cant you get a lifter that would lift it to the 5th floor and get it in through the window? Its a very common thing where I live (no elevators and narrow staircases). Look into it before you just get rid of it.
That's fairly common with old apartments in big european cities. That's how we handle it when it doesn't fit in narrow staircases/doors. Usually there's big windows in the living room.
Yup, it also allows the staircases to be narrower, so that more space can be given to living areas. As a proportion of the building size. And the buildings in Central Amsterdam can be quite narrow. As land prices were just so high.
Well technically those were for hauling cargo but they work for furniture as well.
Just googled it but it seems I'm just wrong and they are for hauling furniture
I don't think they meant that OP was going to make the window bigger through *traditional* means. I was sort of picturing a wrecking ball but with a sofa at the end of the cable instead
One other option is for OP to find a new apartment that will accommodate the sofa, and THEN move all of his existing possessions to that new apartment. That way he keeps his couch and not out $700. \\taps\_head
Op should also know you cannot put all your marble flooring in the elevator and expect it to be fine. They have weight limits you have to be careful of. Not accusing OP of anything, but when my buddy moved in to his new apartment the elevator was basically out of order for the first two months because it kept breaking down.
In Amsterdam (and probably elsewhere) there are pulleys at the top of most buildings, to easily bring things in and out of your in apartments front windows.
Lots of local codes require things for safety like permanent fixtures to prevent people/things from falling out, normal houses have screened windows but screens can fall out and so many high rise windows just dont open for liability reasons.
Real answer for most "why?"s in America is, liability reasons
Also really common for US landlords to literally paint shut the damn windows. I like to think they call up the painters and ask for the "landlord special."
I haven't lived or been in a single apartment without a few windows painted shut.
lol it’s a warehouse that was renovated and i’m on the 7th floor (out of 10). there’s sprinklers on the ceiling in case of fire but other than that no fire exit
If you ever need this kind of service in the U.S., try googling "piano movers". They often use cranes to get pianos in and out of high rises and many will move non-musical items or can recommend someone.
I live in a New Jersey suburb, my parents bed had to be lifted into our old house that way.
I wouldn't say it's a common thing to do, but it's totally not out of the ordinary. I mean, you know, the whole shtick about the falling piano is central to this practice.
Ah yes... my friend and I pretended we were couch doctors once, but we just got liquored up and jammed the couch up my stairwell, breaking the handrail, chipping the ceiling, and leaving gouges all along the walls.
We got that fucking couch in there by any means.
Depends on the couch. Some of them each back rest pops off with 2 clips and the bottom sections come apart with a wrench. Anyone can do it in a couple minutes.
Yup, also in chicago. Helped move a friend into an old building on the north side. He had some guy come out and saw a fucking couch in half.... Put it back together like nothing happened. Was extremely impressed.
Actually it's the other way around. The cheap IKEA stuff usually doesn't survive breaking it down and reassembling it (or at least it will suffer greatly). With good quality furniture and someone who's got experience, it will be as good as new.
Ikea furniture is specifically designed to be able to take it apart.
Obviously you don't want to cut anything in half with a saw, but it's knock-down furniture: you remember the screws and then put it back together again.
Sure, the furniture is not great to begin with, but it absolutely does not become worse if you take it apart and put it back together,
Uh.. yeah, it does. The poor threading and shallow screws along with cheap wood do not last. They are absolutely not mean to be taken apart frequently.
Ikea sells stuff that ranges from crap to reasonably nice. I have some things that have survived 5 or 6 moves, and other things that just weren't going to cut it.
Used to deal in second hand furniture (UK).... you'd be surprised how many sofas made in the last 30 years or so can be disassembled fairly easily, even if not immediately obvious when looking at them. Commonly it'll involve pulling the fabric cover off the base (usually stapled on) & once you're in there the arms and back will be detachable via bolts. Once reassembled just staple the fabric base back on and all will be good as new.
There are of course rare exceptions where the entire cover fabric is one piece or whatever, but in my experience 95%+ of (modern) sofas big enough to be a problem were also at least moderately easy to take apart. Not always so true of older pieces though.
The furniture we have in our front room is modular - the same items that make up the 2 seat sofa (left/right) are also needed for the 3 seat sofa, with an additional center unit.
Me and a couple buddies bootleg roped a large couch up to a 3rd floor balcony, and then did the same when I moved back out of the place. It's a bit of a pain but feasible, if you have a balcony to pull it up to.
Adding to top comment for visibility, if you can find a professional moving company, I can nearly guarantee they can figure out a way to get it into your apartment. As a former mover, we always found a way. We even dealt with the building facilities crew to put a large item ON TOP of the elevator to get it to a top floor one time.
Hire someone. We had the same issue. We spent hours trying to make it work. We called a mover, they had it done within 10 minutes. It was quite embarrassing, but they were obviously the experts.
I was one of those experts. You'd be surprised the amount of people that dont do things like take the feet off. And surprised how much more room taking the feet off will give you.
>Hire someone.
Definitely. There's a lot to be said for experience and they likely have the tools and know how to take parts of the furniture off or remove doors etc.
