How to Move Heavy Furniture Up Stairs

Lifting and carrying heavy furniture is one of the biggest moving hardships – taking a bulky piece of furniture up or down stairs is the ultimate moving challenge.

Whether you’re moving into an apartment building without an elevator or need to get a couch to the second story of your house, moving furniture up stairs is a big hassle. It’s difficult, laborious, and downright dangerous – if something goes wrong, you can not only damage the furniture, but may also break the stairs or the banisters or, worst of all, hurt yourself.

Furniture is large and heavy and awkwardly shaped – stairs are extremely difficult to maneuver. Combining these things is a recipe for disaster. The only way to avoid the disaster and safely get your furniture to the floor where it needs to be is to be extremely careful and very well-prepared – and to have reliable help.

Read on to find out how to move heavy furniture up stairs without breaking the piece, the staircase, or your back:

Plan and Prepare

Getting furniture up stairs may be difficult, but it seems like a straightforward task – you just need to lift the piece and carry it up the stairs, after all. Well, and to be careful not to drop it, of course. And not to bump it into the wall. Or hit the banisters. Or hit your knuckles. Or slip on the stairs. Or … the list goes on.

Things are never as simple as they seem – you need to plan ahead, take precautions, get the necessary equipment, and ensure help in order to achieve success:

Have a plan

Before you lift a heavy piece and start hauling it up the stairs, you need to know exactly what you’re up against (how much space you have, what difficulties you can expect, what problems may arise, etc.) and what solutions there may be. In other words, you need to make a plan:

1) Measure the space and the furniture

Measure the width of the stairs, the space around corners, the distance to the ceiling, etc. and the dimensions of the furniture, so you know whether a piece will fit – and don’t get it stuck in the stairway while trying to move it to the right floor (such an unfortunate circumstance will not only result in lost time and frayed nerves, but may also lead to damage to the item or to the wall or to the banisters).  

Pay special attention to the turning space – make sure the furniture will fit around corners and will clear low ceilings.

While scouting the route, be sure to remove miscellaneous items from the stairs and landings (if there are any), decorations from the stairway wall, and low hanging lights over the stairs – to free up as much space as possible and reduce the risk of accidents.

2) Consider the type of the stairs

Staircases can be straight, helical,or spiral in shape and may be made of concrete, marble, or wood.

Straight staircases are the least problematic when it comes to moving furniture on them since you won’t have to turn the piece around as you go – or will only have to do so at landings.

If you need to take a bulky piece up or down a helical or a spiral staircase, though, the task will be extremely difficult and very dangerous – curved staircases are usually very narrow, don’t have landings, and require twisting the furniture. It may be simply impossible to move a large piece on a spiral staircase.

And if the stairs are made of marble or wood, you will need to take extra care not to ruin the steps when moving your furniture up and down them.

3) Decide how to position the furniture

Having considered the type of the staircase and measured the available space and the length and width of a piece, you will know in what position to move the furniture so that you have the most maneuvering room – you may be able to get more space by tilting the piece at a certain angle, flipping it sideways (left or right), moving it diagonally or on its end, etc.

Depending on the size of the furniture, you may have to position it horizontally (parallel to the stairs) or vertically in order to move it up or down the staircase more easily:

• If you need to move a long piece of furniture or a tall one, like a wardrobe or a sofa, it will be best to position it horizontally, so it won’t get stuck against the ceiling of the staircase;
• If the furniture is less than 6,5 ft (2 meters) high, it will be better to move it in a vertical position (slightly tilted for greater stability), so you can turn it more easily on landings.

Protect the stairs and banisters

Once you’ve planned the task, it’s time to take the necessary precautions to prevent disastrous scenarios.

If you’re moving furniture up or down the stairs in your house, the first precaution to take should be to protect your property:

• Use stair edge guards to protect the edges of the steps;

• Place old blankets (or rugs) on wood or marble steps – the soft padding will keep them safe in case a heavy piece gets dropped on the staircase. Just make sure you secure the soft covers to the stairs (use painter’s tape) in order to keep them in place, prevent them from getting bunched up, and, thus, reduce the risk of accidents;
• Cover carpeted stairs with self-adhesive plastic film to keep them clean and minimize the risk of tearing the carpet while hauling heavy pieces up or down the steps. It’s a good idea to use plastic film over the padded coverings of wood and marble stairs too – as an extra insulation layer against mud. Be sure to get plastic film that has a non-slip surface to avoid accidents;
• Use floor runners – protective coverings made of neoprene that have an anti-slippery surface and are very easy to install and safe to use on all kinds of stairs;
• Wrap moving blankets (or ordinary blankets, or just old pieces of clothing) around banisters and railings to reduce the risk of scratching them or breaking them on moving day. Use packing tape to keep the protective wrappings tightly in place.

Of course, if you’re moving furniture into an apartment (and the building has no elevator or the elevator is out of service and you need to carry your pieces up the stairs), you won’t need to take special measures to protect the stairs – wrapping your furniture in soft padding and using appropriate moving equipment (see below) will provide sufficient (albeit indirect) protection to the stairs.

