With their heavy slate beds and weighty woodwork, snooker and pool tables can be difficult to move – but it’s not an impossible task. After all, at some point someone brought it in!
Is it worth storing my snooker table?
Snooker tables, particularly those with slate beds, are pricy to buy. In some cases, snooker tables are specially designed for the space they are in. If you know you’re going to come back to playing snooker at some point, it’s worth hanging on to your table. But if not, it may be time to let it go.
Do I have to insure my pool table?
A pool or snooker table should be covered by your home contents insurance while in your home. But tables kept in a storage unit may not come under your contents insurance. Instead, you’ll need specialist self-storage insurance. Some storage companies bundle this cost into your monthly storage bill – but check how much you’re paying as there are often good savings to be made by going with a specialist insurer like Store and Insure. You can get a quick quote to see if you’re overpaying for your self-storage insurance.
How do I move a snooker table?
You’ll probably have to dissemble a professional snooker table to move it any distance, and it’s definitely a job for more than one person. Be sure to refresh your knowledge of safe lifting techniques, and check the instruction manual that came with your snooker table to see what steps you need to take to dissemble it. You may need to call in the professionals, as moving a snooker table is a complex task: GC Billiards has some information about the logistics of moving a pool table.
The slate beds of pool and snooker tables are often split into pieces, which can weigh over 160kg each (about the same as a full pub beer keg). These should be wrapped in bubble wrap for storage. If the felt on your snooker table is very worn, it may need replacing when you put the table back together.
After going to all that effort to move your pool table, it makes complete sense to keep it in the best possible environment where the temperature and humidity are maintained at a constant level.
Where is the best place to store a pool table?
Whether you need the space for something else or you’ve lost interest in playing snooker for now, it’s good to remember that replacing a cue sports table can be a costly business. So it’s worth taking extra care to store them in appropriate conditions. Leaving a pool table in a garage or shed is not recommended as the fluctuating temperatures can warp the wooden parts of your table and damage the felt or baize surface. The slates that make up the bed of a snooker table are more robust – but an impact could crack them; so they should be treated with respect. Once they are stored, you don’t want to be moving them out of the way to get to things behind them.
As mentioned above, snooker tables are heavy, so it’s better to use a well-lit, easily accessible place to store them. A climate-controlled storage unit is ideal for keeping an out-of-use cue sports table.
How do you reassemble a pool table?
Again, the instruction manual is your friend when assembling a pool table. But for a professional finish, look for an expert pool table fitter to do the job. They will ensure your bed is level and can help with fitting new pocket nets, new cushion rubbers, recovering the bed and the cushions and polishing the woodwork.
Photo by Jolene Hardy on Unsplash
