Removal day comes, you have everything packed, secured and ready to go and then you cast eyes on your lovely (and massive) sofa and you realise – there is absolutely no way for that thing to get out the door or window, so what do you do? First and foremost don’t panic and do go drastic. If you are using a specialised house removal service, then the movers will determine the quickest and safest way to take the sofa out without causing damage to the property, or the furniture piece itself.
If however you wish to try out your engineering skills and luck, here is how to take out the sofa in a few basic steps:
Do some basic measuring – if you recently bought the sofa, chances are there will be some paperwork indicating its exact size. If there isn’t then you will have to get your tape measure. With respect to the door, the standard door size in the UK is 31 inches. In order to win some extra space you will need to remove the door from its frame. How to do this? First of all, get a buddy to help you out as the door will be somewhat heavy and really awkward to handle and manoeuvre once off its hinges.
The easiest and safest way to remove the door off its hinges is by unscrewing the hinge bolts using a power screwdriver. Once done, ease the door carefully out of the doorway (doorframe) and place it in an upward position somewhere out of the way. Removing the door should give you a couple of extra inches.
Get your buddy again and have them help you shift the sofa into the doorway, as expected the sofa won’t fit through horizontally so start turning it carefully in either clockwise or anticlockwise direction (not around its axis – hand eye coordination people). Find an angle, in which the sofa fits through the door, you won’t have to tilt it all the way but only slightly. The idea of the tilting exercise is to reduce the sofa’s width by turning it accordingly.
If there is no way to physically to fit the sofa through the door (regardless of how much tilting you do) you might have to consider disassembly. Again, before doing any of that, consider your own handyman skills and if you don’t feel totally confident, perhaps it is better to let the removal team do that for you (if you are using one). In some cases you might get away with only partial disassembly of the sofa or removing its attached cushioning (if possible). Furniture disassembly is a specific process varying from one piece to another so be careful and follow the pattern if you see one. Try and remember which part comes after which as this will make re-assembly much quicker and easier. In all cases, try and protect the finish or fabric of the sofa from damage during the entire process. If the doorway of your next address is of the same small size, see if it’s possible to transport the sofa disassembled and then reassemble it once inside.