Heavy items can be lifted up stairs by yourself when you make use of useful tools that increase your leverage. The exact tool required depends on a few factors. The main one being the type of load you’re trying to move up the stairs.
Attempting to move heavy items upstairs without a tool is a risky and dangerous proposition. This is true for the majority of cases without the assistance of another person. Firstly when carrying heavy loads upstairs by hand, the only way to fully support the weight is by getting your full body weight behind it. This is dangerous for several reasons.
Number one and most obvious is that in the case where you lost control of the load, the only place it has to go is backwards. In essence this would mean the load falling back into yourself. Undoubtedly this could cause you a serious injury by falling down stairs. In addition, it could cause injury by the object impacting into yourself. To add, the heavy items could be damaged more easily by either falling to the floor, falling down the stairs, or hitting the banisters or the side walls of the staircase.
Dangers of Carrying Heavy Items Upstairs by Yourself Without Equipment:
- Extremely heavy weights being carried up stairs puts a heavy strain on your body, risking injury
- The shape of the object if awkward can mean items can get caught on the top edge of the stairs as you are moving up
- Your vision could be blocked by the the heavy object making it perilous to climb up, especially if you cannot see where your feet are landing
How to Carry Items Upstairs the Right Way:
- Only pull the item upstairs and never push, unless assisted by another person
- Your line of sight should never be blocked
- The load should be stable and fully under your control at all times
These qualities can be found in dollies that are purpose built for climbing stairs, achieving this using features that prioritise climbing. These include belt driven support rails that lay on the stairs as the hand truck is tilted, tripod style wheels that help bring the dolly up to the next step up, or large pneumatic wheels that offer low rolling resistance and a better approach angle allowing it to climb up to the next step more easily. In addition to using useful L-shaped hand trucks, the correct supplies should be used in addition to these tools for best results during your move.
Recommended Tools to Move Heavy Items Upstairs
The Best: Appliance Dolly
The best way to move heavy items up stairs is with the use of an appliance dolly. The best appliance dollies are capable of carrying up to 1200lbs loads. Making use a strong frame with a large foot plate to give great support to the items loaded. Best of all they use straps that wind around the item to hold them firmly in place. Doing so by tightening through secure metal strap rings and a tightening handle that maximises the tension. This offers great security, securing the item safely to the appliance dolly with full confidence that it’s prevented from falling from the foot plate regardless of its position.
To transport the items up stairs, we’ll need to make use of the numerous additional features that makes this easy for us.
1) Dual Tie Down Straps
The tie down straps allow for the load to be secured to the dolly, preventing the load from slipping or falling off. This is especially useful for climbing stairs as you need to prevent the load lifting off the dolly as you climb stairs.
2) Large Nose Plate
The large nose plate gives the heavy loads being carried greater support and stability.
3) Dual Stair Crawlers
Stair crawlers are constructed from a rubber belt on a steel roller. This belt rests on the top edge of the stairs as the appliance dolly is tilted into its moving position with the load directly over the wheels.
This reduces the effort required by reducing the friction between the stairs and the dollies frame.
4) Pneumatic Wheels
Large Pneumatic tires reduce the rolling resistance and aid climbing over large obstacles including stairs. Larger diameter wheels give a better angle of attack to allow the appliance dolly to more easily climb up each step.
The pneumatic wheels set to the correct tire pressure applies an added level of suspension over using solid rubber tires. This adds to the stability of the load as it is less likely to bounce around with this extra air cushioning.
How to Use Appliance Dolly To Move Heavy Items Up Stairs
- Unwind the retaining strap from around the body of the appliance dolly
- Move the dolly up to the edge of the heavy item or appliance
- Slightly tilt the appliance and slide the dolly’s foot plate underneath, let go of the appliance
- Wind the retaining strap around the appliance, ensure the strap is centred from the appliance to the dolly. Ensure all the wires and plugs are secured within the retaining strap so you do not trip on them
- Take strap and tighten it using the retaining rings
- Turn the retaining strap handle to fully tighten the strap around the appliance
- Approach stairs facing backwards with the dolly tilted at an angle, approximately 10 inches away from the stairs
- Take the first few steps up grab the dolly by the rails and lay at an angle where the stair crawler wheels rest against the top edge of the steps
- Walk backwards up the stairs, pulling the dolly up with you at an angle as you take one step up at a time
The Cheapest: Hand Truck
The trusty hand truck is a similar tool to the appliance dolly but in a simpler form. It is an L shaped tool that lifts heavy items straight from ground level to be balanced over the wheels. The user can then freely transport the loads around from here as they wish.
Stair climbing here is done using the same strategy as with an appliance dolly. The difference being the lack of additional tools that can assist the process such as retaining straps and dual stair climbers.
The main features to look for in a hand truck for success at moving heavy loads upstairs include:
1) Large Nose Plate
The extra large nose plate provides a more stable platform for the load the be supported by. This reduces the risk the load will become unbalanced and fall off the side of the nose plate edges. This is even more important with hand trucks, where a retaining strap may not be available.
2) Addition of Swivel Handles
Swivel handles give you another point of leverage and control in addition to the main D-shaped handle. These swivel handles are adjustable in a 360 degree angle for a custom comfortable fit.
3) Large Diameter Wheels
The larger the diameter of wheels the greater the angle of attack. In short, this means it will be easier for the wheel to roll over larger obstacles, the main obstacle here being stairs. Using a hand truck with the largest diameter wheel you can find will seriously reduce the effort needed to climb up any set of stairs or obstacles.
