Guide
Will my sofa fit through the door? How to measure
Updated
A sofa fits through a door if its smallest side, or its diagonal depth when tilted back, is narrower than the door’s clear opening. Then it still has to make every turn on the way: the hallway, the stairs, the landing and the lift. Most sofas that “won’t fit” fail at a corner, not at the door. Measure the whole route once, and you’ll know before the van arrives.
Check yours with the free sofa fit calculator
1. Measure the sofa
Measure the widest points, with the cushions on. Arms, feet and the back frame all count.
- Length: arm to arm, the longest side.
- Depth: front of the arm to the back, at the deepest point.
- Height: floor to the top of the back.
- Diagonal depth: hold a straight edge from the top of the back to the front of the arm, then measure from the bottom back corner up to it at a right angle. It’s the thinnest the sofa gets when tilted back, and it’s the number that gets most deep sofas through a door.
For a corner sofa, measure each section separately: they almost always come apart. For a sofa bed, check the mechanism doesn’t add depth at the bottom.
2. Measure the whole route
Walk from where the van will park to where the sofa will sit, and measure every narrow point on the way.
- Doors: the clear opening with the door fully open, from the door stop or the face of the open door to the opposite frame. That’s usually 5–8 cm (2–3 in) less than the door itself. Measure the height to the underside of the frame too.
- Porches and hallways: wall to wall at the narrowest point, including radiators, coat hooks and banisters.
- Corners: wherever you turn from a hallway into a door, note the hallway width and the door width together. That turn decides the longest sofa you can get round it.
- Stairs: the width between the wall and the banister, the headroom at the lowest point above the stairs, and any turn on a half landing or winders. A sofa that goes up straight stairs can stick on a turn.
- Lifts: the door opening and the inside width, depth and height. A sofa that won’t lie flat in a lift will sometimes go in standing on its end, if it’s shorter than the lift is tall.
3. Work out how it goes through
There are four ways to carry a sofa through a doorway:
- Flat, length first. It fits if the smaller of its depth and height is narrower than the clear opening.
- Tilted back, so the diagonal depth goes through first. Most 3-seaters get into a room this way.
- On its end, length upright. It needs the sofa to be shorter than the door is tall, but it makes tight turns from a hallway much easier.
- Hooked: on its end, top of the back through the door first, then the arm swung round the frame. Seen from above, a sofa on its end is an L, so at the door it’s only as wide as the diagonal from the back’s rear corner to where the arm meets the back. With arms about 60 cm (24 in) high and a 20 cm (8 in) back that’s about 63 cm (25 in), plus a few for the depth of the frame it pivots in, so an 80 cm (31½ in) deep sofa can go through a 70 cm (27½ in) door. See it hooked through. It needs clear space to swing: along the wall inside the room, and behind you for the seat. The open door, a radiator or a corner there will stop it, so swing away from the door or take it off.
Then check each turn. The sums for carrying a sofa round a corner are fiddly, which is why we built the sofa fit calculator: give it the sofa, the door and the hallway width, and it tells you whether it goes flat, tilted or on its end.
A worked example
A 3-seater is 210 cm (82¾ in) long, 95 cm (37½ in) deep and 85 cm (33½ in) high, with a diagonal depth of 74 cm (29 in).
- Front door, clear opening 77 cm (30¼ in). Flat, its smallest side is 85 cm, so no. Tilted back, 74 cm goes through 77 cm with 3 cm (1¼ in) to spare: tight, but it fits.
- Living room door, clear opening 71 cm (28 in). Tilted, 74 cm is 3 cm too wide. Taking the door off its hinges usually gains 3–5 cm (1–2 in), which brings the opening to about 75 cm (29½ in). Just enough.
- The hallway turn is the last check: a 210 cm sofa turning into that door from a narrow hallway may need to go on its end. Put the numbers into the calculator to see.
So the sofa fits, but only with the living room door off. That’s worth knowing before moving day, not halfway through it.
If it won’t fit
- Take the door off its hinges, and remove the door stops if you need a little more. Both go back on afterwards.
- Take the sofa apart: unscrew the feet, and check for arms or a back that bolt on. Many do, even when it isn’t obvious.
- Go through a window or patio door. For an upper-floor flat, ask your removal company about hoisting it through a window or onto a balcony. It costs extra and needs the opening measured too.
- Get it dismantled and rebuilt. Some furniture repairers take a sofa apart, carry the frame in in pieces and put it back together in the room.
- Choose a different sofa: modular sofas, sofas with removable arms and sofas delivered in boxes all go through narrow doors and up tight stairs.
Buying a new sofa? Measure first
Measure the route before you order, not when it arrives. Many retailers give a minimum doorway width, or the diagonal depth, on the product page; if not, ask. Check whether the feet and arms come off, and read the returns terms: some won’t take back a sofa because it didn’t fit through the door.
Once you know it gets in, check it fits the room: typical sofa sizes help you shortlist, and space around furniture covers the room you need to walk past it. You can draw the room and drop the sofa in to see it next to everything else.
Questions
Will a 3-seater sofa fit through a standard door?
Usually, but only tilted back. A standard UK internal door has a clear opening of about 70–72 cm (27½–28¼ in), and most 3-seaters are 85–100 cm (33–39 in) deep, too deep to carry flat. If the diagonal depth is under the clear opening, it should tilt through.
What is a sofa’s diagonal depth?
The thinnest the sofa gets when you tilt it back: the distance from the bottom back corner to a straight edge laid from the top of the back to the front of the arm. Retailers sometimes call it the “minimum doorway width”.
How much does taking a door off its hinges gain?
Usually 3–5 cm (1–2 in), the thickness of the open door. Taking the door stops off can add another 1–2 cm (about ½ in).
The sofa fits the door but not round the corner. What now?
Try it on its end: stood upright, a long sofa needs much less room to turn. If it’s taller than the door, it’s a job for a window, a dismantle or a sofa that comes apart.
Is there a sofa fit calculator?
Yes: our free sofa fit calculator checks a sofa against a doorway (flat, tilted, on its end or hooked round the frame) and the turn from a hallway, in cm or inches, with no sign-in.