Field Notes: Planning a Piano Room in a Seaton or Audley New Build

Field Notes is a series about what we actually see tuning pianos across the GTA — one area, one pattern at a time.

Pickering and Ajax are building faster than almost anywhere in the GTA — Seaton, Duffin Heights, Nottingham, Audley, Northeast Ajax — and a lot of the pianos we tune there arrived in houses that were still getting their final trades. Which means we've seen, repeatedly, the one thing nobody thinks about during a build: where the piano will go was decided by the HVAC contractor, not the owner. A floor vent under the only wall that fits an upright; a great room that's all glass on the south side; no outlet within reach for a humidifier. Here's what to decide before the drywall, from tuning the pianos that came after.

Decide the piano wall at the framing stage

Every rule in our placement guide is cheaper to satisfy on paper than with furniture: interior wall, no heat vent beneath or beside, no direct sun, not next to an exterior door. In a new build you get to choose that wall — and then protect it:

• Ask for no floor register on the piano wall. HVAC layouts place registers along exterior walls and under windows by default; a register under a piano dries its soundboard all winter. One sentence to the builder's site super, early, moves it.
• Put a dedicated outlet on that wall — for a humidifier (and a piano lamp). Running a cord across the room is how humidifiers end up unplugged by February.
• Think about the return-air grille too. A return near the piano pulls the driest air past it; further away is better.

Glass, and the great room

Seaton's and Audley's plans love the open-concept great room with a two-storey window wall — the hardest room in the house for a piano, and the one where builders' renderings always put one. If the great room is the piano's home: choose the interior wall farthest from the glass, plan blinds or sheers for the south and west exposures, and accept that a right-sized humidifier (or, for a grand, an in-piano system) is part of the plan. A den or a front sitting room with normal ceilings is a better piano room in every way, and it's often the room families use least — which the piano fixes.

Flooring choices

Hardwood and engineered flooring are fine; plan caster cups from day one so the movers set the piano onto them. Radiant floor heating is popular in new builds and is a real consideration: warm floor beneath a wooden instrument means a dry, rising microclimate. Not disqualifying — a rug and an air gap help — but if you have a choice of rooms, the one without radiant heat is the one for the piano. Carpet: fine, with cups.

The first winter is the hardest

New builds are extraordinarily dry in their first heating season — the framing, drywall, and concrete are still releasing and the envelope is tight — and readings of 20–25% relative humidity are common in a Seaton January. A piano arriving in a brand-new house faces its hardest winter immediately. Buy the hygrometer with the house keys, buy the humidifier before the furnace starts, and expect the first-year tuning to drift a little more than later ones.

The delivery

Measure the route at the framing stage too — a 52-inch upright through a standard interior door is fine; a baby grand through a tight vestibule turn is a conversation. On the day: the delivery checklist, then two to four weeks to acclimatize before the first tuning.

What to tell the builder, in one paragraph

"The piano goes on [this interior wall]. Please keep floor registers and returns off that wall, add a dedicated outlet there, and note it on the electrical and HVAC drawings." Site supervisors hear a hundred requests; this one is small, specific, and costs them nothing — and it saves the piano years.

Tuning across Pickering and Ajax: service details and neighbourhoods here.

Common questions

Where should a piano go in a new-build house?
An interior wall in a room with normal ceilings, away from floor registers, sun, and exterior doors — chosen at the framing stage so the builder can keep vents off that wall and add an outlet for a humidifier.

Is a great room with a window wall bad for a piano?
It's the hardest room in a new build: sun, a thermally exterior glass wall, and a volume that's difficult to humidify. If it must be the piano room, use the interior wall farthest from the glass, plan window coverings, and budget for serious humidification.

Why is a new house so dry for a piano?
Fresh construction materials release moisture unevenly and the tight envelope plus forced-air heat drives first-winter humidity to 20–25%. A humidifier from the first day the furnace runs is essential for a piano's first year in a new build.