Straight answers
How do you get a 10-foot porcelain slab to the second floor?
Not up the stairs. A house landing is too shallow to turn a ten-foot-six slab, and porcelain shatters when it goes. The way up is from outside, with a vacuum lifter that lifts to 13 ft 11 in and holds the slab flat while one person walks it in on a remote. It lifts 1,320 lb close to the mast and 330 lb at full extension, so where the machine can park matters more than what the slab weighs.
Three things decide it.
Reach, access, and the fact that the piece is porcelain.
Reach
1,320 lb close to the mast, 330 lb at full extension. A 12 mm slab in the 10 ft 6 by 5 ft 3 format is about 326 lb, so even that one wants the machine parked close. Tell us where it can park.
Access
It drives through at 32.7 in, so a standard 36-inch door clears, and it needs 5 ft 8 in to set the legs. Off-road tires cross the lawn, and a ramp handles a curb or a few steps.
Fragility
Porcelain does not crack like natural stone. It shatters, and the pieces are sharp. Four 16 in pads on two circuits hold the face flat, and nobody has fingers under the edge.
Three ways up, and the one that never works.
Which one applies depends on the house, so send a photo of the opening with the quote.
- Through an opening from outsideThe machine stays on the ground and lifts to 13 ft 11 in. The crew takes the slab at a balcony, a lanai, or a window opening before the glass goes in.
- Set from the groundA lanai wall or an exterior feature wall within reach of grade. The machine sets it in place directly, held flat and still while one person lines it up.
- The machine rides upOn a commercial job with a construction hoist rated for 2,090 lb. Get the rating in writing. Upstairs, it sets the wall the same way it does downstairs.
- Not the stairsA house landing is three to four feet deep with about six feet eight of headroom. You cannot pivot a ten-foot-six panel through it. That is geometry, not strength, and no amount of crew fixes it.
The proof, from the manufacturer.
A published Smartlift case on the same model we rent. Not an Iron Bay job, and we say so.
- The jobMarble and granite fireplace walls inside finished homes, set with an SL609. Smartlift published it as a case.
- The timeThe shop's own number: a slab fireplace that took three to four days came down to one.
- The crew, on any fireplace wallBy hand it is a six-to-eight-person carry. With the machine it is two people: one on the remote, one lining it up.
Source: the manufacturer's published case. Not our customer. Real Florida jobs go on this site as they build.
Send the slab. We will tell you if it works.
A few fields. An itemized quote comes back within two hours, 9 to 5, seven days a week.
The follow-ups.
The five questions that usually come right after this one.
How much does a 10-foot porcelain slab weigh?
It depends on thickness. In the 10 ft 6 by 5 ft 3 format, 6 mm is about 148 lb, 12 mm about 326 lb, and 20 mm about 540 lb. The weight is rarely the problem. The size and the fragility are.
Can the lifter reach a second floor from the ground?
It lifts to 13 ft 11 in. Whether that reaches your opening depends on the house, so send a photo and the height and we will tell you. Capacity at full extension is 330 lb, so tell us how far out it has to go as well.
Does it go up the stairs?
No. A house landing is three to four feet deep with about six feet eight of headroom, and a ten-foot-six slab does not pivot through it. The machine does not climb stairs either. It goes up from outside, in a hoist rated for it, or not at all.
Will the pads hold porcelain?
Yes. Polished, honed, and leather finishes all hold as long as the face is sealed and non-porous, and the same goes for porcelain. Four 16 in pads on two independent circuits.
How fast can you get one to the job?
Same-day in Tampa and St. Petersburg when the unit is on the yard. Next-day everywhere else in Florida, subject to availability. Book ahead if the date is fixed.
Where to next.
The pages this answer leans on, and the other four questions.
Got one on the calendar?
Tell us the weight and the zip. You’ll have an itemized quote back within two hours.