How to move a sofa: Our guide to ensuring your sofa fits in your home

Our team of experts have prepared this essential guide to ensure that your new sofa glides into your home like a breeze. Sit back and take a few minutes to read the below, then grab your measuring tape and away you go.

How to measure a sofa

1. Measure the width, depth and height of the sofa

Alternatively, if purchasing online, take note of the measurements from the product page.Jot down the measurements, as you’ll need to refer to these later.

Be sure to take into account any overhanging cushions or accessories that can’t be removed.

Moving a sofa through a narrow door

Open the front door as wide as it will possibly go, as you need to take into account the space that the door will take up once opened.

Measure from the outer edge of the door to the inner edge of the door-frame.

As long as the width of the door is greater than the height of the sofa then it should fit. Ideally you’d want a little extra wiggle room if possible.

Moving a sofa around a corner

To ensure you can get the sofa into the desired room, you must measure the width of any door frames (with the doors open) and hallways at their narrowest points.

i.e. taking into account any radiators or other obstructions such as light fittings that can’t be removed.

Referring back to your sofa measurements, the sofa height is the most important number here.

Sofas will usually be tilted on their side when being carried through a doorway, therefore the sofa height must be smaller than the width of the door or hallway.

Moving a sofa upstairs

If you need your sofa to go up a flight of stairs, then you need to measure the width of the staircase at its narrowest point.

Take into account the handrail and any wall or ceiling lights that can’t be removed.

The width of the staircase must be greater than the height of the sofa.

To avoid the risk of injury to yourself or the sofa, we’d recommend getting an assistant to help.

Moving a sofa into an apartment

If you live in an apartment building and need to use a lift to get your sofa upstairs, the following measurements should be taken.

The open-door width and height should be noted along with the depth of the lift.

Note that the width of the lift needs to be greater than the height of the sofa.

The depth of the lift should be greater than the depth of the sofa and the height of the lift should be greater than the sofa total width.

If this all sounds too much, then why not consider ordering a sofa in a box, these are essentially flat pack sofas that arrive in manageable boxes and assemble in minutes without the use of tools..