2007-10-13

For two years I've been thinking about how to get my old TV out of the basement, and in all that time I never came up with a good plan.
The problem is that the TV is big. It's a CRT-based, widescreen, rear-projection HDTV. It's a little larger than 4 ft. by 4 ft. by 2 ft. and it weighs 300 lbs. The movers got it down there about five years ago, but movers can do things that nobody else can do and, besides, my problem was getting it up, not down.
(Getting its replacement, a DLP-based TV with the same size screen into the basement was easy, because the new TV weighs only 80 lbs. and has a much smaller cabinet.)
I offered the old TV to a friend, but four strong guys, including two weight lifting record holders, could not get that TV up the stairs. It wasn't the 300 lbs., since two of the guys have lifted more than that in competition. It was the shape. The TV completely filled the stairway, and there was just no way for the four of us to hold the TV and at the same time make any upward progress. We got it to maybe the third step.
I thought of calling the movers back, but the idea of spending $500 to move a TV not even worth that much didn't make much sense. I could offer it on Craig's List for free, but what if the clowns who came to get it wound up wrenching their backs and holding me responsible? Or wrecking the stairway? Or damaging the TV and then, after realizing it didn't work, leaving it in my garage? Or, worse, getting it stuck halfway up?
With house guests arriving in a couple of weeks, and no good ideas in mind, it was time for a bad idea. So, I took the TV apart and carried the twenty or so pieces up the stairs myself. Disassembling it took only a couple of hours, and now it's sitting on my front porch.
(Computer scientists will recognize this as a typical time-space tradeoff. OK, maybe not so typical.)
As you can see from the picture, I'm not sure I got it put back together exactly right. As I recall, the screen was at the front and the electronics were on the inside.
But at least it's out of the basement.