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I have a Hailun 198 grand piano that weighs about 800 pounds. It has rolling casters that are maybe 3-4" long but a tapered cylinder, and do not flex much, so they have a very small footprint. Maybe half a square inch? Wild guess. They roll very nicely by the way.

It is on a ceramic tile floor laid directly on a concrete slab. When installed we moved it around a bit, quite easily, to get it in the right place, then I put caster cups under it based on an abundance of caution. The initial movement did not mark the tile at all. And the cups also were nice as the piano actually moves too easily without them (encouraging me to think I can just roll it around).

We are thinking of moving it about 15' to another part of the same room.

I know I can roll it a bit on the tiles without breaking them, because we did it, but how lucky were we? Do I really need to get a mover for this? Or try to rent some dolly?

Putting plywood down is a possibility (and cutting and advancing it as we go), but I am concerned if we can actually roll it on plywood, unless it is VERY hard plywood, that much weight is going to just deform into a cup hard to roll out of. Maybe something thin like Luan? Not sure if that would distribute weight enough, but it's so thin I think I can roll on it even deformed.

Some kind of hard plastic pieces?

Note I am able to lift one leg at a time to place things under it without issue (that's how the cups are under it).

It's not the end of the world if we break a tile (I have more from when the house was built), but it is a pain to get them up and new ones in place, and the grout will never quite match. So I am willing to take some risk, but...

How much risk is it? Tile on concrete, no wood or other flexible component under it other than the original adhesive and any leveler. I guess one could be slightly not-flat, but I think most of the risk is from crushing, especially edges as we go over joints. but that's my gut, not experience...

Anyone have experience with this? Really hoping to hear from someone who has actually broken some, how much it took.

I get that the conservative, safe answer is "don't do it". But a mover will give us less opportunity to move it around over a few days to get just the right place, even cost aside.

Rolling on tile is a bad idea. You may get away with it most of the way, but if there's even one small void space under it where the concrete was low or there was a gap in the adhesive, you'll break a tile.

Given that the caster cups are working and distributing the load safely, here's what I'd do:

Use some masking tape to secure the caster cups to the casters.

Get a friend or two to help, and lift two legs of the piano at a time just enough to rotate it around the third leg. It may take perhaps a dozen lift and turn steps, but you can safely and gently move it across the room that way. My wife and I moved our concert grand that way.

The caster cups idea seems pretty sound, especially as John says it worked for him. That said, I don't share your fears about getting stuck in deformed plywood - if you happen to have a sheet lying around. Don't think much of the luan idea.

Tile has too many potentially weak spots, too many crevices for casters. The cups will distribute the weight, but they don't make great sliders.

*Hire movers.

Using plywood (not chipboard) wouldn't be bad for that. Thin plywood would not compress much, but you'd still want lots of help to partially lift the piano and reduce stress on the legs.

I too would discourage you from rolling it across the tile.

If there's a void under the tile, as noted above, or they aren't otherwise uniformly supported from below, and/or there are any deformities on the underside of the tile, then they may crack under the piano's weight. Also, the tile edges along the gaps between them are subject to crush or chip when heavy weight bounces across them.

I have moved my grand pianos by myself a number of times by putting the casters on boards.
With all due respect to piano movers, every time I have had a piano delivered and they set it up, they move it to the final position by rolling it on the carpet, without making a lot of effort to take the weight off the legs to roll it. I feel I do a more careful job by myself. As always, YMMV.
I wouldn't try to move it on any floor without putting it on boards first.

Hmm...800 lb divided across 3 legs is about 270 lb per leg. Would you worry about a 270 lb woman (or man for that matter) walking across your floor in high heels?

Yes. Boeing had a problem with needle heels on the first 707's. They had to beef up the floor material to keep them from punching holes. 100 pounds on a quarter inch square is 1600 psi.

Ive done this exact thing using these:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/16782141...&wl12=16782141&wl13=&veh=sem

Frankly, yes, I would be extremely worried about a 270 pound man in high heels in my house.

The weight of the piano is not necessarily equally spread on three legs, depending on floor evenness, piano movement and balance. The weight on one leg may be more than one third. The tile floor and the caster being hard materials, the pressured surface area is very small. Also, the piano inertia may generate a significant impact (pressure impulse) if suddenly stuck between tile edges or tile unevenness, I think.

Would you have same issues if you had double concert grand style casters?

There is some thin steel sheet that can be bought for bupkis. It is the stuff used to close the ends of steel shelving units. If you are moving anything across a floor it can be used under the load and makes excellent skids.

I have moved my piano using boards of 1/2" thick MDF board (about 5ft x 2ft) You just need enough boards to keep transferring them from the back to the front as you roll the piano. They do a great job of distributing the load. If you think they'll slip on the tiles, put a very thin smear of silicone sealant on the side of the board that touches the tiles. Very cheap and easy!

BTW get some lubricant on the casters now so it can be soaking in.

Wow... lots of opinions.

Just to confirm -- has anyone actually broken a tile? My gut tells me it could, but are the recommendations based on similar educated guesses, or do people have personal knowledge; how easy was it (e.g. how uneven or whatever circumstances)?

@PhilipInChina re thin steel - that seems promising, as it would roll easily and any significant thickness will probably at least double if not triple the contact area. The best aspect though is it might be an easy bridge over the seams. Lubricant: the piano is new, and nice huge heavy duty casters, they turn nicely. No lubricant needed, but good consideration.

@ando, MDF: How did you handle going between to boards, or did you lift the leg and replace it instead of rolling between? I would worry about a sudden 1/2" drop when it got between and pushed them apart?

@Man, of course you are right about the weight being uneven; I might get ambitious and weigh each for curiosity, but I really suspect the variation isn't enough to be that significant. But I could be wrong.

I have moved a grand piano over tile twice and I told you how to do it for $8.00.

I just put the boards end to end and lifted the piano slightly as the wheel crossed between the two boards - not even enough to lift the wheel off the board, just took about half the weight off. If you have another person helping you, you don't even need to do that, you can get the other person to stand with their foot blocking the next board the piano just rolls straight from one board onto the next. It really is remarkably easy. Just make sure that not all 3 wheels are changing boards simultaneously and it's a walk in the park.

@mzrt, thanks, I saw that, but I do not understand how sliders will help since I have rolling casters. Maybe I am just dense this morning, can you elaborate how these relate to my question? I could see these helping on something heavy without rollers.