How to use a dolly on stairs

From planning your relocation and finding an appropriate new home to packing your belongings and saying goodbye to your old life, the entire process of moving house is extremely difficult – both physically and emotionally. Moving day, however, represents the culmination of physical hardship. Taking all your earthly possessions out of your old home and loading them on the moving truck, then unloading them at your new address and taking them into your new home is a lot of hard work – and it’s made even more difficult by obstacles like tight spaces and stairs.

Moving boxes, furniture, and other larger household items up and down stairs is very strenuous – and very risky. You can easily drop a heavy object while carrying it on the stairs, or accidentally hit the railings or the stairway wall – and cause damage to your property and/or to your item or hurt yourself.

Fortunately, there is a way to make the job safer and easier – with the help of a moving dolly.

The upright utility dolly, also known as a hand truck, is your best friend when moving heavy items on stairs – it easily rolls up and down stairs, allowing you to take your load to the floor where it needs to go without much effort and with minimal risk.

The 2-wheel hand truck can save your items, your property, and your health on moving day – you just need to know how to use a dolly on stairs the right way.

General tips for using a dolly on stairs

So, can you use a dolly on stairs? Yes, you can – hand trucks are very versatile and very helpful during a house move, but their most significant advantage is that they can be used on stairs.

Also called a big wheel dolly, a hand truck usually has two large pneumatic wheels connected to an axle that act as shock absorbers, allowing you to safely move your load up and down stairs. The strong vertical back of the dolly provides excellent support for the load and the handle at the top of the truck allows for easy navigation. All these features make the utility dolly perfect for moving heavy items up and down stairs. 

To make the job safer and easier, though, you need to know the specifics of using a dolly on stairs – and to take all the necessary precautions:

1) Clear the stairs to provide more maneuvering space and reduce the risk of accidents – remove any miscellaneous items from the stairs and landings, decorations from the stairway wall, and low hanging lights over the stairs.

2) Protect the stairs:

• Use stair edge guards to protect the edges of the steps;
• Use floor runners to protect the stairs (protective coverings made of neoprene that have an anti-slippery surface and are very easy to install and safe to use on all kinds of stairs). Alternatively, you can cover the stairs with old blankets or rugs (for wood or marble stairs) or self-adhesive plastic film (for carpeted stairs). Keep in mind though that any soft covers need to be secured in place with painter’s tape or plastic wrap and any plastic covers need to have non-slip surfaces;
• Wrap blankets or old clothes around banisters and railings to reduce the risk of scraping, denting, or breaking them on moving day (use packing tape to keep the protective wrappings in place).

See also: How to protect stairs when moving

3) Ensure help – When moving heavy objects up or down stairs with a dolly, it’s best to work with a partner:

• You need someone to help you load large and heavy items on the dolly – if you try to handle a weighty piece by yourself, it may fall on you and hurt you or get damaged, or you may hurt yourself or damage the item when trying to load it on the dolly;
• When maneuvering a loaded truck up or down stairs, you need a helper on the other side of the dolly to steady the load and help lift it from step to step – or brace it from below and help guide it downward.

See also: How to ask friends to help you move

4) Be careful when loading the dolly:

• Check the load capacity of the hand truck to make sure it can handle the weight of the cargo you intend to move with it;
• Make sure the load is stable and well-balanced on the dolly;
• Secure the cargo to the dolly with straps, ropes, or bungees cords;
• Stand behind the dolly, grip the handles firmly, and tilt the hand truck toward you until the weight of the load is balanced over the wheels. Roll the dolly to the stairs.

5) When using a dolly on stairs, make sure you’re always above the dolly – this way, you will have more leverage and will be out of the truck’s path in the event of an accident.

6) Go one step at a time – Do not rush things – roll the dolly slowly and carefully up or down each step and make sure you have full control over the truck at all times.

Now that you know the basics, it’s time to find out how to use a dolly to move heavy objects up stairs – and how to use a dolly going down stairs.

How to use a dolly up stairs

When moving heavy items up stairs, you will need to walk backward, pulling the hand truck up one step at a time:

1. Bring the wheels of the dolly up against the first step of the staircase;
2. Stand backward on the first step, grip the dolly handle with two hands, and lean the dolly toward you;
3. Step up and back to the next stair and use your leverage to pull the dolly up so the wheels are on the first stair (keep pulling until the wheels of dolly hit the edge of the next step);
4. Get another step up and pull the dolly onto the second stair;
5. Keep walking backward and pulling the hand truck up one stair at a time, taking care to keep the angle of the dolly steady (the angle of the dolly should be slightly straighter than the angle of the staircase).

Bonus tip: When moving a very heavy load up stairs, split your feet with one step between them – to get more leverage.

How to use a dolly down stairs

When moving heavy items down stairs, you need to carefully lower the dolly one stair at a time:

1. Wheel the hand truck to the top of the stairs and tilt it backward so some of the weight leans against your body;
2. Move the dolly forward until it reaches the edge of the top stair and bring the wheels a little over the edge, pulling back slightly, so the dolly slowly drops down to the next step;
3. Keep slowly rolling the hand truck down from one step to the next. Be sure to ease both wheels over the edge of each step and down onto the next simultaneously.

Bonus tip: When going down stairs, the angle of the dolly should be similar to the angle of the staircase:

• If the dolly is too upright, the weight of the load will go to the front of the dolly and may cause the hand truck to lose balance and tip over. You need to make sure that the weight of the load rests on the back of the dolly at all times;
• If the dolly is tilted too far backwards, the slats of the truck may slide down the edge of a step and the wheels may pass over the next step, creating sudden momentum that may make you lose your hold on the hand truck.

Keep in mind that in both cases, the load can easily fall off if it is not securely strapped to the frame of the dolly.

Using a dolly to take your heavy items down the stairs of your old home and/or up the stairs of your new residence will make your move safer, faster, and smoother. Yet, it will still be a lot of hard work – and something can always go wrong. Things will be much easier – and the risk will be much smaller – if you hire professional movers to do the job for you. The pros will know how to use a dolly on stairs and how to take proper care of your belongings – and will perform your move in the smoothest and safest way possible.