Moving a Table
Down to sections at one end, back to a true bed at the other.
A slate table travels in pieces. Cloth off or lifted, pockets and rails away, slate sections out flat and carried by two people apiece, frame and legs broken down and wrapped. Loaded, the slate rides on edge and strapped, because a loose section finds a corner to chip against on the first turn.
Everything after that is assembly, and assembly is where the time goes: squaring the frame in its new spot, bolting the bed down, filling the seams, fitting the cloth and reading the level until it holds. A move that ends with a table you have to play around is not finished, whatever the truck schedule says.
What a move is quoted on
Distance matters less than most people expect. Access matters more.
- The table: size, and whether the slate is a single piece or three.
- The way out and the way in: stair turns, door widths, tight landings, and how far the carry is from the door to where the truck can stand.
- Whether it is one trip or two, which is the usual answer when a room is being floored and the table has to come back later.
- Whether new cloth goes on while the table is already apart, which costs less than a separate visit later.
- Anything that has to be arranged before the crew arrives: a gate code, an HOA rule about trucks, or a building with loading hours.
Photographs help more than descriptions. One of the table, one of the worst corner on the route, and you will get a quote you can rely on.
How the table is left
The bed is read for level at the seams and at every pocket before the crew packs up, and again after the cloth is on. If a ball will not sit still on your table when we are done, the job is not done.
Jobs are scheduled into a morning or an early afternoon window, confirmed once the quote is accepted. Say early if the room is a garage, so the work lands before the worst of the afternoon heat.