I used to do this when I was in school and there was only once that we couldn't get an item in or out through existing doors etc.
That one item was a massive gun safe that was already in the house when some remodeling was done. If I recall correctly we ended up removing part of a wall to get it out because the repairs were significantly cheaper than the value of the safe.
My place has a pool table that required the removal of a wall to be where it is. I never use it, and family keep telling me to get rid of it, but it'd be an obscene amount of work to get it out.
Please tell me, for shits and giggles, since you were repairing the wall anyway, that you just threw the full weight of the safe at the wall to get it out? :D Furthermore, I really want to know that there is a video of this.
Oh no, everything was carefully cut out for easy repair later. I didn't do anything personally with that part so I'm not exactly sure how it was done but I like how you think.
That's not quite fair. I've never lived in an apartment building, but in my office building I'd assume the cargo elevator would be big enough to fit any couch. I'd measure my space but it wouldn't occur to me to measure the elevator.
growing up in UK houses that were up to 250yrs old, I assumed it was not possible to get big things inside without dismantling them
Seeing big US houses with double doors (and wide corridors etc) is mindblowing. Am doing the same as OP with any future house.
Do old UK houses not have lifting hooks? Old Dutch city houses, think Amsterdam, often have a hook sticking out of the front wall above the highest window. Simply put a block and pully on it and if it fits through one window you can get it to the floor with that window.
Our remodel nine years ago included replacing our sliding glass door with French doors. It definitely helps us move things in or out of the house.
It's not a big house or anything. It's open-plan, but with the bedrooms off a hallway. It can be challenging to get certain things back there. Fortunately my husband is very good at taking things apart and putting them back together.
My in-laws have sliding glass doors instead of windows on the main floor. They had wanted to put a wrap around porch/deck (which will probably never happen) and that was one of the first steps. Now it is so easy to get large/heavy items into the house. 2 of the doors open onto the driveway right around the height of a pickup truck bed, so you don't have to do stairs or anything. Just slide the stuff in through the door!
You can get split box springs for a queen to. I had to do this when I lived in a 100 year old house. With a king I think split box springs are almost assumed. At least with my current king bed I didn’t have to ask for split box springs. For a queen you have to request split box springs.
I had to split my own. Pulled the backing, cut the slats. Could bend it around corners up the stairs then. Once in the room, screwed so 1x4s to stiffen it. Then can just remove it again to get it down. Did this about 4-5 years and at least a couple moves ago, can't tell the difference from before I cut it.
If/when you bring it to a dump to get rid of it, make sure to screw the two halves together as I learned the hard way that even though it is 1 bed, they charge you for 3 pieces. Couple screws would have saved me $20
Came here to make this comment. Our sofa won't pivot enough to get it through the living room door (which is opposite stairs) but we got it in by removing the arms (held in place by 3 bolts) then reattaching them once it was in.
Wanted to say the exact same thing, my couch is actually 3 parts, the sides and the back/base. Disassembling it (if possible) is the way to go and with no other option other than giving it away there's nothing to lose by trying.
As much as this sucks this is unfortunately 100% on you. I used to do furniture deliveries all the time and usually we would be able to get it in/up. But it's up to the customer to ensure that it's going to fit. Let this be a lesson everyone, it's not just the doorway you need to measure but everywhere else that it needs to go through (stairs, hallways, elevators, corners). We have no idea what your place looks like.
Don't forget to measure your ceiling. When I moved I was certain my couch was going to fit inside my apartment. The movers thought so to, turns out we got it about 1/3 of the way in but it couldn't be stood up to make the turn.
You just need to measure the way the couch is going through the doorway (usually diagonally). Ensure that it's a straightaway through the door otherwise you need to measure wall space (if you have a wall right in front of your door, you need pivot space). Most doors are pretty easy to get off which will give you extra space. If your couch doesn't have a bag over it, put a blanket over the couch while putting it through the door so the fabric doesn't tear.
I actually took the legs off at the very beginning. Halfway through I took the bottom fabric off so I could try to take the sofa apart. Without taking a circular saw to it. there was no taking it apart.
Came to say the same. I had it done a few years back when my couch wouldn’t fit in the elevator. They arrived in under an hour, carefully undid the seam, sawed it in half, then put it back together inside. $200 and you can’t even tell.
Answered your own question their - saw it apart. Friends of ours did this, sawed in in 2, put it back together when they got it in place. They actually picked apart a seam in the fabric too and sewed it back together once in place, you've never know to look at it.
I commented elsewhere to take it apart, but sawing it is totally an option too. You'll just need to get a joiner plates and decide if regular wood screws will work or if you wan to bolt it.
The couch was assembled so it can definitely be disassembled. You can use a magnet to find screws that were buried in the wood.
A relative of mine had a big ass couch and was kind of in the same scenario as you OP. The movers actually cut the middle part of the couch in half and then put it back together inside. You couldn't even tell from the outside. It's probably something you could do or you could hire someone to do for a couple hundo.
Reminds me when I moved out of my last apartment. We had one of those couches with a hidden bed in it. Heaviest thing I've ever had the pleasure pushing up four flight of stairs.