Related: How to protect floors when moving

Prepare the furniture

Carrying heavy furniture up stairs is difficult and dangerous. Fortunately, there is an easy way to make it less difficult and less dangerous – you just need to properly prepare the furniture for moving:

1. Empty the furniture pieces to lessen their weight and prevent the risk of their contents falling out while the furniture is carried up the stairs;
2. Disassemble the furniture as much as possible to make it lighter and more compact – and, therefore, easier and safer to carry and manoeuver around:
   • Remove cushions from coaches and armchairs;
   • Remove drawers, shelves, and other detachable elements;
   • Remove mirrors, glass doors, and other glass elements and wrap them separately;
   • Remove any protruding elements (such as legs) that add to a piece’s width and may snag on railings or make the furniture more difficult to turn;
   • Make sure any remaining furniture doors are tightly closed and secured with painter’s tape so they don’t accidentally open during the move.
3. Wrap the furniture in thick moving blankets and provide some extra padding (use bubble wrap, paper padding, foam padding, etc.) around the corners and edges to reduce the risk of damage to your pieces – and reduce the risk of damage to the walls and banisters. Use plastic stretch wrap to keep the protective and cushioning materials in place.

See also: How to pack furniture for moving

Get appropriate equipment

So, the plan is ready, the furniture is ready, and the necessary precautions are in place – now you need to find a way to actually move your piece(s) up the stairs.

Your first task is to get the right equipment for the job:

• A hand truck – a 2-wheeled, upright dolly that can tilt backward. It provides the leverage you need to move a bulky item, allows for secure positioning of the furniture, easily rolls up and down stairs, and can be safely maneuvered around tight corners;

• A shoulder dolly (or moving straps) – a two-person lifting system that consists of one moving strap and two harnesses. It allows two people to effectively lift and carry heavy items by using their leg strength and upper-body stability.

You will also need high-quality work gloves (to ensure a good grip and protect your hands and fingers) and comfortable close-toed shoes with high ankles and anti-slip soles (to protect your feet, support your ankles, ensure good traction, and reduce the risk of slipping on the stairs).

See also: Essential moving equipment and tools

Ensure help

Even if you have proper equipment, moving furniture up stairs is not something you can do on your own. Furniture pieces are too large and too heavy to be carried by one person – and stairs are too dangerous to walk up with a bulky item. You need help moving furniture upstairs:

Option 1. Ask friends to give you a hand

Reach out to your friends and ask them for assistance – the more helpers you manage to gather, the safer and easier it will be to take your furniture up the stairs. There will be enough people to carry the furniture (and take turns if you’re moving more than a couple of pieces), give directions, help balancing the items, ease the load when going around corners, etc.

Discuss your plan for moving the furniture on the stairs with your helpers in advance – talk about who is going to do what; what kind of equipment you’re going to use; how you’re going to lift and carry the furniture; which part of a piece is the left and which part is the right; what it means to rotate an item clockwise and counterclockwise; etc. This way, you will know what to do every step of the way (and every step of the staircase) and will easily understand each other in a difficult situation.

Related: Let friends help you move – the ultimate moving game

Option 2. Hire professional moving help

If you don’t have enough friends to help you, or if you’re moving into a new apartment in a building with no elevator and need to take all your belongings – not just a couple of furniture items – up the stairs, or if you’re moving furniture to the 3^rd floor or higher, or if you just don’t want to risk moving heavy furniture upstairs by yourself, you can – and should – get professional moving help.

Professional movers have the specialized equipment, technical know-how, and necessary manpower to move your heavy furniture – and anything else – up to the floor where it needs to be in the safest and most efficient way possible.

The experts will save you a lot of time, effort, and stress – you won’t need to lift a finger (let alone a heavy furniture item) and will have peace of mind that your furniture will arrive at the right floor intact and unscathed, the stairs, banisters, and walls won’t be damaged in the process, and you won’t risk personal injury.

If you’re moving into a new apartment and using a professional moving company, your hired movers will unload your household items and take them into your upstairs apartment for an extra fee. In case you’ve hired full-service movers, they’ll do the job as part of their service.

If you’re using partial moving services or performing a self-move, you can hire moving labor to unload your furniture and get it into your new apartment.

If you need to move some furniture to another story of your house, you can hire in-home furniture movers to take the heavy pieces up or down the stairs.

Of course, if you decide to use professional furniture moving help, you won’t need to make a plan, protect your furniture, or get moving equipment – the pros will take care of everything. You only need to hire their services – and pay them for the good job. (See also: How much do movers cost)

Get Your Furniture up the Stairs

Once all the planning and preparation is done, it’s time to get to work. So, how to move furniture up stairs?

If you’re not using professional furniture moving services, you’ll need to take one of the following approaches:

1) Carry the furniture up the stairs

Your first option is to move the furniture up the stairs in the old-fashioned way – just lift the piece and walk up the staircase with it.

