Problem solvers, lifting something heavy on your own

Big bit of MDF or something to spread the load and then car jack sounds like a good idea

I use a skateboard a lot for stuff like yhis.

It would need to be a big skateboard. Biggest cupboard is 2150x800x600 not sure on weight but I can’t lift it vertical

Why does it have to be just you and your wife, can you get a mate round for a drink/biscuit? If you're anywhere near Selkirk I can give you 20mins one lunchtime

Why does it have to be just you and your wife, can you get a mate round for a drink/biscuit?

I helped a neighbour lift a mini engine into his camper the other night - people just post requests on our street's WA group...

Some ideas:

How smooth is the floor and how much clearance to you have? Sack truck, skateboard are possible, you may want a baseboard (18mm ply?) under the unit if the base of it isn't strong enough at the points where the load will bear. If you use a board, you can also put marbles or squash balls underneath, just need enough to feed them in at the front as you roll.

For raising up, one possibility is to rock the unit onto the left edge, so raising the right edge (say) 5cm. Then shove a 5cm timber under that edge. Rock it onto that, and you can then put 10cm under the left edge, keep rocking and packing - but to avoid them flipping over, packers should be as wide as they are high, and the load should go on the centre.

Alternatively, work out how far you can tip the unit to its balance point, and put it not quite that far from the wall. Tip it on edge and lean it against the wall. Put something solid under the centre of the raised edge, for safety, and fit the legs to the raised corners. When you tip it the other way to fit the other legs, support it under the edge, not the legs, if you're worried about breaking them off.

I work on my own so pretty much everything I have to install myself, no matter what size.

You're right, those kitchen legs are very susceptible to breaking.

If you have the room to flip it up, do this.

If you have the room to flip it up, do this.

Very neat!

I don’t really have mates close by. Neighbours are mostly elderly that I know, one guy might help me out, but he’s in the trade and every time I’ve asked for help recently he can’t, and proceeds to tell me how much he is rinsing on a day rate (so I’m taking that as if he helps he expects paying, a lot)

Rocking could work. I like the idea of the squash balls, I’ll look into that

Floor is relatively okay but it’s floorboards. I am debating taking them up and putting play down

Other complicating factor is there will be 3 tall units, 600 + 800 + 600 in a space that is 2m 5cm so the final cupboard will be a challenge

Possibly didn’t think this through well enough beforehand…. Thought I would be able to lift them

Moving my saw bench from the floor onto its stand, weighs 80kg. Lifted on to a short box, then to a higher box then onto the stand. Being able to take a break and do a bit at a time makes is feel better and you arent trying to carry or balance a big weight for too long.

IKEA pride themselves on making kitchen units where the legs fall off when you lift their units up and have done since they first appeared 50 years ago.

You can do a lot with a home made 'skateboard' out of a couple of bits of 18mm ply screwed together and 4 strong wheels.  Once you made it you can use if for everything.  I got our upright piano up 4 steps using it.

That trick with the cupboard is brilliant. The other trick as mentioned is to rock it side to side or back and forwards and prop it up a little more each time

That vid is genius. Legs aren’t fitted yet, so could lean it over, fit, then use that method to stand it back up

Still think I will need to move it vertical into position once in the room

Cupboard is fully built and glued up with doors fitted, so I could make it a chunk lighter by removing the doors

so I could make it a chunk lighter by removing the doors

Plus it will be way easier to handle without the doors

Clearance wise I have about 40cm less with the legs fitted

I’m thinking sack truck to get it into the room through the doorway. That trick from the vid to fit the legs, then to rock it and slowly build it up. Final cupboard I would have to do it on long timbers and then try to slide it back,

Luckily I have plenty of timber on site.

This is either going to be fun or a disaster

I’m going to reinforce the floor beforehand. Not confident on all that weight on those old boards, they will be even heavier with loads of stuff in them

I find a sack truck can be more problem than its worth. For tall/heavy items you end up walking you hands up the item until you are not hold the sack truck at all, as you need to find the balance point before you can easily move it. It might work but often you can't get it moving with it scraping the floor or trying to stand back upright (maybe I've got a crap sack truck)

Maybe fix a strop around the bottom of the unit so your wife can lift it clear of the floor whilst you deal with the top end.

I have a 4 wheeled dolly cart that you can fit under it and roll it into place if it is easier to lift upright away from where you want to fit it. PM me if you want to borrow it, plus a car jack

Thinking about it, I also have a pair of slender rollers designed to go under washing machines to let them be rolled in under the work top. They might work. Again, message/email me if you want to have a look to see if they might work.

Having seen the video, a variant on the rocking would be rather than packing under the edge as I described, clamp some 2x2 to each corner and extend them down on each rock. That leads to a possibility for the stack of 3, you start with the top one, raise it enough to slide the middle one under, then raise the pair and slide in the bottom one.

PS - although they use jacks not rocking, starting with the top and feeding units in from the bottom is the way tower cranes are assembled.

Thanks Nick may well take you up on that still exploring. Seen this on Screwfix, seems made for the job. Bit steep at £60 for a single days use and probably won’t be useful for anything else

I’ve also seen wheeled type systems, maybe building a big skateboard is a good idea, though not sure how to transition through the doorway without a sack truck, clearance means it will need to be tilted and twisted to get it through the gap into the utility

Car inner tube (if such a thing still exists and a track pump.
Inflate lift, fit, deflate.

Thin rollers, two bits of thin steel or wood if you can get it in, with an innertube between them.

Inflate to raise, move, deflate and take all away.

