Moving a couch/sofa through a narrow doorway is a more common problem than you may think. You have carefully measured your living room, worked out the layout and decided on the perfect couch. But, when it arrives it won’t fit through the narrow doorways. Nightmare! Or you are moving house only to discover that your beloved sofa won’t fit through your doorway in your new home.
Choosing The Right Sofa For Small Doorways
If you are planning on buying a new sofa you will want to ensure that it fits in your living space. Measuring the room and the space you want to put it is only one part of the problem. You also want to ensure it will fit through the door.
There are many different modular sofas on the market these days that are easy to take apart for ease of transport and fitting in through your small doorways. Just make sure you note down the measurements of each section to ensure that each part will fit through your door.
Corner, left hand or right hand sofas are also often sectional, so again are easier to move. Check that they will be easy to take apart before buying, and if not, you may need professional help in getting that sofa in to your living room.
A sofa bed or reclining sofa are often easily dismantled for ease of moving. Again, check this with the manufacturer before purchasing.
But, if your heart is set on that big sofa that you know won’t fit easily through your doors or corridors, don’t despair, there is always a way.
Let The Experts Help
Sofa Assist is here to help. We can analyse your sofa to determine the best course of action. We will assess your property and general layout of the access route. Ensuring that your sofa is safely delivered into the room you intended it for. We will find the solution to your problem.
Here at Sofa Assist we specialise in moving large sofas into homes and properties where there is a narrow doorway or other access issues. If you think your sofa is too big for your door there are other avenues. Your windows are another option, we have specialist equipment to hoist your sofa in through an upstairs window. This is also a good option for people living in flats as moving large sofa’s up tight stair ways is a common problem. Please do not try to move a sofa through an upstairs window or balcony area without the proper equipment.
When moving the sofa in to a building in one piece just can’t be done, Sofa Assist can disassemble your sofa and reassemble it perfectly in place. Our qualified and extensively experienced upholsterers put your sofa back together without anyone ever being able to tell it was taken apart.
In short, we can move your sofa into your property or home even when your sofa is too big for your small doorways. For more information and advice contact our friendly team today.
Fitting a Sofa Through a Small Doorway
There are always things that you can do to fit a large sofa through an opening that may appear too small. With a bit of careful planning and know-how, you would be surprised how often you will be able to squeeze that couch through the doorway.
A sofa often has sections that are fairly easily removed or disassembled to help you fit them through a narrow doorway. Legs, arms and seat backs are commonly pieces that can be taken off without damaging the sofa.
You Will Need:
- A measuring tape
- Notepad and pen
- Screwdriver
- Wrench/Allen Wrench
- Pliers
Possibly a hammer, nails, pry bar, a utility knife, safety goggles, work gloves, a towel and lifting straps.
You will also nerd to have at least two strong people as even a small couch can weigh 100 pounds. Sofa beds will weigh much more.
Step One – Remove what you can
Remove any throw cushions and detachable seat/back cushions and throw pillows. If the legs are easy to remove, take those off now too.
Step Two – Measure the sofa
Measure the dimensions of the sofa and jot these down. Make sure you measure the maximum size from the outer most edges of the couch. Height will need to be from the floor to the highest point on the back of the sofa. Width should be from the outer edge of one arm to the other. Depth will be from the front to the back of the sofa.
Step Three – Measuring all openings
You will need to measure the dimensions of all the passageways that your sofa needs to pass through. The doorways, hallway, stairwells, elevator doors etc will all need to be measured by height and width of the opening. Be sure to jot these down too.
Once you have these measurements, plan out on a piece of paper where the couch will fit and whether it will need to be turned horizontally or vertically. Don’t forget to allow for ‘swing’ around space if you need to turn a corner.
The Doorway Is Too Narrow
You may find after measuring that the doorway is just slightly too narrow. Even if on paper it looks like it may fit, you may find it easier to remove any interior doors prior to moving the couch.
Removing an interior door is usually fairly simple. It just requires tapping out the hinge pins with a nail. Tap from the bottom upward. You can then pull each pin out and remove the door sideways to take it off its hinges. This doesn’t require removing the hinges from either the door or the frame.
If this still doesn’t give you enough room to manoeuvre, you can remove the door hinges from the frame and doorstops. Doorstops are the trim inside the door frame that hold the door in place when closed. Removing both of these will give you roughly an extra inch of width and about half an inch in height.