How to get a fridge into a brownstone without destroying the bannister
We are finally replacing our 25-year-old refrigerator in the 2nd-story kitchen of our brownstone. The one we’re removing (it predates us) and the one we’re bringing in are both 33″ wide, but even after removing the doors, we couldn’t get either one around the bend and down (or up) the stairs. Looks like we’ll need…
We are finally replacing our 25-year-old refrigerator in the 2nd-story kitchen of our brownstone. The one we’re removing (it predates us) and the one we’re bringing in are both 33″ wide, but even after removing the doors, we couldn’t get either one around the bend and down (or up) the stairs. Looks like we’ll need to remove the (original) bannister in order to do this. Does anyone know how to do this without destroying it, so we can replace it afterward? Or is there someone we can hire to do this right? Any tips/suggestions would be a big help.
Will it go out a window?
Does it make more sense to put in two small refrigerators side-by-side instead? Maybe that’s a dumb question! Knowing how tiny our New York kitchens are. But it’s a thought. Easier to get upstairs, and offers more fridge storage too.
I had a similar problem when I replaced the fridge on the 3rd floor. Even with doors and bottom grille removed, it was a tight turn at the top landing, and, unfortunately, the fridge scraped the wall in a few places on the way down. The VERY scarey part was when the two guys had to lift it over the newel post(which is pretty massive) at the bottom of the staircase. I was so nervous, I couldn’t watch. It wasn’t easy, but they eventually got it out…and then brought in the new fridge which was a bit smaller and just a tad less difficult to get upstairs. I would agree with previous poster…have three very strong guys do this for you.
Traditional way to do it (if you don’t have a coffin turner niche cut out):
You need several people for this — ideally two tall guys and a short guy.
Tie a large movers strap with a long leash to the bottom of the fridge; also (depending on height of your bannister) you may want to tie a strap to the top as well.
Put a blanket on your bannister near the top, and also put a mover’s blanket around the top of the fridge to protect your walls. Remove all wall art and rugs.
First two people carry fridge (aimed lengthwise) to top of the flight of stairs (near the curvy section.
Person in front kneels down on steps and supports fridge on his back — push fridge as high as it will go.
Person (or two) on stair landing grabs leash of mover’s strap and pulls straight upwards. At the same time, guy under back of fridge raises it up as high as he can, and guy kneeling slowly stands up. The goal is to have the fridge be horizontal and to rise in parallel — NOT to have one end go up faster than the other.
Once you have cleared the height of the bannister, you can either roll it or carry it across the bannister onto the landing. Do not drop it on the guys on the stairs.
Now either stand it up and rotate it into the door of the apartment or drag it up another floor.
Hope this helps.
oops..i see you removed the doors already. Its probably too heavy to lift over the bannistar. maybe more bodies would help lift it over the bannistar. I am surprized the open area of the fridge with the door off doesnt allow the knewl post and bannistar to go inside and then let you spin it up to the top
I had a similar experience with more than one of my new appliances. You can take the doors off of the fridge and turn it sideways (90 degrees), that should make it significantly narrower.
If that doesn’t work you may have to go the remove the bannistar route. I moved a big couch up to the top floor and had to take it down the hall a little bit and lift it over the bannistar, then walk it upright and over the next bannistar at the top.
But try taking the doors off of the fridge, it shouldnt be more than 25 or 26 inches at this point and I think the narrowest doorways are about 26 or 27 inches. You may have to remove some doors too and possible the stops. I wouldn’t remove the bannistar. Only an absolute last result.