We often are asked to dismantle full size snooker tables and relocate them , this is around 10% of our yearly work load .
This week we where asked to dismantle a full sized Riley Aristocrat from an outbuilding upstairs location which had two stair case entry points .
one having a turn half way down , the other a balcony fire exit which I decided was the best way to get the heavy sectional slate downstairs
here is how three men achieved this .
this is the table in question , you can see the internal stair case at one end
this was our preferred route , as you can see we lay an old strip of carpet down the stairs to protect the staircase from our wooden slate slide.
one section of slate weighs around 200kg , you can see we have ratchet strapped our slate slide on one edge
I custom made this slate slide around 15 years ago .
the table with two sections left on ready to come off onto our Piano trolley ., this piano trolley has hard rubber tyres
the one we used at the bottom of the stair to get the slate to the van has pneumatic tyres on that can go over rough ground and the odd bit of loose shale or gravel which was the case here .
a close up of our slate slide , once laid flat we wheel in position to the top of the stairs on the trolley .
two at the bottom edge the third person is at the top guiding the slate and also keeping it upright as we guide it down that carpet on the stairs .
it is important to hold back the weight as you slide it down , the danger of going too fast can result in a broken limb or worse
and there is five slates so we take our time .
once at the bottom of the stairs flip it back upright on its edge , ready to take off the slate slide and lower onto trolley
onto this pneumatic tyre trolley as we had to take this slate behind a building that only had a slate shale path .
two and half hours and we had the entire table dismantled and loaded and blanket wrapped .
loaded and we are ready to go , the slates came around the building on the right , the table was located upstairs in the far building with the twin dormer windows in the roof .
not an easy job , but we have been moving tables some years and we take the rough with the smooth , you do get some tables that take all day to safely get out of a building
we have even had to have windows taken out and tele handler fork lifts to get slates downstairs .
Normally 4 men are used to carry the slate downstairs using slings , we prefer to use the slate slide and this allows for one less man and therefore lower priced to bring downstairs .
we do take risk’s though and the odd time I have refused to handle slate if I think it is unsafe to do it , only last month I declined to lower some extra thick slate down into a basement because it was unsafe and they then got a builders wagon in to lower them down with a crane .
each job has to be done it’s safety aspect and we have to access each job , and if it is unsafe then we do not take the risk for a few hundred pounds profit .
This table was sold on our for sale section of GCL billiards web site as a private sale , and you can read the report on my website why my buying client bought this table off our selling client to replace a very shoddy made one .
this is what we do best , we put buyers in touch with sellers of tables and we just charge for the removal and fitting side of the work .