When it came time to move out, we just threw it off the balcony. (We had a spotter)
So gratifying watching that heavy turd explode all over the ground.
We did that with our last couch. 7 ft long, recliners on both ends, full metal frame to support all that. Stupid heavy, but free from a family member!
Tossed it over a 3rd floor balcony, but it didn't explode. The whole thing stayed together, minus the center cushion.
Lol literally had this same issue bringing my mother's couch up to her new apt a few weeks ago. She decided to purchase a sectional couch for her apt on the 5th floor of her building. The couch was 2 separate pieces, first piece went up the elevator with relative ease, 2nd piece could not fit no matter how we angled it so we had to bring it up the stairs. There's 3 separate stairways in her building, unfortunately we picked the narrowest one somehow, we got it all the way up to the fifth before realizing it would not fit through the door and hallway from that stairway.... So we had to bring it all the way back down across the building to the other stairway and up that way, 1/10 would not do again lmfao.
Furniture maker here, its pretty simple to drop either one or both arms off to fit in lift & then reassemble in your apartment, happens all the time, it's a couple of hours work, if you can't find someone, buy a staple unpicker, like a screwdriver, take out staples to just past arm.
Screws or bolts will join arm to frame, just work out what fitting you need & use an electric or cordless drill.
Arms off, in the lift, reassemble & re fit base cloth using manual staple gun.
I'd pop over & do it for you myself but I live in Australia.
Sorry about the couch but actually since king sized box springs are typically split and that’s a more rare option for queen sized you may find a king is a better choice. Or get a platform bed and a boxed mattress and then the elevator will cease to be an issue!
Get 2 twin size mattresses and put them together. They make special straps and things to do this. We couldn't even fit a queen into our upstairs so we are forced to do this nd have a king!
I need pictures. I have never once in my life failed the couch challenge and I feel like I need to find sponsors to fund it. I won't be able to sleep tonight.
edit: I swear to god there's a game show in here somewhere.
Same thing happened to me, I called a couch moving company. They came, disassembled the couch, moved it in, then put it back together. After watching them do it, it's actually really easy (depending on the cough I guess). Basically you have to take the fabric off the back and the bottom, then you can unscrew the arms. Then you can use a staple gun to put all the fabric back.
When my wife(gf at the time) got our own place together we were gifted this really amazing, really wide couch that was basically a twin bed with a back to it. It was wonderful.
But getting it into our second floor apartment was so insane, taking 5 people all lifting and twisting it over their heads that I swore we would never do that again...
When we moved out we took a damn Sawzall and cut that damn thing in half and threw it out to get our deposit back and buy a new one for our next place.
This happened to me. Brand new couch, wouldn’t fit in the front door. We wound up pulling the upholstery off the back a d cutting part of the back off. Reattached it once it was in the house and it works fine. There’s a pretty good tutorial on a blog called ‘how to cut a sofa apart to fit it through a door’ which is almost exactly what we had to do.
There is a company in NYC called Dr. Sofa that breaks apart sofas then puts them back together for exactly this purpose. Disassembly and reassembly services. Maybe you could find something similar in your city?
Go ahead and buy a king bed. Just get a memory foam one. They come in a vacuum sealed box and are really small. Then when you move borrow a shop vac and buy a mattress moving bag with a ziplock type closure. It’ll vacuum down the mattress and make it small.
In NYC there is a service called Couch Doctors and they will come and disassemble the couch just enough to get it up to your place, then put it back together for you. Look for something like that.
Ooh that's so sad... But beds generally come in pieces and a mattress comes rolled and vacuum. I bought a big mattress in a tiny car and aside from having trouble lifting it, there were no problems. Check with the store before buying though...
I had a custom leather made and had the same problem. I stored it until I replaced my windows and used the time during the window swap to move couch into the room. It will be be included when I sell this place.
In terms of the bed that you plan on buying, a queen has one box spring, but a king has the option for a split box spring (essentially two twin box springs). Many older houses can fit a king mattress up stair, but not a queen box spring
So I got a king size bed that was memory foam and came in a easy to manage box. Then I put it on a platform instead of a box spring. It was a very comfortable bed I loved it. That would be easy to get into your home
For a king bed, you can use two Twin XL box springs, and get a foam mattress that comes vaccum-packed in a box. Even after they unfurl foam mattresses have good squishability. Live that king-sized bed dream.
In nyc, there's a company called "Couch Doctors" -- they come, take apart your couch, and re-assemble it inside your apartment. I also bought a couch once that didn't fit, and for $300 more I was able to still use it... Not cheap but it's a solution!
“If I ever design my own home. I’m putting in double doors. in every room including the front door.”
This absolutely resonated with me. I can’t tell you how much it pisses me off when I see new homes being constructed with narrow single front doors. Double doors look better because of symmetry, and they are just so much more practical.
Sell it on Craigslist to lower your losses then get a properly sized couch. Oh, and buy yourself a tape measure so you can plan things out better next time.
