb safe several times up and down stairs and the $35 was more than worth it


 
+1
Rent a good dolly. Save your back!


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## basod (Sep 27, 2012)

If you have to move it across a soft grassy area I'd pick up a couple sheets of OSB or if you have any scrap plywood just end over end method it'll keep the tires from getting stuck.
The stair walker dollys can be great make sure it has a strap to hold the stove.  A longer strap wrapped underneath for two guys to lift while handtruck operator pulls will help keep everyones back fairly straight going up/down stairs


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## CT-Mike (Sep 27, 2012)

Best way to move a stove is to pay someone else to do it, right Scott?


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## lukem (Sep 27, 2012)

There's a 400lb hunk of steel in my basement.  It was there when I moved in.  The only way it got down there would have been the stairs.

Its good that you have a walk-out basement.  I would get the biggest dolly you can find, strap it down tight and wheel that beast in there and avoid the stairs.

Unless the tires on the dolly are really skinny or the ground is really soft, I don't think you'd have too much trouble with tire flotation.  If I can wheel a couple hunnert lbs of concrete in a wheelbarrow with one wheel, a dolly with two shouldn't have too much trouble.  

Just make sure you measure the doorway and get the stove pointed in the right direction before loading the dolly....and make sure no-one is in front of the dolly if going downhill.


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## Backwoods Savage (Sep 27, 2012)

Definitely lay down planks on that soft ground and that should take care of one part.


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## RichVT (Sep 28, 2012)

buggyspapa said:


> The ground is pretty soft here in the marshes of Maine.


 
Wait until the ground freezes.


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## Flatbedford (Sep 28, 2012)

You to could build a custom pallet to put under the stove with legs. This what they give you at Woodstock.







A hand truck or fridge dolly would pick something like that easily.


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## mywaynow (Sep 28, 2012)

I have a stairclimber truck and it is invaluable given the right circumstances. Two things to be aware of if you choose that route:
1- Stair climbers can be dangerous. They have great power to lift and you can easily find an appendage in the way of a strong machine that does not care about said appendage.
2- Moving anything of significant weight on uneven terrain can be an issue. Rolling a handtruck with 400lbs across a grade can easily cause the item to tip. You won't be able to stop it.

Tips would be to go directly up hill or directly down hill even if the overall route is longer. Take the legs off the VC. They will break if your not careful. I just moved a defiant and used a 6x6 block under the stove and atop the carrier. This allowed the stove  to be rigged to the truck with the legs on, and with a slight tip, the legs were off the ground and could be removed for the trip. Definitely use particle board on top of the soil.

My advice would be to get the 4x8 sheets of particle board, and some pieces of pipe, like pvc at 1/2" diameter. Lay three or four pieces of pvc on top of the particle board (pb) and place another small sheet closer to the stove profile size on the pvc. Lay the stove on the small sheet and roll it over the pvc. Keep adding new pvc in front of the stove as it needs them. It will roll very easily. You may be able to drag the stove with a garden tractor or similar item as well. 2 sheets of pb will be enough as you go off one onto the other, the original sheet can be shuffled to the front. It will work and well. Good luck.


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## My Oslo heats my home (Sep 28, 2012)

I like how flatbed "crated" the stove, I would do something like this too with straps around the entire thing. I also agree with RWHITE on the stair dolly. I have rented one before and it does truly take alot of the aggravation of a difficult move with stairs out of the picture.


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## Kevin* (Sep 28, 2012)

X2 for the stair climber


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## Flatbedford (Sep 28, 2012)

Cool. I have dragged many a large object up stairs, but never used one of those.


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## jeff_t (Sep 29, 2012)

I used one of these to move my hotblast furnace from my garage, across the front yard, and through the bilco doors and down the steps into the basement. Alone. The downside is that they are expensive, $7-800 I think. My employer buys them, and I took one home for the day. The advantages over the typical appliance dolly are the pneumatic tires, the longer plate, and the brake. Also, this is what I do all day, and am comfortable handling 500 lbs on it.

http://wysecarts.com/model-1000


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## pybyr (Sep 29, 2012)

What I've done in the past is to get a pair of 4x4 or similar timbers or really stout posts, have someone hold them at slightly below shoulder height then make a rope rigging "cradle" from those down under the stove.  Once the rope is in place, have the people stand under the timbers on their shoulders, knees slightly bent, hanging on to them with their hands, and then stand up in unison.  The knees and legs will be doing all the lifting.  Then the people do a synchronized shuffle with mild movements so that the stove doesn't get swaying a lot. Have had 4 moderately fit people move a 600 pound cookstove that way without a lot of strain, and had 6 people move a friends massive/ immense cookstove that way.


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## mywaynow (Sep 29, 2012)

Am I mistaking, or are there no stairs?  Seems that is the case and there is too much focus on climbing stairs.


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## Backwoods Savage (Sep 29, 2012)

My Oslo heats my home said:


> I like how flatbed "crated" the stove, I would do something like this too with straps around the entire thing. I also agree with RWHITE on the stair dolly. I have rented one before and it does truly take alot of the aggravation of a difficult move with stairs out of the picture.


 
Actually Woodstock crated the stove that way. It is the way the Fireviews are shipped.


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## Backwoods Savage (Sep 29, 2012)

mywaynow said:


> Am I mistaking, or are there no stairs? Seems that is the case and there is too much focus on climbing stairs.


 
Nope. Not mistaken at all. I wondered too about all the stair climbing talk but, at least it was informative even if not for the OP.


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## Slow1 (Sep 29, 2012)

I've tried to find someplace to rent one of those nifty stair climbers with no success.  I even called a few places that I thought might own one (companies that deal with heavy things) to see if they had one and would rent it but all to no avail.  The manufacturer/sales dept of one company that makes those was not at all interested in helping me contact customers in my area either...


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## sksmass (Oct 1, 2012)

Buy a couple of sheets of cheap plywood and rip them down the center longways (2'x8').  Then run the dolly over those sheets, both outside AND inside to protect your wood floors.  Essentially a sacrificial surface in case the wheels of the dolly are marring.

Then use the plywood to cover your stacked wood.


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