The Importance of Climate Controlled Moving Trucks and Storage

Your piano is more than just a musical instrument – it’s an investment, a family heirloom, and a cherished part of your home. So, when it comes time to move your prized possession, you need to take extra care by choosing a piano moving company with climate-controlled trucks and storage.

At Modern Piano Moving, we understand the intricacies of transporting pianos. From extreme temperature and humidity fluctuations to jostling on the road, so many factors can jeopardize your piano during a move. That's why we only use climate controlled moving trucks and warehouse storage facilities. Let's take a closer look at why this makes all the difference:

Shielding Your Piano from Temperature Extremes

Pianos are incredibly sensitive to temperature changes. In cold conditions, such as during winter moves, the wood, felt, and glue can become brittle and crack. The cold even impacts the precision-tuned strings, causing them to contract and possibly snap. On the other end of the spectrum, heat also wreaks havoc. Excessive warmth makes the wood expand and dampeners deteriorate. No matter the season, abrupt temperature swings during transit can essentially shock a piano’s delicate system.

Our climate controlled piano trucks counteract this issue by maintaining a stable, moderate temperature between 55 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. The interior is carefully regulated via state-of-the-art heating and cooling systems. This protects your piano from thermal shock and preserves its structural and tonal integrity during transportation.

Keeping Humidity in Check

Moisture content is another critical factor for piano health. Too much humidity causes rust on metal parts, swelling of wood, and loosening of glues. Low humidity leads to drying out of wood, cracking, and brittle leathers, and felts. Any fluctuations in humidity levels place enormous stress on your piano.

Inside our climate controlled piano trucks, advanced humidification technology sustains relative humidity between 45-55%. Preventing major humidity shifts safeguards all the moisture sensitive wood, felt, glue, and leather components of your piano. This reduces the risk of costly post-move repairs.

Cushioning Your Piano While in Transit

Even with climate control, potholes and bumps on the road can jostle your piano during the moving process. We mitigate this by using state-of-the-art air-ride truck suspension and extra thick carpeted floor padding. The air cushioning systems smooth out vibrations from the road, while the thick padding absorbs shocks and bumps along the way. Your piano stays cradled in a protected environment throughout its journey.

Maintaining Ideal Conditions in Storage

If your moving plans involve short- or long-term storage, you also need to consider the warehouse environment. If you’re storing your piano through the winter, you certainly don’t want it sitting in an unheated unit. Likewise, allowing your piano to bake in an unconditioned storage facility during sweltering summer months can cause serious deterioration.

Our climate controlled piano storage units provide the same optimal temperature, humidity, and protection as our specialized trucks. We also offer specialized crating options, dust covers, and regular tuning and maintenance while your piano is in storage between moves. Your piano remains safe from the elements until you are ready to have it smoothly delivered to your new home.

The Risks of Extreme Conditions

You may be wondering - can’t pianos withstand some temperature or humidity swings during
moves? To a degree, yes. But significant or frequent exposure can lead to cumulative damage.
Here are some key risks:
- Cracking and warping of the piano’s wooden structural components. This can occur with sudden cold or heat exposure.
- Detaching of the wooden rim from other structural elements, caused by shrinking and swelling.
- Rusting of internal metal parts like harp supports and strings. Fluctuating humidity accelerates this.
- Shrinking, hardening, or cracking of felts and leathers. Low humidity is particularly damaging.
- Loosening of glue joints that can cause wobbling and instability. Too much humidity softens glues over time.
- Brittleness of ivory keys making them prone to chipping and fractures. Cold, dry conditions create brittleness.
- Loss of tension and even breakage of the high-tension steel piano strings as they expand and contract.
- Warping of the piano’s delicate soundboard, jeopardizing tone quality. This occurs with moisture fluctuations.
- Out-of-tune strings as metal expands and contracts. Temperature swings detune the precise string calibrations.

As you can see, climate control is truly the only way to prevent cumulative, potentially irreparable damage during your piano’s journey.

Specialized Equipment and Training for a Smooth Move

From our climate-controlled trucks to our specialized moving equipment, Modern Piano Moving has all the right tools for a smooth piano transport:
- Soft-tread tires on all trucks to prevent vibrations through the undercarriage
- Hydraulic tailgate lifts to gently load and unload your piano
- Custom blankets and padding to cocoon your piano
- Specialized dollies with pneumatic wheels to seamlessly maneuver your piano

Our experienced piano movers have extensive training in piano preparation, safe handling techniques, and secure stabilization in the truck. We take every precaution to make sure your piano arrives safely.

We Serve All of Your Piano Needs

Whether you need local piano moving, long distance transport, storage, tuning, or maintenance, Modern Piano Moving has you covered. With our climate-controlled services, we provide optimal protection tailored specifically for your prized piano. Contact us today to learn more and schedule your upcoming piano move – we can’t wait to safely get your piano to its new home!