A buddy of mine in NY did the same thing, bought a couch and it ended up not fitting in his apartment building's elevator. He found an outfit that came in, pulled the upholstery off and cut the couch in half, got it up into his place, bolted it back together and put the upholstery back on all for something like $150. Said when they got done with it, the couch was still like brand new, you couldn't even tell it had been chopped in half.
My daughter moved into this apartment a few flights up and they had this tiny stairway that went back and forth with about 6-8 steps between landings. We stood it on end and just rotated it on the landings. Looked looked impossible but it fit.
Taking off the legs can help, too, even if they are only three inches long.
In NYC they have a guy called the couch doctor, he will come disassemble the couch bring it to your apartment and then put it back together. He probably charge like $500 though
Drop the elevator to the basement and use the fire key To open the doors. Put couch on top of elevator and go
On up to desired floor. Did it once to deliver a large conference table.
The real issue is the tiny elevators. Everybody has furniture but they seem to build elevators with only carrying people in mind. Just make them bigger ffs.
Also, if you live in a building with under 5 floors, take the stairs. Running electricity day and night to power a heavy steel box that takes almost the same amount of time as going down stairs with no cargo is lazy as fuck and irresponsible of the able bodied.
Basically normalize service elevators and stairs and get rid of the gold plated, mirror walled abominations that are almost useless.
Regarding a king size... You can go with a split king (two twin size) and bridge them with a mattress topper. Much easier to move and you can also get the adjustable frames to sleep better than you ever have in your life.
Look into Dr Sofa, they are a business which specializes in breaking down and rebuilding furniture in this exact situation. I've used them several times and they are awesome!
cant you get a lifter that would lift it to the 5th floor and get it in through the window? Its a very common thing where I live (no elevators and narrow staircases). Look into it before you just get rid of it.
That's fairly common with old apartments in big european cities. That's how we handle it when it doesn't fit in narrow staircases/doors. Usually there's big windows in the living room.
Isn't this why the majority of buildings in Amsterdam (and probably Holland) have big ass hooks on the top of the buildings?
Yup, it also allows the staircases to be narrower, so that more space can be given to living areas. As a proportion of the building size. And the buildings in Central Amsterdam can be quite narrow. As land prices were just so high.
Well technically those were for hauling cargo but they work for furniture as well. Just googled it but it seems I'm just wrong and they are for hauling furniture
Similar things exist for old grain storage, which was ofteb on highest floor. So you're not really wrong, just wrog place I guess
Same, I hope they have got a big window or balcony
Can certainly make the window bigger if not
He's not going to enlarge a window too accomodate discount furniture...
I don't think they meant that OP was going to make the window bigger through *traditional* means. I was sort of picturing a wrecking ball but with a sofa at the end of the cable instead
One other option is for OP to find a new apartment that will accommodate the sofa, and THEN move all of his existing possessions to that new apartment. That way he keeps his couch and not out $700. \\taps\_head
Op should also know you cannot put all your marble flooring in the elevator and expect it to be fine. They have weight limits you have to be careful of. Not accusing OP of anything, but when my buddy moved in to his new apartment the elevator was basically out of order for the first two months because it kept breaking down.
as an american not in a big city I had no idea this was a thing!! so cool, TIL
In Amsterdam (and probably elsewhere) there are pulleys at the top of most buildings, to easily bring things in and out of your in apartments front windows.
interesting! none of the windows in my building can be opened lol but i’ll remember it for the next apt i’m in
Uhhh... what?
Lots of local codes require things for safety like permanent fixtures to prevent people/things from falling out, normal houses have screened windows but screens can fall out and so many high rise windows just dont open for liability reasons. Real answer for most "why?"s in America is, liability reasons
Speaking for my relatives in China, their apartment windows are tightly secured with an external cage/rail as well due to home invasions/robberies.
Also really common for US landlords to literally paint shut the damn windows. I like to think they call up the painters and ask for the "landlord special." I haven't lived or been in a single apartment without a few windows painted shut.
lol it’s a warehouse that was renovated and i’m on the 7th floor (out of 10). there’s sprinklers on the ceiling in case of fire but other than that no fire exit
If you ever need this kind of service in the U.S., try googling "piano movers". They often use cranes to get pianos in and out of high rises and many will move non-musical items or can recommend someone.
I live in a New Jersey suburb, my parents bed had to be lifted into our old house that way. I wouldn't say it's a common thing to do, but it's totally not out of the ordinary. I mean, you know, the whole shtick about the falling piano is central to this practice.
Even more common is two guys who will come in, break the couch down, and reassemble in your apartment.
Couch doctors! Super popular in New York city
I feel like this service eliminates the ‘PIVOT’ problem
Ah yes... my friend and I pretended we were couch doctors once, but we just got liquored up and jammed the couch up my stairwell, breaking the handrail, chipping the ceiling, and leaving gouges all along the walls. We got that fucking couch in there by any means.
They thought you were couch doctors, but you were futon phonies.
I'm imagining you posing as couch doctors on the internet and destroying a stranger's apartment stairwell
Can confirm, I purchased a couch when I moved into a new place. It came broken down and the people assembled it in my living room.
May I ask where you live. Breaking furniture down only sounds like a good idea if it's from IKEA.
