Tips for moving a safe?

[SlugSlinger]

I am moving a safe and would like to to see if there are any tricks to do this with minimal help. The safe is on newish hardwood floors in a home office. It will need to travel across some tile too.

Currently the safe is sitting on some adhesive felt pads and slides fairly easy on the hardwood, at least it did when it was placed in the office.

Does anyone have any tricks to moving one of these without damaging the hardwood or tile?

 

[Perplexed]

How heavy is the safe?

 

[SMS]

I moved mine by myself with a good dolly and some lengths of PVC. Used the PVC to roll it out of position where I could get it on the dolly and used the PVC again to get it into new spot.

 

[adamsredlines]

I am a DIY guy and a pretty big dude and find it to be worth the money to hire a safe mover. Seen too many horror stories about people destroying their property or mangling themselves trying.

 

[Jeff405]

There should be another thread here that you can get some ideas from. Not the exact situation as yours though.

 

[SlugSlinger]

How heavy is the safe?

The safe that is being removed is just over 400lbs. The one that is coming in is 800 lbs.

 

[SlugSlinger]

There should be another thread here that you can get some ideas from. Not the exact situation as yours though.

Yeah I tried to search on my phone and kept getting results that had nothing to do with moving a safe. I'll try again.

 

[Pokinfun]

1.5 inch pvc pipe to roll it on. I would put some cardboard down on the hardwood floor to move it on, regardless of how I moved it.

 

[DanB]

PVC pipe. I bought sch 40 1" pipe in 4' lengths. EMPTY The safe first. Rock it on one side insert pvc. rock to other side. insert pvc. slide or roll where you need to.

I used an appliance dolly for the heavy lifting. with the pipe and an appliance dolly I was able to get my safe out of the bedroom, across the entry way tile, out the front door and to the garage with just the help of my wife. getting on the trailer or into the new house was a different story. 3 guys minimum 4 preferred.

If you go with the pipe route your one time cost doesn't hurt that much. the more pipe you use the less pressure on any one spot.

 

[undeg01]

Lots of good advice has already been given. I have moved my safe a total of 4 times. It weighs just under 1,000 lbs. 3 of those times, there were only 2 of us moving it.

For mine, I used hard wood dowels instead of PVC because I was afraid the PVC would crush under the weight. Cardboard, or even plywood is a must when moving it across new flooring. Mama won't be happy if you mess up the hardwood floors or crack some tile.

If you are putting it into a cubby, closet or even a corner, run some rope through the PVC or lay it behind the dowels when you are pushing it back into place. When you tip the safe off the back dowel, tip it a little higher and use the rope to pull everything out from under it, then let it sit down into place.