Protecting a carpet from a piano
Richard Rodseth
My piano is being moved into a new home, and I'm wondering if it's a good
idea to put those coasters (casters?) under the wheels to protect the
wall-to-wall carpet. And where does one buy them? Are the ones used for
furniture strong enough?
Please send replies to the group or to rod...@wolfenet.com (i.e. remove
nospam from my address)
Thanks
Richard
RJsmit1
I think it is an excellent idea to use coasters under the wheeels of your
piano. There are some very nice 5" diameter piano coasters for grands
available at most piano stores. Just call around.
Tim R. Baker
Hi Richard,
I just bought a grand piano and I asked the dealer the same question.
He had a pretty good answer. He reccommended against the coasters.
He suggested that the weight of the piano (approx 650 lbs) sitting on
only three points is going to smash the carpet with or without the
coasters. He then asked me if I would prefer three small indentations
or three large 5" diameter indentations in my carpet. It sounds
logical to me.
The coasters were included with my piano, but I did not use them.
I hope this helps
Tim.
Keith McGavern
Richard Rodseth wrote:
>
> My piano is being moved into a new home, and I'm wondering if it's a good
> idea to put those coasters (casters?) under the wheels to protect the
> wall-to-wall carpet.
Customarily, caster cups are used to protect hardwood/tile type floors.
When using on carpet, they make a larger impression than the casters
themselves.
>And where does one buy them...
Try your nearest music store or piano technician.
Keith A. McGavern
Registered Piano Technician
Oklahoma Chapter 731
Piano Technicians Guild
USA
Kris Van Bael
Mike DeZelar wrote:
> Well, lets do some math here . . .
>
> I'm not sure what the square inches of the surface of a piano caster
> is, but lets assume it is one square inch. That would mean that the
> piano has a load of 650 lbs over three square inches, or about 216.6
> lbs per square inch. Change the assumption that each caster covers
> two square inches, that would still be a load of about 108 lbs per
> square inch (650/(2*3)).
>
> Now take a 5" diameter caster cup, which has a surface area of 19.63
> square inches, so the three caster cups have a total surface area of
> 58.89 square inches, the load per square inch drops to 11.04 lbs per
> square inch. Quite a difference.
Here you are assuming that pressure is a good criterium for
carpet-destruction. I do not agree. Suppose you COULD place your piano
on three needles, would anyone notice it afterwards? You need a better
model of the behaviour and beauty of your carpet.
> Now this assumes (incorrectly) that the weight on each of the three
> legs is the same
That's indeed incorrect. If you know your piano's centre of mass, you
could calculate it perfectly.
> and that a caster cup distributes the weight evenly
> across its entire surface, but its a start.
That's an assumption you can get away with. Every engineer would make
it.
Kris
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-------|<RIS VAN BAEL ------------------------------------------------
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Michael T. Berry
Uh huh. The same engineer that worked on the Hubble, the Challenger and the
Pentium chip.
Glenn
> Well, lets do some math here . . .
>
> Now take a 5" diameter caster cup, which has a surface area of 19.63
> square inches, so the three caster cups have a total surface area of
> 58.89 square inches, the load per square inch drops to 11.04 lbs per
> square inch. Quite a difference.
>
> ---
>
> Michael DeZelar E-Mail: mi...@visi.com
> Elk River, Minnesota, USA
> O-
>
Lets also assume we are talking about the caster cups that are flat and
solid on the bottom. I have run into many of the plastic kind that are NOT
solid on the bottom and make bad cuts in the carpet. Get the solid bottom
ones (wood, I guess) or you ARE better off with the piano legs alone.
Glenn.
Mike Imbler
Something that I haven't seen anyone comment on is which is preferable for actually
playing the piano. I have tried both with and without piano caster cups and
pedalling is much much easier if your piano is on the caster cups. It keeps the
pedals at the proper height relative to your feet which are also resting on the
carpet.
Regards, Mike
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...For the longest I've tried to develope the skill
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Cc88m
A different suggestion (I hope): buy one of those piano trucks with three
large
(5") wheels; has the advantage that you can then move the piano. If you
leave
the piano casters in the carpet for more than a year, you must not push
the
piano to move it -- first, LIFT it out of the carpet hole, then move it!
C. C. Chang
David T. Berg
Richard Rodseth wrote:
>
> My piano is being moved into a new home, and I'm wondering if it's a good
> idea to put those coasters (casters?) under the wheels to protect the
I thought the men that moved my piano made a good point: If you use
the coasters, you get three 5 inch circles of squashed carpet that are
very visible if the piano is moved again. If you do not use the
coasters, you get three rather small areas of squashed carpet that
are generally easier fix and are less obvious. It made sense to me.
--
David T. Berg
Research Technologies and Proteins MC625
Lilly Research Laboratories
Indianapolis, IN 46285
berg_d...@lilly.com
KBrodee
Is the carpet or the piano More important
KBrodee
My thought was and/or is that both are going to leave marks on the carpet.
You won't be able to get away from that. SORRY! If purchasing caster cups
for arouund $35 is an issue, well... I am aking What is more important the
piano or the carpet.
Maybe there are pros and cons to both. If you ever move the piano it's
harder to do with the caster cups.
Heck I am almost sorry I replied. If this is an issue of a couple of
bucks? I sorry I have to laugh.
This is almost crazy
I am done with this one
