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floor support for piano

14K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Janetp 
#1 ·
We are getting a piano. We have a house on basement. Where is the best placement for the piano -inside or outside wall? And what should we use to make a support beam?
 
#2 ·
You have not supplied the critical information about the piano, specifically how heavy is it, and exactly how is it supported (three legs, four legs). The proper placement for a piano is where it will sound best. Pianos do not like sudden temperature changes, gets them out of tune easily, so most people elect not to place them near windows, and away from outside walls if possible.

As to support, well a piano is usually supported on three point loads, and if it is a grand piano, it can be quite heavy, many hundreds of pounds. You certainly will want to know the exact dimensions and locations of your floor joists, then an engineer, architect or experienced contract can tell you if the piano is going to overload the joists it sits on. If the legs are between joists, you also have to check the subfloor to make sure it does not crack. Unless you are comfortable performing structural calculations, this is not a DIY computation, and certainly cannot be provided over the internet by a chat group such as this.
 
#3 ·
I never thought about the weight on my floor when we put in a piano 10 years ago. Sounds kind of silly now, but I did not think of that.
My piano is on an inside wall and it stands on hardwood(maple). We put pads under it for protection for the floor, and it was recently removed for a floor refinishing and there are no marks.
It's an upright, solid back and 2 front spindle -like legs. Hubby says it weights about 500 lbs.
I guess the weight did not occur to me at the time as the house itself is off solid construction, 60 years old and not a crack with original walls, which says a lot to me. I just asked hubby if he was concerned with the weight when we brought it in, and he said he checked it out from below to be safe.
FYI...our's was not a new purchase, so if your's is, this should be covered. When you move a piano in such a way that it will be tilted ( like going up or down stairs) it should be retuned. If it's new, the supplier should cover that once it is in place. It cost us about $80 to have it done.
I would recommend an inside wall as to not it too close to any source of cold or heat. Our's was and still is in excellent shape, but I am not to this day sure if it is solid wood or wood veneer over a different, less expensive wood. The people we bought it from said they did not know.
Good luck with this.
 
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