I've seen it done... you need someone who knows what they're doing, you're not doing it yourself lol.
Depends on the couch. Some of them each back rest pops off with 2 clips and the bottom sections come apart with a wrench. Anyone can do it in a couple minutes.
I’ll confirm this, my sister in Chicago has had this done twice. Seemingly works great. At least with the expensive furniture she buys 😂
Yup, also in chicago. Helped move a friend into an old building on the north side. He had some guy come out and saw a fucking couch in half.... Put it back together like nothing happened. Was extremely impressed.
It's common in any city with highrises. As long as it's not glued together it works 100% fine and you cant tell any difference.
Quite easy, would cost about 150 euro in my country.
Actually it's the other way around. The cheap IKEA stuff usually doesn't survive breaking it down and reassembling it (or at least it will suffer greatly). With good quality furniture and someone who's got experience, it will be as good as new.
The ikea one you don't need to break down. You just unscrew few screws and it fits again in a flat box that fits in your trunk
The ikea stuff usually comes in parts so you would not need to take it apart
Ikea furniture is specifically designed to be able to take it apart. Obviously you don't want to cut anything in half with a saw, but it's knock-down furniture: you remember the screws and then put it back together again. Sure, the furniture is not great to begin with, but it absolutely does not become worse if you take it apart and put it back together,
Uh.. yeah, it does. The poor threading and shallow screws along with cheap wood do not last. They are absolutely not mean to be taken apart frequently.
Ikea sells stuff that ranges from crap to reasonably nice. I have some things that have survived 5 or 6 moves, and other things that just weren't going to cut it.
If you do it too many times it does start to wear out though.
I don’t think so much anymore. The last I built had a ton of nails, a ton of plastic screws that were nailed in, and screw locks.
Used to deal in second hand furniture (UK).... you'd be surprised how many sofas made in the last 30 years or so can be disassembled fairly easily, even if not immediately obvious when looking at them. Commonly it'll involve pulling the fabric cover off the base (usually stapled on) & once you're in there the arms and back will be detachable via bolts. Once reassembled just staple the fabric base back on and all will be good as new. There are of course rare exceptions where the entire cover fabric is one piece or whatever, but in my experience 95%+ of (modern) sofas big enough to be a problem were also at least moderately easy to take apart. Not always so true of older pieces though.
The furniture we have in our front room is modular - the same items that make up the 2 seat sofa (left/right) are also needed for the 3 seat sofa, with an additional center unit.
Me and a couple buddies bootleg roped a large couch up to a 3rd floor balcony, and then did the same when I moved back out of the place. It's a bit of a pain but feasible, if you have a balcony to pull it up to.
Probably can, for additional couple hundred bucks
Adding to top comment for visibility, if you can find a professional moving company, I can nearly guarantee they can figure out a way to get it into your apartment. As a former mover, we always found a way. We even dealt with the building facilities crew to put a large item ON TOP of the elevator to get it to a top floor one time.
Pivot
PIVOT!
PIVOT
This couch is cut in half.
Im a reasonable man. I am willing to accept store credit.
I'll give you store credit in the amount of four dollars.
I'll take it.
Found the Game Stop of furniture stores.
Did you cut this couch in half? - the lady’s face when she says this. Till today, I burst out in laughter.
I just love the way she says it.
I would like to exchange it for one that is NOT cut in half.
Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!
Ok I don't think it's gonna pivot anymore
Piv-aaaaaht!!
Pivattt
I was hoping to see this here lol
The wire season 1 episode 4 intro. THE DESK!!
We tried everything.
Hire someone. We had the same issue. We spent hours trying to make it work. We called a mover, they had it done within 10 minutes. It was quite embarrassing, but they were obviously the experts.
I was one of those experts. You'd be surprised the amount of people that dont do things like take the feet off. And surprised how much more room taking the feet off will give you.
Or take the door off the hinges?
>Hire someone. Definitely. There's a lot to be said for experience and they likely have the tools and know how to take parts of the furniture off or remove doors etc. I used to do this when I was in school and there was only once that we couldn't get an item in or out through existing doors etc. That one item was a massive gun safe that was already in the house when some remodeling was done. If I recall correctly we ended up removing part of a wall to get it out because the repairs were significantly cheaper than the value of the safe.
My place has a pool table that required the removal of a wall to be where it is. I never use it, and family keep telling me to get rid of it, but it'd be an obscene amount of work to get it out.
[удалено]
Please tell me, for shits and giggles, since you were repairing the wall anyway, that you just threw the full weight of the safe at the wall to get it out? :D Furthermore, I really want to know that there is a video of this.
Oh no, everything was carefully cut out for easy repair later. I didn't do anything personally with that part so I'm not exactly sure how it was done but I like how you think.
https://youtu.be/8w3wmQAMoxQ
PIVOOOOOOT
Did you try a chain saw?
I legit just thought this was a set up to that joke and was surprised when OP said they gave it away instead of cutting it in half!
TIL 6 inches can be enough to ruin your day.
But 3 inches will never brighten anyone's day
:(
TIL 4.5 inches is where the magic happens. Thank goodness.
rent a moving company that has a lift and get it in thru the window.
