moving a washing machine down stairs

Anyone have any tips or advice for moving a washing machine down a flight of stairs? I'm absolutely dreading it! We have a dolly to use but my husband thinks that's somehow going to make it more difficult because of the angle we'd have to keep it at and the weight of the machine.

The way I have seen our moving guys move large appliances like washers, stoves etc...up and down stairs is with a blanket type thing.  This looks like a blanket but has handles on 2 sides to help hold the blanket.  They tip the machine to allow the blanket to slide under it and then have 2 people, one on opposite sides from each other holding the blanket and then slide it up or down the stairs.  When you get it where you want it, you slide the blanket out from under it.  JUst a thought!  Also - make sure you have drained all the water from it - that adds lots of weight as well.  Good luck

It's often easiest to just have two people, above and below the machine, one keeping the top end reasonably upright and the other supporting the bottom of the machine and carefully bringing it down one or two steps at a time (rigger gloves are good idea - some machines have edges which will cut into the fingers quite badly otherwise).

For a particularly heavy machine and/or awkward stairway, you can lighten the load by removing the concrete ballast blocks and refitting them after the move.  Some are easier to remove than others though.

Thanks. We'll definitely have a look at removing the blocks and hope that we can!

It's mainly a case of whether you can reach the bolts and have enough room to maneuver them out without having to disconnect and remove a lot of other stuff as well (not difficult, but time consuming and obviously not recommended if you're not confident about being able to fit it all back correctly!). There's often a block on the top of the outer drum assembly which you can see by removing the top cover.  To reach the others you'll probably need to remove the rear panel or work from underneath.