How to Move Furniture Into an Apartment: Elevator, Up the Stairs, Hoisting

Moving into an apartment can be a very exciting time for you, especially if the apartment move marks the beginning of your independent life or your life together with your partner. Or you may have just moved into an apartment with a good job waiting for you in the new city, oftentimes in a new state altogether.

But there’s one thing that could spoil the fun for you when moving into an apartment – FURNITURE. If you have made the conscious decision to take some of your furniture items with you from the old place, then moving those large and heavy pieces all the way up to the new place can be a serious challenge.

Moving bulky furniture into an upstairs apartment can be more difficult than you think for a number of reasons. You’re very likely to find the whole furniture-moving operation both tough and dangerous even when there’s a working elevator in the apartment building.

After all, possible personal injuries, likely damage to your furniture, or even potential costly property damage to the new place can never be ruled out due to the fact that you don’t have enough experience moving furniture into an apartment.

To prevent causing any damage to your furniture items and avoid sustaining any bad injuries during your apartment move, read on to learn the best way to move furniture into an apartment – efficiently, and more importantly – safely.

Use the elevator to move up your furniture

High-rise apartment buildings have to have a passenger elevator while some of them also have a freight elevator. So, if you’re moving into an apartment building with both a passenger elevator and a service elevator, then you should consider yourself lucky.

Freight elevators are designed to hold larger items inside and that’s why they are more spacious than passenger ones. Also, they are able to carry heavier loads up and down, which is an ideal scenario when you’re moving furniture into an apartment situated on an upper floor. Using a service elevator means that your move won’t disrupt too much the daily routine of the people who live in the apartment building.

These are the steps you must follow when you’re moving furniture into an apartment and there’s a passenger elevator or both – a passenger one and a freight one – in the apartment building.

Step 1. Reserve the elevator for moving day

The very first step when moving into an apartment is to book the elevator for the day you’re scheduled to move in. This is an important initial step because it will ensure that you won’t lose precious time while the elevator is being used at the same time by the people who live in the apartment building.

If the apartment building has a freight elevator, then you should reserve that one for your move. Contact the building management and request an elevator reservation by filling out an application form (in most cases).

Note that booking the elevator for your move may be allowed only during specific time periods of the day, especially if there’s only a passenger elevator. When reserving the elevator for your move-in date, ask the building management if there are any regulations you must be aware of beforehand to avoid potential problems or even possible fines in some circumstances.

Step 2. Measure up and compare the dimensions

Once you get permission to use the elevator on Moving day, the next step when moving furniture into an apartment is to ensure that the furniture items you intend to move up to the new place will actually fit inside the elevator.

This step is all about making the right measurements in advance. First of all, measure the doorway and the inside space of the elevator to know what you’re dealing with. And then measure the largest furniture pieces you plan to take with you.

Finally, compare the dimensions to figure out whether or not your furniture units will fit the inside space of the elevator. If they won’t, then consider disassembling, either partially or completely, those bulky pieces to make them more compact, lighter, and safer to maneuver.

Step 3. Protect the elevator

One of the requirements of the apartment building management may be for the elevator walls and doors to be adequately padded before any furniture items are taken inside the elevator and taken up to whichever floor they need to go.

But even if they don’t require you to do it, you just have to make sure the elevator is protected well when you’re moving furniture into your apartment. Therefore, attach a few thick furniture blankets on the inside walls of the elevator to protect them against accidental scratches, dents, scuffs, and so on.

When using the services of professional furniture movers, the pros will be the ones to handle the task of protecting the elevator against any type of damage.

Step 4. Pad your furniture

Your decision to move furniture into an apartment means that you will have to protect your furniture items prior to taking them out of your old place. The proper furniture protection will ensure that not only will your pieces stay safe throughout the move but walls, doorways, and staircases will be protected in an indirect way as well.

When you wrap your furniture items in thick furniture blankets, your possessions will have a protective layer of padding that will absorb well most accidental shocks and hits during the apartment move. In other words, if you hit your couch slightly against a wall, both the couch and the wall should be fine thanks to the outer padded shell around the furniture piece.

How to Protect Furniture When Moving

Step 5. Use a moving dolly

The most efficient way to move furniture into an apartment with an elevator is to use a moving dolly.

This way, you won’t have to carry any heavy furniture pieces by hand from the truck to the elevator, and then from the elevator to their final spots inside the apartment.

Ensure that the furniture units are well secured onto the moving dolly with the help of straps or pieces of rope. Also, you’re going to need helpers to keep the load steady during the actual transport of your furniture up into the new home.

Moving Dolly – A Man’s Best Friend During a House Move

Step 6. Ask friends to give you a hand

Moving furniture into an apartment is all about maintaining a high level of safety throughout the move. And this is exactly why you must secure at least a couple of helpers on the day of the move – reliable friends whose extra muscle power will enable you to stay away from accidents of any sort.

Even when you’re using an elevator to move your furniture up, there will be many instances of careful maneuvering around corners and through narrow passages so each extra pair of helping hands will make things safer for you, your helpers, and your furniture items.

Remember that you shouldn’t move your furniture into an apartment all by yourself – it’s just too risky. If you fail to secure assistance from any of your friends, then do the right thing and hire professional furniture movers.

