Buying And Moving A Pool Table
 

Old story. Wife wants a pool table. For the kids to play on with their friends. Under her watchful eyes. Instead of hanging out in the local meth lab. She wants this thing in the family room. On the third floor. Finds a Brunswick, three piece slate, new felt, really nice shape, 53" x 96". Convinces herself there's room for it in said top floor family room. Hauls me out to look at it. I get under it, see how it comes apart. Makes sense. Side rails bolt to the slate, slate sits on the frame, frame bolts together, sits on legs and brackets. Each piece of slate is appx 50" x 32". So the questions are:

1. Is disassembling this thing and moving it across town and up three flights going to result in orthopedic bills and reconstructive hand surgery? Or can two normally muscled guys do it?

2. Is reassembling it level more like adjusting 911 valves, or more like brain surgery?

3. Should I convince wife that a smaller, lighter multi purpose table that converts to air hockey, ping pong, blah blah would be better?

4. Given that said wife just got herself a full pottery studio with wheel, roller, kiln, should I put my foot down? Tell her it's time for some me me me? Spend that $500 on Campagnolo bike parts, a new pistol, even - swoon - a stand mixer (yes I am a metrosexual)?

What would you do?

Ping-pong

I had 3 helpers to move a similar table down a flight of steps, never again. Table goes with the house when I move.

Smaller, lighter, cheaper and see how much you use it.

i helped my brother move a table. a bar table. the kind with a coin slot where all the balls drop away except for the slightly larger cue ball.

the thing was a BEAST!! that slate is very very heavy. leveling it, we didnt know it was a huge deal, and we did it perfectly oblivious to any tricks. we just got lucky.

a big table? my friend's dad hired a company.

nothing more annoying than a table without enough room around the table to play properly. john..double check her measurements.

There are some nice pool apps for your iPhone....

This sounds nice!
I had a pool table and had no idea it was that heavy. The thing nearly killed 4 of us. I definately wouldn't consider anything but a 1st floor!

I would at least get a quote from a mover. A rather "cheap" friend of mine was nearly killed moving a small upright piano. His two teenage boys were at one end and he was at the other .One boy stumbled and the piano was dropped. Dad ended up in the hospital with a rupture in his bowel.

Call Classics, the pool hall at 122nd & Halsey...ask them who a good table mechanic is...if you try to do it yourself, you will screw up...guaranteed!

Even a lesser model 9' Brunswick is worth paying a pro to do. Please request Simonis cloth, and for gawd's sake no color other than green or perhaps tournament blue.

Upstairs? You'd damned well better check the load capacity of the flooring.

Frankly, you should have done your homework before buying...

Go to the Brunswick site for a table of minimum room sizes for a 9' table...

If she only paid $500...it can't be much of a table. Probably needs more than the seller is telling you.
I wouldn't buy a used table without taking a table mechanic I know along...yeah, kind of like a PPI.

Bought an upright for the daughter.

Guy I bought it from is in the business of buying flipping pianos.

Watched him move it thru his house, down a flight of stairs, into the bed of his pick up, out of the pick up, up the front steps and into my house, by himself using nothing but a hand truck and 2 pieces of PVC.

I was impressed.

John, like Paul says, try Classics, or Golden West in Milwaukie (American Pool Tables : Best Contemporary Pool Tables : Custom Craftsman Pool Table : Modern Designer Billiard Tables : Slate Pool Table Manufacturer : Billiard MFG) and arm yourself with some good information. Just my 2 cents but a pool table on the third floor sounds kind of like work.

PS - a friend of mine used to use Starrett machinist's levels and playing cards to level his tables. Don't know if that's overkill or not. Sounds like something you would do. :-)

(Still working through the book, he just bonked at the Tom Simpson shrine. What a description of desolation . . . but that dry humour is a riot.)

Oh, we didn't buy it. Seller had a higher offer, which was a relief to me.

Quick estimate: slate weighs 500 lb, 170 lb per piece. Add 150 lb for the wood. 650 lb plus say six teenagers at 150 lb each. That's say 1600 lb in an area of floor 10 feet by 5 feet.

On the third floor, more or less directly over my bed. Bedroom is appx 16 feet across in the direction of the joists. I have no idea what joist structure was installed when the attic was converted, it was permitted though.

Span calculator says need to be 2 x 12 joists up there assuming 40 lb / sq ft dead load and 10 lb / sq ft live load (which is actually more than said table and kids). How confident am I that was done?

Herr-o, I have another bike book for you when you're done w/ that one.

I just was gifted a bumper pool table from my F-I-L. It is cool. Nice conversation piece. We stuck it right in the front room. Most folks who come over play a round or so. Bumper pool is smaller - not "real" pool. Fun for the kids though. I think our table is something like 5 feet long. It took four people to move it in our house however. It is pretty heavy.

Larry

Golden West is not on my list of dream tables...'nuff said. If it's just for kids, I'd suggest a Diamond brand 7' bar box...Used for BCA tournament play, it's the best 7' table, IMO..
http://www.diamondbilliards.net/

Even then...I'd nix the 3rd floor. Frankly, unless your kids are really into pool over video games & other distractions I'd say to forget it. Few kids are into putting in the time needed to get good at the game these days. Often, after a few hours of missing balls, they bag the whole thing.

Convert the 3rd floor into a meth lab :)

ps: I'd be hiring movers...

When it comes to moving pianos, safes or pool tables, I'd hire experienced, insured movers...

My dad and his (then) 70 year old buddy moved a decent 9 foot table into the basement by themselves. He assembled it and leveled it himself. While it isn't bang on perfect, it plays pretty well!
He used body filler on the seams in the slate. I asked a guy at a billiards store what they used on the seams and it surprised me to hear body filler.

I have an older Gold Crown from Brunswick. Would never think of setting it up myself. A few guys in town that are capable of doing it right. It's currently in my basement awaiting a proper room to set it up in. This house is too small. The last time it was assembled they used wax in the seams. It's not that expensive to have done right. Most of the shops use independent guys that specialize in pool tables. Look on Craigslist.

Bingo...a good table mechanic is worth his weight in gold. A top level mechanic is in high demand, with people willing to wait up to a year for his services. Glen, aka/king cobra on the AZ posting board is a very top level guy. He primarily works with Diamond tables, but also does others, posting pics of his work. Want to learn more? There is a "tech session" on AZ Billiards dedicated to the care & treatment of tables. It's really quite a science. Like cars, amateurs can "butcher" a table. Glen is the Grady Clay or John Walker of table mechanics....he's among the elite.

Talk To A Mechanic - AzBilliards Forums

(edit) Here's a link to one of his threads...showing his work on a "bar box" Valley table:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=84753&highlight=king+cobra

It cost me $300 to have a pool table professionally moved from the owner's house....It was a Brunswick 7' and the slate was in two parts..It was coming from an upstairs ROG..Hardwood floors and oak balusters throughout...It was completely broken down, moved in a truck and re-assembled in my living room..The seam between the slate was done in candle wax..
If it needs new felt, a felt color change or bumpers replaced, now is the time to do it..The cost will be mostly materials because it will all be exposed during the breakdown....