You can quickly learn how to fit a sofa through a small door using three steps. First, get the couch bare and then take its measurements. Measure the doorway as well so you can correlate their dimensions and plan your positioning when moving.
We have also written a step-by-step guide on how to move a sofa for additional maneuverability tips, including those who plan on transporting the couch. And if you end up needing to dismantle the couch, here is how to take apart a sofa correctly. Read all these related articles to help with this three-step guide.
How To Move A Sofa Through A Small Door
Step 1. Remove the cushions and measure the sofa
Start by answering the question, “will the sofa fit through the door?” Remove the cushions and other items on the couch to get its dimensions. If your sofa is massive, you can start disassembling it and remove the sofa legs in this step.
Instead of only taking the outer dimensions of the sofa, be more specific in your measurements. Get the width from one arm to the other, the height from the floor to the sofa’s highest point, and the sofa’s depth from front to back. These numbers should provide you the total size of the couch.
Step 2. Measure the door and plan your maneuvering
Get the dimensions of the doorway using a measuring tape. Jot down the width and height of the opening, and then correlate the results with your couch’s measurements. Use this step to identify if you have a maneuvering plan or if you need to dismantle the sofa.
Step 3. Remove the doors and move the couch through
What if your sofa won’t fit through the small door? You can remove the interior doors to provide a bigger path for the sofa. Tap the door hinge pins from the bottom upward and pull them out. This should allow you to remove the door from the hinges.
Once you have prepared the walkway, you can move and fit the sofa through the door. It’s best to have someone assist you, especially if the couch is heavy. You may need to tilt the sofa on one end to move it vertically.
Otherwise, fitting a couch horizontally through a door is more straightforward. Just be mindful of your posture when lifting or pushing. Furthermore, protect the floor and the sofa itself to avoid scratching them.
How Do You Get An Oversized Couch Through A Door?
Remove the doorstops and hinges
Besides removing interior doors, you can create a bigger opening for the couch if you also take out the hinges and doorstops. Those who are moving an oversized sofa can fit it through quickly if you remove the trim inside the doorframe. You can get half an inch to an inch of space when moving the couch vertically or horizontally without these door stops.
Do you notice that the couch might hang on the door? Remove the door hinges to prevent scratching your sofa. You only need to take out the screws to get half an inch of door width when maneuvering oversized sofas in small doors.
Twist the sofa through the door
Fitting the sofa through the door horizontally or vertically are not the only orientations you can make. You can also move the furniture diagonally with the help of another person picking the other end of the couch. Tilt the sofa to allow the other person to hook the couch arm around the door, and then the rest of the couch body will move like a corkscrew.
What Do You Do If Your Couch Doesn’t Fit Through The Door?
- Disassemble the couch to lessen its bulk or separate it into sections
- Remove the carpeting if you lack space vertically
- Hire a professional moving company to dismantle and move the sofa for you
Will A 36 Inch Couch Fit Through A 30 Inch Door?
A 36-inch sofa should fit through a 30-inch doorway since couches 34 inches high and 38 inches deep can maneuver in this tight space. You only need careful planning and save space wisely. For example, remove the door and move the couch through the doorway by tilting it to its side.
If the angle still fails, you have to disassemble the sofa. You can remove the cushioning and cover to remove the sofa arms from their connections easily. However, be careful not to damage any sofa parts to help you reassemble it later.
How Do You Work Out If A Sofa Will Fit Through The Door?
The best way to work out if you can move a sofa through the door or any pathway is by getting both the measurements of the couch and the opening. Compare the dimensions to see if they will be compatible or if you need to provide more space by either dismantling the sofa or the door parts.
Conclusion
Do you need to move your couch? It will be tricky if you don’t know how to fit a sofa through a small door, considering some doorways are tight. The good news is you only need to correlate the couch’s measurements to the opening dimensions.
From these numbers, you can decide how to maneuver the furniture. You may also need to remove the door stopper or dismantle the sofa itself.