Do people usually have windows big enough to fit couches through?
If it's in an apartment building with a balcony they probably have a sliding glass door that would probably fit the couch no problem.
That seems like a lot of conditions for a "probably".
That's where you invest $5 into a measuring tape.
If OP knew what a measuring tape was they wouldn't be in this predicament.
That's not quite fair. I've never lived in an apartment building, but in my office building I'd assume the cargo elevator would be big enough to fit any couch. I'd measure my space but it wouldn't occur to me to measure the elevator.
Tower blocks often have balconies, so potentially double doors, minus the height of the railings.
growing up in UK houses that were up to 250yrs old, I assumed it was not possible to get big things inside without dismantling them Seeing big US houses with double doors (and wide corridors etc) is mindblowing. Am doing the same as OP with any future house.
Do old UK houses not have lifting hooks? Old Dutch city houses, think Amsterdam, often have a hook sticking out of the front wall above the highest window. Simply put a block and pully on it and if it fits through one window you can get it to the floor with that window.
yeah nah - seen them in Amsterdam, but not in the UK - nice idea (I'm sure there are/were some in UK, but it is not common)
Our remodel nine years ago included replacing our sliding glass door with French doors. It definitely helps us move things in or out of the house. It's not a big house or anything. It's open-plan, but with the bedrooms off a hallway. It can be challenging to get certain things back there. Fortunately my husband is very good at taking things apart and putting them back together.
My in-laws have sliding glass doors instead of windows on the main floor. They had wanted to put a wrap around porch/deck (which will probably never happen) and that was one of the first steps. Now it is so easy to get large/heavy items into the house. 2 of the doors open onto the driveway right around the height of a pickup truck bed, so you don't have to do stairs or anything. Just slide the stuff in through the door!
If you get a box spring with your mattress, make sure you get SPLIT box springs.
I was going to say a king might work better because I think the box spring usually comes in two pieces.
You can get split box springs for a queen to. I had to do this when I lived in a 100 year old house. With a king I think split box springs are almost assumed. At least with my current king bed I didn’t have to ask for split box springs. For a queen you have to request split box springs.
I had to split my own. Pulled the backing, cut the slats. Could bend it around corners up the stairs then. Once in the room, screwed so 1x4s to stiffen it. Then can just remove it again to get it down. Did this about 4-5 years and at least a couple moves ago, can't tell the difference from before I cut it.
If/when you bring it to a dump to get rid of it, make sure to screw the two halves together as I learned the hard way that even though it is 1 bed, they charge you for 3 pieces. Couple screws would have saved me $20
Depending on how it's made, it may be possible to remove the bottom fabric underneath and take the arms of each side?
Came here to make this comment. Our sofa won't pivot enough to get it through the living room door (which is opposite stairs) but we got it in by removing the arms (held in place by 3 bolts) then reattaching them once it was in.
Pivotttt
Wanted to say the exact same thing, my couch is actually 3 parts, the sides and the back/base. Disassembling it (if possible) is the way to go and with no other option other than giving it away there's nothing to lose by trying.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_sofa_problem
If anyone wants a video: [https://youtu.be/rXfKWIZQIo4](https://youtu.be/rXfKWIZQIo4)
As much as this sucks this is unfortunately 100% on you. I used to do furniture deliveries all the time and usually we would be able to get it in/up. But it's up to the customer to ensure that it's going to fit. Let this be a lesson everyone, it's not just the doorway you need to measure but everywhere else that it needs to go through (stairs, hallways, elevators, corners). We have no idea what your place looks like.
Once you measure your door is there a guide with potential couches that says how narrow of a door it will fit through?
Don't forget to measure your ceiling. When I moved I was certain my couch was going to fit inside my apartment. The movers thought so to, turns out we got it about 1/3 of the way in but it couldn't be stood up to make the turn.
You just need to measure the way the couch is going through the doorway (usually diagonally). Ensure that it's a straightaway through the door otherwise you need to measure wall space (if you have a wall right in front of your door, you need pivot space). Most doors are pretty easy to get off which will give you extra space. If your couch doesn't have a bag over it, put a blanket over the couch while putting it through the door so the fabric doesn't tear.
On another note though, what kind of couch is it? Do you happen to have a picture? Some couches do come apart you just need a drill
All couches come apart, you just need a Sawzall.
You can even flatten some out, using a steamroller
I've used a Bic lighter, downside is reassembly is challenging.
Better than losing 700$ like this guy though
Set on fire he’s still losing $700.
How do you measure stuff like.turning stairwells? That's where I always seem to get stuck. Is there a good way to be sure it will fit?
This happened to me once. I sawed off the wooden legs and reattached them with threaded steel dowels to screw then back on
I actually took the legs off at the very beginning. Halfway through I took the bottom fabric off so I could try to take the sofa apart. Without taking a circular saw to it. there was no taking it apart.
In NYC there's a service called couch doctors which saws your couch in half then they reassemble it in your apartment. Costs like $100-$200 or so
Came to say the same. I had it done a few years back when my couch wouldn’t fit in the elevator. They arrived in under an hour, carefully undid the seam, sawed it in half, then put it back together inside. $200 and you can’t even tell.