Not sure why the link didn’t work - fitters mate

https://www.fittersmate.com/

A motorcycle jack could be useful for other jobs tempted by this
https://www.onbuy.com/gb/steel-motorbike-repair-lift-jack-motorcycle-scissor-hoist-stand-anti-slip-500kgs~c10982~p38492213/?exta=gshp&extac=gshppa&stat=eyJpcCI6IjM2LjY5MDAiLCJkcCI6MCwibGlkIjo5NDE4OTI4NCwicyI6IjEwOCIsInQiOjE2NzA0MTI0NDksImJtYyI6MH0=&exta=gshp&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkMGcBhCSARIsAIW6d0AoXsMjvJ4zCMszlfDd_Lh9HDELyo7uSvNElPdVv2KRdov97AaIDRoaAmrcEALw_wcB

I don’t really have mates close by.

This is STW. Of course you have. Where are you?

Is there a tool for doing this safely?

Yes, delegation.

These are what I have got. They can get over door saddles but not steps obviously

https://www.screwfix.com/p/appliance-roller-set/39158

And one of these
https://www.diy.com/departments/diall-dolly-200kg-capacity/1530948_BQ.prd

And a sack truck

And a few car jacks

And car inner tubes

And I live nearby

Please feel free to ask

I'm a couple of hours away, so in true STW-fashion, what camera to live-stream... 🙂
We could all chip in with helpful comments

Chap fitted our double oven on his own with a motorbike ramp. He obviously knew what he was doing as didn't break a sweat and didn't look worried.

When I did mine I laid them face down. Installed the rear legs the rocked them up and into position. Then you can push them to the wall and pop the fronts on. Level up. Fit doors and leave the kickpates for several years

Other complicating factor is there will be 3 tall units, 600 + 800 + 600 in a space that is 2m 5cm so the final cupboard will be a challenge

And

Biggest cupboard is 2150x800x600

Please tell me you don't have a doorway to get through, because that's going to be very tight

Not sure why the link didn’t work – fitters mate

Bit much for one diy job.
Just do a version of the technique in the video. If you haven't got clamps you could screw a panel to the side of the unit temporarily(correct length screws obvs) until you get it upright.

I use a sack trick for tall stuff no problem. It's usually when you come to a step of some sort you get issues.

I normally put a strap around the cabinet and the sack truck for extra piece of mind.

With a unit of 600mm you should get through a door OK on a sack truck as you can have it narrow width across and lay the cabinet really low as you go through the door. Obviously provided you have enough room in the room itself to manoeuvre.

Once upright and on its legs, you should be able to get it back to the wall OK with micro-shuffles.

Sometimes if practical, you can push upwards inside the cabinet to take a little weight as you shuffle.

Pickaxe! Seriously I have used one for a similar purpose. Got the 'flat' end under the object I was trying to lift and then used my weight and a bit of pipe to pivot the axe. Some bits to wood to wedge underneath until desired height is reached and some rags to stop anything getting scratched.

Highlift jack was my other idea but not really very common unless you know someone with overlanding aspirations.

so I could make it a chunk lighter by removing the doors

Always remove them when fitting - last thing you want to do is scratch one whilst moving things about

In true STW fashion,here's my (theoretical) method. 😃
I would build the unit up on it's legs using that side board/tipping solution (which is ace BTW),then land the unit on two nylon sheets,one that the legs sit on and a longer bottom sheet that goes into the wall.Slide the unit in to place then remove bottom sheet.Put a block at the wall behind the leg space,get a baton lever with top heal(use one of the shelves to spread the load).Lift the unit enough to get the last sheet out.Et voilà 😃
I have done this with heavy control units that were in a tight space and needed to be mounted on rubber vibro pads.

Some great ideas on here. We've got a DIY kitchens kitchen arriving in January with a few tall units included. Not sure what my plan was before, but now it involves using that Kayak tip for getting them upright with legs on and then I'm thinking borrowing my daughers old skateboard with a small scissor car jack and a plank of wood ontop to spread the weight and push them in to position then lower the jack and remove.
Either skateboard or I saved the castors off an old divan bed that should be small but strong enough to add to a bit of board and make a basic dolly.

When I did mine I laid them face down. Installed the rear legs the rocked them up and into position. Then you can push them to the wall and pop the fronts on. Level up. Fit doors and leave the kickpates for several years

That's genius.

Well little update. Big larder units are in. I ordered that fitters mate I linked up there as I liked the look of it and the extra attachments for a mini sack truck and for moving doors / worktops which I also need to do

it works OK as a sack truck for things like washing machine bit wobbly but OK. it does not work for a full height cabinet when in tight spaces. it just doesn't pivot properly like a sack truck. in fact one slipped off with a pretty big bang and some minor damage to the bottom of the unit. we weren't moving with legs as the space was really tight. in the end we managed to slide the end in using the packaging cardboard in a couple of layers. it only just fitted in. no way I could solo it through the doorway. with the doors and shelves removed the cupboards are more awkward than heavy

as an actual gadget to get the cabinet up right and into postion in a really tight run it was great worked really well.

also another tip for those fitting one of these kitchens the doors are not pre drilled for the handles.

I used a kreg cabinet handle jig which was OK but still needed you to get an exact centre line. for a single handle on a shaker door with rounded profiles this wasn't easy to get exact. even using a set square wasn't easy prob +/- 1mm. Next time I will make my own jigg which could reference both edges of the door rather than just one.

still looks spot on. just finishing touches needed on the cupboard run. and then onto fitting the other side sink, washing machine, dryer and softner. bit of plumbing needed to make that happen

😊👍