How to Get Friends to Help You Move

Move your furniture up the stairs

Without a doubt, the best way to move furniture into an apartment building is to use the elevator to get the bulky pieces up with minimum effort.

However, sometimes you may not have access to an elevator when moving into an apartment – either because the elevator is out of order at the time of the move (tough luck) or because there isn’t an elevator in the apartment building at all (a walk-up).

So, if you’re moving into an apartment but can’t use the elevator for some reason or another, then you don’t have a choice but to use the stairs to get your furniture and boxes up to the new place.

Follow these steps when you’re moving furniture into an apartment and there isn’t an elevator in the building.

Step 1. Rethink the need to move your furniture

When you’re moving house without using the services of a professional moving company, your main goal should be to make things easier and safer for yourself. And one way to do just that is to rethink the whole strategy of moving furniture into the new apartment.

Ask yourself this: Do you really need to transport your old furniture all the way to the apartment building and make things riskier when trying to haul those pieces up to the apartment itself?

Ultimately, the fewer furniture items you choose to move to the new place, the cheaper and easier the entire move will be.

What to Do with Furniture When Moving

Step 2. Disassemble and protect the furniture items

As before, you’re going to have to disassemble partially or sometimes even fully some of your larger and heavier furniture units.

Keep reminding yourself that there won’t be an elevator to move you up in seconds, so the path to the new home will pass through the stairs and that’s not something you should be looking forward to. When your furniture pieces are disassembled, they will be lighter and smaller which in turn will make the job of taking them up the stairs much easier and safer too.

After you’re done disassembling the largest furniture items you’ve decided to take with you, wrap up the dismantled pieces in soft padding blankets as a way to protect them and anything they may come into contact with, including walls, wall corners, and staircase handrails.

How to Disassemble Furniture When Moving: Step-By-Step Guide

Step 3. Ask friends to help you out

Whenever you’re about to move any furniture items from one place to another, you must remember that it’s not a job that you can complete all by yourself. You just have to have reliable helpers by your side to increase the overall safety of the entire furniture-moving operation.

So, reach out to your best pals and ask them for the big favor in person, whenever possible. Be honest with them about what they should expect and don’t try to downplay their roles – after all, they will be lifting and carrying furniture pieces along multiple flights of stairs.

The thing is that if you just moved to a new city where you don’t know anyone, then you won’t be able to rely on your friends for aid. In such a case, you have to resort to hiring moving labor services.

Step 4. Use safe lifting techniques

Moving furniture into an apartment upstairs can be rather tricky due to the large number of stairs to be overcome. Of course, safety should be your top priority simply because one wrong step can lead to a bad accident, which in turn is likely to result in both property damage and injuries to the people carrying the heavy load.

Make sure you and your helpers use the proper lifting and carrying techniques when moving furniture up the stairs:

• Keep your back straight, bend your knees, have a safe grip on the furniture piece, and then lift up with your legs, not your back.
• Use the high-low technique when moving furniture up the stairs. The person who’s higher on the steps should hold the furniture piece from the top while the other person should hold it from the bottom. This way, the load will be more stable and well-balanced during the descent.
• Walk up slowly and watch each and every step. Do not make any abrupt movements. If you have to do something unexpected, make sure you warn your helper so that you are both on the same page.
• Have breaks whenever you need to – after all, you don’t have to take the furniture item all the way to the apartment in one go.
• Wear comfortable shoes with rubber anti-slip soles and, if possible, with sufficient ankle protection too.

How to Lift and Carry Furniture When Moving

Step 5. Use the right moving equipment

Going up the stairs will be much easier and safer when you use the right moving equipment. More specifically, you should seriously consider using either an appliance dolly (a hand truck) or a shoulder dolly (moving straps) to get the furniture pieces up the new apartment as safely as possible.

• Appliance dolly. The two-wheel hand truck can be used to move heavy items up and down the stairs as long as you know what you’re doing. Secure well the furniture piece onto the dolly, then back up the stairs going one step at a time by pulling the hand truck toward you. Get your helper to support the furniture item on the other side and even lift the dolly slightly from step to step, if necessary.
• Shoulder dolly. A shoulder dolly is a lifting mechanism for two people that consists of a long moving strap and two harnesses for each person. It uses the extra strength of leg muscles to carry heavy loads up and down the stairs. The shoulder dolly has much better maneuverability than an appliance dolly – something that you can use to your advantage when moving furniture into an apartment without using an elevator.

How to Move Heavy Furniture Up Stairs

Use a furniture hoisting service

Sometimes the only way that makes sense when moving furniture into a high-rise apartment is to use professional hoisting services.

The best furniture movers in the country offer the add-on service of hoisting large and heavy furniture items through a window or a balcony. Such movers have specialized equipment such as hoisting cranes and rigging systems that can lift up loads easily and safely straight from the street.

In your case, you may need to hire a moving company with a specialized furniture hoist – a platform lift that’s powered hydraulically and can be mounted either on the ground or on a vehicle. First, the hoist is set up, then the furniture item is loaded securely onto the platform and lifted up all the way to the apartment.

Get a free quote from the best furniture movers in your area.

Using a professional hoisting service is not cheap – the price can go up to several hundred dollars. However, hoisting furniture is the best option when you’re moving antique furniture that you must keep safe and sound at all costs.

What Additional Services Do Movers Offer?