There are few tasks more complex than moving a pool table from one location to another. Remember when you bought your pool table? Probably, the company that sold it to you brought it into your home piece by piece and then assembled it for you. If you’re moving, you’re going to have to have it disassembled and then reassembled in your new home, because moving it in one piece is going to be impossible.
If you have an appetite for aggravation and a lot of time, you could try it. As we’ve just pointed out, though, you will need to take it apart, because there is no way that you and your strongest friends are ever going to be able to get it around corners or downstairs if you leave it intact.
Pool tables are comprised of numerous parts, and are held together with literally kilograms of screws, bolts, nuts and other fittings. You are going to want to label all the parts, because if you don’t you won’t have a prayer of getting the pool table put back together the right way.
You will have to get your tool kit together, and start the whole process by unscrewing or unstapling the pockets. Then, you need to detach the rails using a socket wrench prior to taking off the felt. The felt will be stapled to the bed, and must be removed using extreme caution, because even a tiny tear can cause the felt to be rendered useless. Then, you need to take out the screws that are holding the slate.
This is where things get really dicey, because the slate is going to weigh somewhere in the neighbourhood of 360 kilograms. Obviously, you will need some help with this part of the project. The slate is also going to be very unwieldy if you have to take it around corners or down the stairs.
Now, once everything is dismantled, you can begin loading your pool table into your truck or van. If you’re lucky, the slate will arrive at its destination without getting cracked. It won’t be any lighter, though, and there are probably going to be stairs and corners in your new home.
This is where you’re going to be really glad you labeled everything. Now you can go through the entire process in reverse, with the assistance of those strong friends who are helping you with your project. Make sure that you get all the right parts in the right places, and don’t forget to level the slate. Then you can attempt to reattach the felt without damaging it, and with any luck, you might actually be able to sink a few balls in a couple of weeks!
If it sounds to you as though this has been a lengthy way of telling you that you should not try to move a pool table without professional assistance, then we’ve made our point. With the size of the table and the weight of the slate, not to mention all those tiny little parts and the vulnerability of the felt, treating a pool table move as a DIY endeavour is only going to bring you grief. It is a time-consuming, specialized operation that is far better left to people who have the necessary experience. After all, you want to be able to enjoy your pool table in your new home, not find yourself sitting amidst a pile of parts, or worse, lying in bed recovering from a debilitating injury.
