Older stock · Pre-1900
Period and listed house removals in Hampshire
Georgian townhouses in Winchester, Victorian terraces in Southampton and Portsmouth, and the timber-framed and brick cottages of the villages. These are the jobs where the building genuinely constrains what can be moved, and where a survey earns its keep.
The honest opening: in a pre-1900 house, some modern furniture does not go up the stairs. Better to know in advance.
What a period move includes
The staircase decides almost everything
In a modern house the stairs are a straight run with a generous width and a square landing. In a pre-1900 house they are frequently a winder — treads that taper into a corner — with a low ceiling above and a door at the bottom.
A winder sets a hard limit on the longest rigid object that can go up or down, and that limit is often shorter than a three-seater sofa or a tall wardrobe. Measuring the diagonal at the turn is one of the first things we do.
Where a piece will not go, the options are dismantling, a window, or leaving it. We would rather discuss all three at survey than produce them as a surprise on the day.
Door heads, beams and floors
Low door heads are the second constraint — plenty of Hampshire cottages have head heights well below a modern standard, and tall furniture has to be tilted in ways that need two people and a plan.
Exposed beams sit at head height in timber-framed properties and they are unforgiving of a carelessly carried corner. So is lime plaster, which marks far more easily than modern plasterboard and is expensive to make good.
Original boards and flagstones need protection against dragging and against grit carried in on boots. Runners go down as a matter of course here rather than as an extra.
Listed status and conservation areas
Listing does not prevent you moving house, obviously, but it changes what can be done to get things out. Nothing is unscrewed from the fabric, no fixings go into original material, and anything that would require altering the building is off the table.
Conservation areas in Winchester and the older parts of the cities also restrict where a vehicle may stand and for how long. That is arranged in advance with the relevant council.
What we ask you to do
Measure your largest pieces before the survey if you can, and tell us about anything you know is tight — the wardrobe that came in before a door was hung, the piano, the bed that was built in the room.
And be realistic with us about what matters. If a piece is genuinely irreplaceable we will plan around it properly; if it is a sofa you were half thinking of replacing anyway, knowing that changes the advice.
Period and listed houses
Questions about period and listed houses
01 Will my sofa go up the stairs?
In a winder staircase, often not. We measure the turn at survey and tell you before the day. Where it will not go, the options are dismantling, a window lift, or leaving the piece — and we will set out all three honestly.
02 Can you take a piano out of a cottage?
Frequently, with the right crew and sometimes through a window. It has to be raised at survey rather than added to a general inventory, because it is a specific plan and specific equipment.
03 Will you damage lime plaster?
Not if we have been told it is lime plaster. It marks far more easily than modern plasterboard, so protection goes on the walls of the route as well as the floors.
04 Do you need permission to park in a conservation area?
Often, yes, and it needs arranging in advance with the council rather than on the morning. We handle the application; we cannot guarantee the outcome.
05 Is a period move more expensive?
It is frequently slower, and the written quote reflects the access and crew the survey establishes. There is no period surcharge as such — the quote is built from what we actually found.
Tell us when the house was built
That, the two addresses, and what the approach looks like. Three answers and we can tell you something useful; anything less and we would be guessing.