If you go with this method, you need to know how to carry heavy furniture up stairs without hurting yourself or causing damage to the piece or to the property:

• Make sure you have a stable base before you attempt to lift a heavy furniture piece.  Keep your feet shoulder-width apart and your back straight, bend your knees, get a firm grip on the furniture, and lift with your legs;
• Lift the furniture from one side and have another person (or two people, if the piece is very heavy) lift it from the opposite side;
• Make it so that the stronger person walks lower on the stairs (they will carry more of the weight). If there are two people carrying the piece from one side, they should be on the “downhill” side;
• Use the high and low technique – it is considered the best way to move heavy furniture up stairs as it allows for greater control and keeps the piece safer. The person who walks first and is higher on the steps should hold the furniture from the top end (the highest place they can get a grip on) and the person lower on the steps – from the bottom (the lowest point they can get a grip on). This way, the item will be better balanced and more stable and turning will be easier and less risky;
• Walk slowly and watch your step – especially the person higher up who has to walk up the stairs backwards. Coordinate with your helper as you go up the stairs;
• Be extra careful when you have to turn – if you’re moving a very large or a very long piece, you may not have enough clearance to make the turn while keeping the furniture horizontal. You may need to tip the piece, turn it sideways, wedge it diagonally, or lift it up enough to clear a railing in order to get around a corner. In such cases, make sure there are two people on the downhill side for added support and stability and, if possible, another person to help balance the item sideways;
• If you’re moving a heavy piece into an upstairs apartment, do not try to take the furniture all the way up to the right floor in one go – stop for a rest every few flights of stairs, so you don’t strain your joints and muscles or get too exhausted and inadvertently hurt yourself or drop the furniture;
• If you’re moving several furniture pieces up stairs, start with the heaviest items first – so you’ll only be carrying lighter furniture when you’re already tired;
• Have a spotter to give you directions as you go up the stairs, warn you of possible obstacles, and help you coordinate with the other person (or people) carrying the furniture.

Additional useful information: How to lift and carry heavy furniture

Instead of just carrying the furniture in your hands, however, you can use some tools that will make the job safer and easier.

2) Use a shoulder dolly (moving straps)

A shoulder dolly will help you lift and carry much heavier items than you normally could and will allow you to safely navigate the stairs.

Here is how to use the strap system properly:

1. Secure the shoulder harnesses around your shoulders. Ask your helper to do the same;
2. Slip the carrying strap under the furniture. Attach one end to your harness and the other – to your partner’s harness;
3. Bend your knees (keep your back straight) and place your palms flat against the furniture (your partner should do the same);
4. Stand up and straighten out your arms simultaneously to lift the piece using the leverage from the straps and the strength of your shoulder and leg muscles;
5. Make sure the stronger person walks lower on the stairs for extra support. The person higher on the steps should guide and steady the furniture.

3) Use a hand truck

There is no easy to move furniture up stairs, but a hand truck definitely facilitates the job – especially when it comes to heavy pieces that aren’t too big.

Here is how to move furniture up and down stairs with a hand truck:

1. Have someone help you lift the furniture onto the dolly. Position the piece so that its longest part lines up with the upright ladder support. Center the item on the flat base of the dolly to balance its weight;
2. Secure the furniture tightly in place – use flat hook straps or bungee cords to tie the piece to the back of the dolly;
3. Stand behind the dolly, grip the handles firmly, tilt the hand truck toward you to balance the weight on the wheels, and roll the dolly backwards to the stairs;
4. If you’re moving furniture up stairs, stand backward on the first step and lean the dolly toward you. Carefully step up and back to the next stair and pull the dolly up so the wheels are on the first stair. Walking backward, pull the hand truck up one stair at a time;
5. If you’re moving furniture down stairs, wheel the hand truck to the top of the stairs, tilt it backward so some of the weight leans against your body, and slowly roll the hand truck down the first step. Walk carefully forward and lower the dolly one stair at a time;
6. Have someone on the other side, supporting the furniture and helping to lift it from step to step (or bracing it from below and helping to guide it downward). Be extra careful not to drop the dolly – your helper may not be able to get out of the way in time.

Keep in mind that you can only use a hand truck to move furniture up or down stairs if the piece is small enough to fit comfortably and securely on the dolly. This method is not appropriate for large furniture or tall items that are higher than you when put on the dolly.

So, to put it all in a nutshell:

• What to do when you need to move furniture up stairs – Measure the space and the furniture, decide in what position and at what angle to carry the pieces, disassemble and protect the furniture, take measures to prevent property damage, get the right equipment for the job, and get help.
• How to move heavy furniture up stairs – Secure the piece on a hand truck (if it is small enough to fit) and pull it up one stair at a time.
• How to move large furniture up stairs – Carry the piece with a partner or use a shoulder dolly.

These expert tips for moving furniture up stairs will help you perform the task like a pro – though it may be better to actually leave the job to the pros. What do you think? Have you ever moved furniture up or down stairs? Share your experience and your advice with our readers in the comments section below.