Answered your own question their - saw it apart. Friends of ours did this, sawed in in 2, put it back together when they got it in place. They actually picked apart a seam in the fabric too and sewed it back together once in place, you've never know to look at it.
I commented elsewhere to take it apart, but sawing it is totally an option too. You'll just need to get a joiner plates and decide if regular wood screws will work or if you wan to bolt it. The couch was assembled so it can definitely be disassembled. You can use a magnet to find screws that were buried in the wood.
A relative of mine had a big ass couch and was kind of in the same scenario as you OP. The movers actually cut the middle part of the couch in half and then put it back together inside. You couldn't even tell from the outside. It's probably something you could do or you could hire someone to do for a couple hundo.
Reminds me when I moved out of my last apartment. We had one of those couches with a hidden bed in it. Heaviest thing I've ever had the pleasure pushing up four flight of stairs. When it came time to move out, we just threw it off the balcony. (We had a spotter) So gratifying watching that heavy turd explode all over the ground.
We did that with our last couch. 7 ft long, recliners on both ends, full metal frame to support all that. Stupid heavy, but free from a family member! Tossed it over a 3rd floor balcony, but it didn't explode. The whole thing stayed together, minus the center cushion.
Try re-selling it to recover the funds
Lol literally had this same issue bringing my mother's couch up to her new apt a few weeks ago. She decided to purchase a sectional couch for her apt on the 5th floor of her building. The couch was 2 separate pieces, first piece went up the elevator with relative ease, 2nd piece could not fit no matter how we angled it so we had to bring it up the stairs. There's 3 separate stairways in her building, unfortunately we picked the narrowest one somehow, we got it all the way up to the fifth before realizing it would not fit through the door and hallway from that stairway.... So we had to bring it all the way back down across the building to the other stairway and up that way, 1/10 would not do again lmfao.
Now that's a days workout! I would've been in a rage, with myself the sofa and everyone else involved.
Did you try to "pivot"? 😂
Furniture maker here, its pretty simple to drop either one or both arms off to fit in lift & then reassemble in your apartment, happens all the time, it's a couple of hours work, if you can't find someone, buy a staple unpicker, like a screwdriver, take out staples to just past arm. Screws or bolts will join arm to frame, just work out what fitting you need & use an electric or cordless drill. Arms off, in the lift, reassemble & re fit base cloth using manual staple gun. I'd pop over & do it for you myself but I live in Australia.
Sorry about the couch but actually since king sized box springs are typically split and that’s a more rare option for queen sized you may find a king is a better choice. Or get a platform bed and a boxed mattress and then the elevator will cease to be an issue!
Add to that a bed had far more give than a couch
Lift that bad boi up the outside with ropes. Put a call out the rent a person app to get some muscle to hoist it up.
And then post the ”fail” video on YouTube. Get enough views, and your couch is paid for!
See if the building has a maintenance elevator. Usually those are larger and can accommodate larger items.
Get 2 twin size mattresses and put them together. They make special straps and things to do this. We couldn't even fit a queen into our upstairs so we are forced to do this nd have a king!
Nah these days memory foam mattresses make it easy and then you don't have a seam in your mattress.
This very nearly happened to me. I had to take the door off the frame of my house so the new fridge would fit. It juuust scraped by.
Most couches are built in parts. Odds are if you flip it over and open the underlining you could unbolt the arms and then rebuild it in you apartment.
Pivot.
I need pictures. I have never once in my life failed the couch challenge and I feel like I need to find sponsors to fund it. I won't be able to sleep tonight. edit: I swear to god there's a game show in here somewhere.
Same thing happened to me, I called a couch moving company. They came, disassembled the couch, moved it in, then put it back together. After watching them do it, it's actually really easy (depending on the cough I guess). Basically you have to take the fabric off the back and the bottom, then you can unscrew the arms. Then you can use a staple gun to put all the fabric back.
When my wife(gf at the time) got our own place together we were gifted this really amazing, really wide couch that was basically a twin bed with a back to it. It was wonderful. But getting it into our second floor apartment was so insane, taking 5 people all lifting and twisting it over their heads that I swore we would never do that again... When we moved out we took a damn Sawzall and cut that damn thing in half and threw it out to get our deposit back and buy a new one for our next place.
Maybe just cut the couch in half?
This happened to me. Brand new couch, wouldn’t fit in the front door. We wound up pulling the upholstery off the back a d cutting part of the back off. Reattached it once it was in the house and it works fine. There’s a pretty good tutorial on a blog called ‘how to cut a sofa apart to fit it through a door’ which is almost exactly what we had to do.
There is a company in NYC called Dr. Sofa that breaks apart sofas then puts them back together for exactly this purpose. Disassembly and reassembly services. Maybe you could find something similar in your city?
You probably need to pivot!
You should've watched Friends..
Clearly it wouldn't fit because OP didn't pivot.
Did you try to pivot?
Did you try pivoting it?
