Pool table moving in Montreal, by the crew that will put it back together
A slate pool table looks like furniture, but it is closer to a precision instrument that happens to weigh as much as a small car’s engine. Its playing surface is a slab of stone, ground flat and levelled to within fractions of a millimetre, sitting on a wooden frame that was built to hold it still — not to carry it. Tilt it, drag it or lift it by the rails and the frame racks, the legs crack, the slate shifts or breaks, and the table will never play true again.
That is why a pool table is taken apart to be moved, and why the people who take it apart should be the ones who put it back together. Our crew disassembles your table, moves the slate on edge, reassembles the frame, sets and levels the slate, re-stretches the cloth and puts the rails and pockets back on — at the new home, in a new room, or from a seller’s basement to yours.
This page explains what moving a pool table actually involves, what changes between a one-piece and a three-piece slate, what Montreal’s stairs and basements mean for the job, what you need to measure and prepare, how the price is set, and when you need a billiard technician as well as a mover.
Who this page is for
- You are moving house and the pool table is coming with you — across Montreal, to Laval or either shore, or further.
- You are moving the table within your home — from a living room to a finished basement, or out of a room you are renovating.
- You bought a used table on Marketplace, Kijiji or from a friend, and it has to come out of someone else’s basement and into yours.
- You sold your table and the buyer needs it delivered.
- You need to store the table while you move, renovate or sell the house.
- You run a bar, a club or a games room and tables have to move between locations or floors.
If the table is part of a whole household move, it goes on the same plan and the same truck as the rest of your local move. If it is the only thing moving, it is a job of its own.
What makes a pool table hard to move
The slate
Almost every serious home table has a slate bed, because slate can be ground flat and stays flat. It is also heavy and brittle. A typical 8-foot table carries roughly 350 to 500 pounds of slate. Slate breaks if it is dropped on a corner, if it flexes while carried flat, or if it is stacked with something heavy on it. Moved on edge, padded and supported, it is safe; moved any other way, it is not.
One piece or three
Slate comes in two configurations:
| One-piece slate | Three-piece slate | |
|---|---|---|
| Common on | Many 7-foot and some 8-foot tables, older and economy models | Most 8- and 9-foot tables, better residential and all tournament tables |
| Weight per piece | The whole bed in one slab — often 300 pounds or more | Three pieces of roughly 120 to 170 pounds each |
| Moving | Needs more people at once and a wide, straight route | Lighter pieces, easier on stairs and turns |
| Reassembly | One slab to level | Three pieces aligned, shimmed and the seams filled |
Three-piece slate is easier to carry and better for levelling, but reassembly takes more care: the pieces must be aligned perfectly, levelled to each other, and the two seams filled with beeswax or a setting compound so the ball rolls across them without a bump.
The frame, the legs and the rails
The frame is what holds the slate flat, and it is built to be stiff in one position. Lifted with the slate on, it can twist or pull its joints apart. The legs are often attached with a few bolts into end grain and break when the table is dragged. The rails carry the rubber cushions and the sights, and the pockets are leather or plastic and tear easily. Each of these parts comes off before the table moves.
The cloth
The cloth is stretched tight and stapled to a wooden backing under the slate on most home tables. Taken off carefully, the staples come out cleanly and good cloth can be re-stretched. On some tables the cloth is glued directly to the slate; glued cloth usually cannot be reused. Worn, faded or torn cloth is often replaced during a move — a good time to do it, since the table is already apart.
How we move a pool table, step by step
1. Before the day
We ask for a photo of the table, its size, the brand if you know it, whether the slate is one or three pieces if you know that too, and the stairs, doors and turns at both addresses. That is enough for us to plan the crew and the time, and to tell you in advance if anything about the route needs a different approach.
2. Rails and pockets
The rails are unbolted from under the table, lifted off and wrapped. The pockets are removed or folded in and protected. The bolts and washers go into labelled bags, by part — the small detail that makes reassembly correct and quick.
3. The cloth
The staples are pulled from the wooden backing and the cloth is folded off the slate without stretching or creasing it. If the cloth is glued, we tell you before we go further, because it will need replacing.
4. The slate
The screws holding the slate to the frame are removed and the seams are scraped open. Each piece is lifted straight up, wrapped in padded covers and stood on edge. On stairs and in the truck it stays on edge, supported, with nothing leaning on it.
