Here is a quick schematic for how to lift a mattress up to a second story balcony if you have three-four people to help and two ropes. The rope that goes under needs to be pretty strong, the rope that goes over does not need to be very strong. None of the people need to be that strong - but the people on the bottom need to be strong enough to lift the mattress about a foot at at time. Numbered instructions below:
- Set the people and ropes up as shown in the diagram (strong rope tied to balcony at right).
- Have everyone below give a short heave, and let the strong rope person take up the slack.
- The upper person in the middle is just there to keep the mattress balanced on the strong rope, and should not need to pull up very strongly.
- Do this several times until you can just tip the mattress over into the balcony.
Note 1: make sure that the person pulling the strong rope is standing to the side of where the rope is tied (or you will not the get the top of the mattress above the banister.
Note 2: This is a true story.
