How to Move a Woodburning Stove

Woodstoves aren't exactly portable. They're generally cast iron, don't come with wheels, and can weigh more than a ton. Moving them requires a large amount of assistance, a large amount of leverage, and sometimes both. Moving a woodstove also requires careful planning -- you want to do it right the first time so you don't have to do it again. Once you've moved your woodstove, though, you'll find it's an excellent source of low-cost, renewable heat.

• 1

  Place pieces of inch-thick plywood on the floor leading from the woodstove's current location to the area where you want to place the woodstove. If you drop or drag the woodstove on the floor, you can severely damage wood or tile floors and tear carpeting. Even the weight of a dolly with a woodstove on it can damage floors. Measure doorways to make sure you can put the woodstove where you want it before beginning to move it.

• 2

  Use leverage and assistance to ease the woodstove on to a wheeled dolly. Make sure the woodstove legs are tightly attached. If one or more of the legs come off, the woodstove can slip and crush a mover's foot or hand. Be careful to have the woodstove balanced evenly on the dolly, since its weight can easily tip the dolly over.

• 3

  Roll the dolly to the location where you want to have the woodstove. Tilt the dolly to an angle where two woodstove legs are resting on the ground but not bearing the entire weight of the woodstove. Have at least one or two people lift the end of the woodstove that's on the floor to prevent too much weight from being placed on the legs, since it's possible to break woodstove legs. One or two other helpers should ease the other end of the woodstove gently to the floor.