5. The frame and the legs
The legs come off, the frame is taken apart when its design allows it, and every part is wrapped. In the truck, the frame and legs travel padded and strapped; the slate travels on edge against a wall, strapped, never flat and never under anything.
6. Reassembly
At the new address, the frame and legs are assembled and the frame is squared and levelled first — a level frame is the base for a level table. The slate is set, aligned, shimmed where needed and screwed down. On a three-piece slate, the seams are filled with beeswax or a setting compound and smoothed perfectly flush. The cloth is re-stretched and stapled, the rails are bolted on, the pockets reattached, and the table is checked for level in both directions.
7. Checked with you
Before we leave, we roll balls across the bed with you so you can see the table plays true. If the floor itself is badly out of level, we tell you what we could correct with the leg levellers and shims, and what is the floor.
Montreal homes and pool tables
Montreal is not an easy city for a pool table. The usual challenges:
- Finished basements. Most home tables live downstairs. Basement stairs are often narrow, steep, with low headroom and a turn at the bottom. Disassembled, a table goes down almost any staircase; the questions are the length of the frame rails and the size of the one-piece slate, if there is one.
- Plex staircases. A table on the second or third floor of a triplex usually means an outdoor staircase with turns. The three-piece slate is manageable; a one-piece slate on a spiral staircase may not be, and we tell you before the day.
- Condos. Condo towers mean booking the elevator and the loading dock, padded elevator walls and sometimes set moving hours. The elevator is booked by you; we send the building our insurance certificate when they ask for it.
- Winter. Snow, ice and salt at the door mean protecting floors more carefully and keeping slate dry. Moving a table in winter is routine; leaving it in an unheated garage for a long time is not ideal.
- Parking. If the truck has to park on the street and the borough requires a temporary permit, the permit is requested by you; we tell you how much space the truck needs.
Measure your room before you move the table
A table that fits in the room is not the same as a table you can play on. A common guideline for standard 58-inch cues:
| Table size | Playing surface (approx.) | Room for 58″ cues (approx.) | Room for 52″ cues (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 ft | 39 × 78 in | 13 × 16½ ft | 12 × 15½ ft |
| 8 ft | 44 × 88 in | 13½ × 17 ft | 12½ × 16 ft |
| 9 ft | 50 × 100 in | 14 × 18 ft | 13 × 17 ft |
Posts, low beams, a bulkhead over a basement, a furnace room door or a staircase opening all count. If the new room is tight, a shorter cue for one side of the table can make the difference; it is a much easier fix than a table that does not fit.
Buying or selling a used pool table
Used slate tables are often good value, and many come out of Montreal basements every spring and summer. Before you buy:
- Ask for the brand, the size and the slate. One piece or three, and its thickness if the seller knows it. A one-inch slate is the standard for good tables.
- Look at the cloth. If it is worn or faded, budget for new cloth; you will have the table apart anyway.
- Check the rails. Push a ball hard into each cushion; dead, hard cushions are a repair, not a moving job.
- Photograph the basement stairs at the seller’s. That is the route the slate will take out, and it helps us plan the crew.
- Agree on a pickup window with the seller before you book us, and let them know the table will be taken apart in place.
If you sold your table, the same applies the other way: share the photos and the access with your buyer, and we can deliver it to them.
Pool table storage
Moving dates do not always line up, and a pool table is a large, heavy item to keep in a garage or a friend’s basement. We can disassemble the table, store the parts wrapped in our facility and deliver and reassemble it when you are ready. Slate is stored on edge, the frame and rails padded, the cloth folded and kept dry. See storage.
How pool table moving is priced
We give you one price per table, before the day. It covers disassembly, moving, reassembly and levelling. What sets the price:
| Factor | Effect |
|---|---|
| Table size and slate | A 9-foot three-piece slate takes longer to level than a 7-foot one-piece |
| Stairs at each end | Each flight adds carrying time; an outdoor spiral staircase adds more |
| Distance from the truck | A long carry from a driveway or the street adds time |
| Same house or across town | A table moved within the same building needs no truck |
| Cloth | Re-stretching good stapled cloth is included; new cloth is supplied by a technician |
| Part of a full move | The table shares the truck, the travel time and the crew — less than a separate trip |
To quote, we need a photo of the table, its size and the access at both addresses. If anything is unclear from photos, we ask before the day rather than adjust the price on it.
