If your couch won’t fit a small doorway, try the following seven steps before calling a professional or giving up and returning the couch. In this quick guide, I’ll walk you through each step to take if your couch won’t fit. Unfortunately, I have a lot of experience getting sofas through narrow doorways! Let’s dive in.
Table Of Contents
What Do You Do If Your Couch Won’t Fit Through The Door?
Here are the seven things to try if your couch won’t fit.
1. Turn The Couch Over
Have you flipped the couch over? Sometimes turning it on its side or vertically lets you angle the sofa differently to squeeze it through. It helps to have one or two other people helping you do this.
2. Squeeze The Couch
Although couches are heavy pieces of furniture, they’re also soft, letting you squeeze them through an apartment doorway or other narrow doors. Press down on the upholstery to compress it and see if that lets you nudge it through the door. Keep an eye on your fingers — you don’t want to crush them!
3. Put The Sofa On A Piece Of Cardboard
Sometimes sliding a heavy or bulky sofa can make it easier to pass through the door. Put a piece of cardboard under the couch and push instead of trying to lift it over a tough spot.
4. Try Another Entryway
Although the front door is what most people try first, it’s worth trying other options if your couch won’t fit. Do you have a large bay window on the ground floor, French doors, or sliding doors? If you have a garage, measure the door between the garage and the house to see if it’s wider.
Should you try moving the couch through high-up windows? No, you could hurt yourself. If that’s the only way, you’re better off calling professional movers to be on the safe side.
5. Take The Couch Apart
Often, plastic, metal, and wooden legs for couches are removable, so take a look and see if yours screw off. Another place to look is the armrests: try detaching them from the body of the couch. Either of these options could give you that tiny extra bit of space you need to get the sofa through the door.
6. Take Off The Door
Taking a door off its hinges is easier than it sounds and can give you a tiny bit more space to work with. Position a nail on the pin at the center of the door hinge. With a hammer, tap the nail. The pin should pop out easily. Do this on the other hinge as well, and remove the door.
7. Remove The Door Frame
As a last resort, you can remove the door frame for extra space. After taking the door off its hinges, use a craft knife to cut through the paint or caulk around the doorframe. Then, get a screwdriver between the frame and wall to pry the door frame off, starting from the bottom up. Use a crowbar if needed, and then use pliers to remove any nails.
FAQs
Now that we’ve explored what to try if your couch won’t fit, let’s cover a few frequently asked questions.
Can You Take Apart A Couch To Fit Through Door?
Yes, you can take apart a couch to fit it through a door. First, see if your sofa legs are removable. Some can be twisted off, and others need a screwdriver.
Next, remove the staples holding the cover under the sofa with a staple remover or pliers. Then, carefully roll the cover back to see the sofa frame. Next, do the same for the sofa arms by removing the cover over them. Now you can remove the screws or bolts holding the arms to the sofa’s body and take the sofa inside piece by piece.
How Do I Know What Size Couch Will Fit My Room?
To know what size couch will fit your room, you need to know how to measure a couch: measure the couch’s width, depth, diagonal depth, and height.
Can A Sofa Be Too Small For A Room?
Yes, a sofa can be too small for a room, especially if it’s less than two-thirds the length of the wall it’s sitting against. That might make it look out of place and not give you enough space to seat all your guests.