How to Use Hand Trucks To Move Heavy Items Up Stairs
- Move the hand truck up to the edge of the heavy item
- Slightly tilt the item you want to carry, then slide the dolly’s foot plate underneath then let go on the load
- Always pull never push the hand truck when transporting items upstairs
- Approach stairs facing backwards with the truck approximately 10 inches away from the stairs
- Take the first few steps up and grab the hand truck by the D-handle. Lay the hand truck at an angle to lift the load off the ground and prepared to climb the stairs
- Walk backwards up the stairs, pulling the hand truck up with you at an angle as you take one step up at a time, Ensuring the loads weight is kept firmly over the wheels by maintaining the angle
- You can optionally use a bungee cord to add some extra security against the load falling from the nose plate
The Easiest: Electrically Assisted Motorized Stair Lift Dolly
Electrically assisted hand trucks and dollies are stair lifting transportation tools that provide great value. They take most of the effort and strain from moving heavy items up stairs. The assist uses a electrical track belt drive system that applies ultra grippy friction to drive the dolly up stairs with the help of powerful motors.
The advantages these assisted stair lift dollies have over manual hand trucks and appliance dollies are numerous. The most obvious is the huge reduction in effort necessary to move heavy items up flights of stairs. The second is the grippy belt tracks that can hold their position while traversing stairs, reducing the chance of items falling down stairs while being transported to an almost negligible level. The same applies when moving heavy loads down stairs. With power assisted hand trucks reducing the efforts and increasing the safety of doing so substantially.
The main features that make an assisted stair lift dolly:
1) Removeable loading platform
The loading platform of a motorized dolly is removable, giving you the option to save huge amounts of space when storing away or when transporting the dolly.
2) Long Life Battery
The battery life of most electrical stair lift dollies range from 4 – 7 hours. This gives you great usage life for climbing many sets of stairs while the battery is engaged. Only when actually used for climbing stairs is the battery required.
3) High Friction Belt Drive Treads
The treads provide a no slip grip when sitting angled on any stair case, providing full security from the dolly falling down the stairs.
4) Handle Bar Switch
The handle bar switch gives you full control over the battery. Engaging and disengaging whenever you require assisted stair climbing. Featured are buttons for start and stop control for incremental movements if required when moving up tight or winding stair cases.
How to Use Electrically Assisted Motorized Stair Lift Dolly To Move Heavy Items Up Stairs
- If applicable insert the removable flat mounting platform to the main body of the dolly
- Charge the battery for at least 4 – 6 hours to ensure it is fully charged
- Lock the wheels and physically lift the load onto the mounting platform, or if using a ground plate, slip the plate under the load as usual
- Back the dolly up to the staircase you are going to climb, leaving 10-12 inches of space between the first step and the treads of the dolly
- Lock the wheels then pull the tracks down into the locked out angled position in preparation to start the ascent
- Engage the battery with the button/key switch, then power the dolly on with the handle bar console power button
- Raise the D-shaped handlebar to the appropriate height for yourself and lock into place
- Using the handlebar tilt the dolly until the treaded tracks are resting flat on the stairs
- Press the start button to start your ascent, walking backwards up the stairs at the same pace as the dolly, while maintaining full control of the heavy load using the handlebar
- When you reach the top of the stairs, continue moving backwards till the front wheels have cleared the last step
- Lean the handlebar forward to sit the dolly upright, fold the tracks back in, lower the handlebars and unlock the wheels to continue transporting the dolly on level ground
The Safest Way to Move Items Upstairs
Regardless of the tool used it is always safer to have an additional person to support you, standing behind the dolly transporting the heavy item.
This is important for the largest loads such as extra large refrigerators. In order to climb stairs, there will typically not be enough physical space between the top of a tall load and your body. Overall this hurts your ability to be able to pull the dolly up by its rails.
Ideally the person pulling will simply control the direction and stability of the heavy item, while another person will push the load up the stairs, as they are best positioned to create the leverage necessary to physically get the load up a flight of stairs.
Conclusion – How Do You Move Heavy Items Upstairs By Yourself?
The best way to move heavy items up stairs by yourself is to use a tool that provides balance and stability to the load and increases leverage.
A few of the tools that offer this capability are:
- Appliance Dollies
- Hand Trucks
- Electrically Assisted Stair Climbing Dollies
Appliance dollies are great at securing the load to the main frame using useful retention straps that provide great security. Their rear stair crawling tracks assist with climbing all sets of stairs by reducing the friction and effort required. Thus decreasing the need to vertically lift the dolly up steps. Appliance dollies are typically capable of carrying up to 1000lbs loads.
Hand trucks use a more simplistic design to transport items. They don’t typically use dedicated retaining straps or belt tracks on the rear side of the frame. However hand trucks with large diameter pneumatic wheels provide good cushioning to increase stability. In addition they provide a great approach angle to allow the wheels to climb obstacles with minimal efforts. Hand trucks are the most cost effective stair climbing solution.
Electrically assisted stair climbing dollies is by far the easiest way to move heavy items up stairs. The effort you need to put in is minimal. The user only needing to control the direction on the dolly while it is in its assisted power mode ascending the stairs. Ensure the battery is fully charged before attempting to use the dolly to carry heavy items upstairs.
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