What a mover does and what a billiard technician does
Our crew takes the table apart, moves it, reassembles it, levels the slate, fills the seams and re-stretches the existing cloth when it can be reused. Some work belongs to a billiard technician:
- New cloth. Supplying and installing new cloth, especially high-end or tournament cloth.
- Cushion and rail repairs. Replacing dead rubber, rebuilding rails, new sights or pockets.
- Restoration. Refinishing the wood, repairing old or antique tables.
If you need any of these, we can coordinate the timing so the technician recovers the table while it is apart — one disassembly instead of two.
Snooker, tournament and antique tables
Full-size snooker tables are much larger and heavier than home pool tables, often with five slate pieces, and are usually best moved with a billiard specialist involved. Tournament and coin-operated tables have their own construction and access needs. Antique tables need extra care with old joints and veneers. Tell us exactly what the table is, send photos, and we will tell you honestly whether it is a job for our crew alone or with a specialist.
Why people choose us for their pool table
- One crew from start to finish. The movers who take the table apart are the ones who reassemble and level it — no hand-off between a moving company and an installer.
- Our own employees, never subcontractors.
- Equipment on every truck: dollies, padded covers, ratchet straps and floor protection; tools for disassembly and levelling.
- A price per table, before the day.
- Combined with your move. The table travels with the rest of your home, on the same day, in the same truck.
- Seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
How to book
Send us a photo of the table, its size, the brand if you know it, and a description of the stairs and doors at both addresses through the form below, or call us. We reply with a price per table and the time we expect. For pianos, see piano moving; for safes, gym equipment and other heavy items, see safe and heavy item moving.
Why moving a pool table yourself usually costs more
Pool tables are most often damaged when they are moved by friends on a weekend, and the same mistakes come up again and again:
- Lifting the table by the rails. The rails are bolted on from underneath and are not meant to carry anything. Lift by the rails with the slate on and the bolts tear out of the wood.
- Moving it in one piece. Even a few metres across a room can rack the frame, and a door or a staircase is out of the question.
- Carrying the slate flat. Flat slate flexes under its own weight and cracks, usually at a corner or along a screw hole.
- Losing the hardware. Rail bolts, slate screws and leg bolts are often specific to the table. Without labelled bags, reassembly turns into a search through a box of loose screws.
- Tearing the cloth off. Pulling the cloth without removing the staples stretches and tears it, and a cloth that could have been reused has to be replaced.
- Reassembling without levelling. A table that looks flat but is not level plays badly from the first shot. Levelling the frame first and then the slate is what makes the difference.
A broken slate, a cracked leg or a twisted frame costs far more to fix than a move by a crew that does this regularly.
Moving a pool table to another city
Pool tables travel well over long distances when they are taken apart properly: slate on edge, padded and strapped against the wall of the truck; frame, legs and rails wrapped and strapped; hardware labelled and kept with the table. We move tables with full households to Quebec City, Gatineau, Sherbrooke, Ottawa, Toronto and further, and reassemble them at the destination. For how long-distance moves are priced, see long-distance moving.
After the move: caring for the table in its new room
- Give the wood time. A wooden frame reacts to the humidity of a new room. If the table was moved from a damp basement to a dry, heated room, or the other way, check the level after a few weeks; a small adjustment at the legs is normal.
- Keep it away from heat and direct sun. Radiators, baseboard heaters and sunny windows dry the wood and fade the cloth.
- Brush the cloth, do not vacuum it hard. Brush toward the head of the table with a billiard brush; a strong vacuum stretches the cloth.
- Use a cover. It keeps dust and sunlight off the cloth and protects it from drinks and pets.
- Do not sit on the rails. It is the fastest way to loosen them after a careful reassembly.
Pool table moving across Greater Montreal
We move pool tables across the island of Montreal — from Plateau and Rosemont walk-ups to houses in Pierrefonds, Saint-Laurent and Ahuntsic — and in Laval, the West Island, the South Shore, the North Shore and Vaudreuil-Soulanges. Basements in suburban houses are the most common destination; condos and plexes are the most common source of questions. Whatever the address, the method is the same and the crew is ours.