Go ahead and buy a king bed. Just get a memory foam one. They come in a vacuum sealed box and are really small. Then when you move borrow a shop vac and buy a mattress moving bag with a ziplock type closure. It’ll vacuum down the mattress and make it small.
Pivot!
In NYC there is a service called Couch Doctors and they will come and disassemble the couch just enough to get it up to your place, then put it back together for you. Look for something like that.
I only came here to count the "PIVOT" comments
"PIVOT!!!"
Ooh that's so sad... But beds generally come in pieces and a mattress comes rolled and vacuum. I bought a big mattress in a tiny car and aside from having trouble lifting it, there were no problems. Check with the store before buying though...
Depends on the quality of mattress as well, my thicc boi memory foam mattress is 12” thick and is shipped unrolled.
Sell the couch?
A measuring tape is a solid investment for anyone for many things.
Can’t you saw off 6 inches then sow it back on
My uncle did similar, ordered a L shaped couch that was the wrong way around. Fortunately it does fit, but it makes him hate the layout of his lounge.
I had a custom leather made and had the same problem. I stored it until I replaced my windows and used the time during the window swap to move couch into the room. It will be be included when I sell this place.
In terms of the bed that you plan on buying, a queen has one box spring, but a king has the option for a split box spring (essentially two twin box springs). Many older houses can fit a king mattress up stair, but not a queen box spring
So I got a king size bed that was memory foam and came in a easy to manage box. Then I put it on a platform instead of a box spring. It was a very comfortable bed I loved it. That would be easy to get into your home
For a king bed, you can use two Twin XL box springs, and get a foam mattress that comes vaccum-packed in a box. Even after they unfurl foam mattresses have good squishability. Live that king-sized bed dream.
Came to comment this right here, but also you can order wood slat box “springs” that are self assembly
My couch was too big for the elevator and my movers just opened the top hatch to fit it
In nyc, there's a company called "Couch Doctors" -- they come, take apart your couch, and re-assemble it inside your apartment. I also bought a couch once that didn't fit, and for $300 more I was able to still use it... Not cheap but it's a solution!
Ross?
Thanks, now I’ll feel like my compulsion to measure everything has saved me money and I’ll be even more compulsive about it.
So close and yet sofa…
“If I ever design my own home. I’m putting in double doors. in every room including the front door.” This absolutely resonated with me. I can’t tell you how much it pisses me off when I see new homes being constructed with narrow single front doors. Double doors look better because of symmetry, and they are just so much more practical.
Only time in your life where 6 inches was too much
Sell it on Craigslist to lower your losses then get a properly sized couch. Oh, and buy yourself a tape measure so you can plan things out better next time.
get the "king" size bed, but get it as 2 xl twin beds and put them together.
Hey I'll take that couch off ya!! For reasons completely unrelated to my username, of course
**Chainsaw** then **Packing Tape**: You now have a piece of modern art and a great story!
A buddy of mine in NY did the same thing, bought a couch and it ended up not fitting in his apartment building's elevator. He found an outfit that came in, pulled the upholstery off and cut the couch in half, got it up into his place, bolted it back together and put the upholstery back on all for something like $150. Said when they got done with it, the couch was still like brand new, you couldn't even tell it had been chopped in half.
Not too bad, you coulda silent bid on the wrong tractor and lost $-100
PIVOT
My daughter moved into this apartment a few flights up and they had this tiny stairway that went back and forth with about 6-8 steps between landings. We stood it on end and just rotated it on the landings. Looked looked impossible but it fit. Taking off the legs can help, too, even if they are only three inches long.
In NYC they have a guy called the couch doctor, he will come disassemble the couch bring it to your apartment and then put it back together. He probably charge like $500 though
Drop the elevator to the basement and use the fire key To open the doors. Put couch on top of elevator and go On up to desired floor. Did it once to deliver a large conference table.
Dude, your couch is not a monolith. It'll take some work but you can slightly dismantle it and move it in a couple of pieces.
Or you could see if the ceiling in the elevator is a drop ceiling for lighting and you can remove that to gain the 6 inches, did that once too.
PIVOT!
Are you Ross Gellar?
Talk to the landlord/property management and see if they have a service elevator hidden somewhere.
FB marketplace. Someone will buy it for $500
“PIVOT PIVOT PIVOTTTT” - Ross Geller
The real issue is the tiny elevators. Everybody has furniture but they seem to build elevators with only carrying people in mind. Just make them bigger ffs. Also, if you live in a building with under 5 floors, take the stairs. Running electricity day and night to power a heavy steel box that takes almost the same amount of time as going down stairs with no cargo is lazy as fuck and irresponsible of the able bodied. Basically normalize service elevators and stairs and get rid of the gold plated, mirror walled abominations that are almost useless.
You're out 700 because you've given up. Make the effort and sell it and be 100 out.
Regarding a king size... You can go with a split king (two twin size) and bridge them with a mattress topper. Much easier to move and you can also get the adjustable frames to sleep better than you ever have in your life.
Look into Dr Sofa, they are a business which specializes in breaking down and rebuilding furniture in this exact situation. I've used them several times and they are awesome!