Before Your Furniture Arrives: the Lift, Stairs and Access Check
"My friend's new lift door is only 75 cm wide — will the sofa fit?" A real customer question, asked every month. The saddest outcome with large furniture is not overpaying — it is reaching the door and not getting in. Ten minutes with a tape measure prevents almost all of it.
Why Measure Access Before Ordering?
Product dimensions describe the furniture in place — but it must first pass the lobby, the lift or stairs, your front door and the indoor corridors. Failing any one of these means extra hoisting fees at best, a return at worst — all avoidable with a few measurements before ordering.
Three situations deserve extra caution: lift doors under 80 cm, staircases with 90-degree turns, and older apartments with narrow entry doors.
The Five Points to Measure
Take a tape measure and record all of these, in cm:
- ① Lift: door clear width, car depth and height. Whether furniture fits depends on door width × car diagonal, not door width alone.
- ② Stairs: stair width, landing width and depth at turns, ceiling clearance. With 90-degree turns, the landing size is decisive.
- ③ Front door: clear width and height; note fixed shoe cabinets behind the door that eat turning space.
- ④ Indoor corridors: the narrowest point between the door and the final position — hallways, room doors, beams.
- ⑤ Final position: width, depth, height — plus wall clearance for sofas (see the power sofa guide for recline clearance).
Matching Furniture Size to Your Access
The principle: the furniture's smallest cross-section must pass the access route's narrowest point. Sofas usually travel upright on their depth × height cross-section; in a lift, check whether the car height exceeds the sofa length, or the diagonal suffices.
Two rules of thumb: with lift doors of 80 cm or more, most three-seaters enter upright; under 75 cm, send the lift's three dimensions to our stylist to verify before ordering. Modular and detachable designs — removable arms, flat-pack assembly — solve narrow access; extendable islands assembled on site are similarly undemanding.
What If the Lift Is Too Small?
Three options remain: stair carry, hoisting through a window or balcony, or choosing a detachable design. Feasibility and cost of the first two depend on floor level, stair conditions and the site, and are quoted case by case — so tell the stylist about missing or small lifts before ordering, not on delivery day.
Information to Send Before Ordering
Send this list with your measurements and delivery is settled in one pass:
- Floor level, and whether there is a lift.
- Lift door width, car depth and height (cm).
- No lift: stair width and landing dimensions at turns.
- Front door clear width and the narrowest indoor passage.
- Building rules: moving-hour restrictions, management-office registration, truck access.
Delivery Access FAQs
The lift door is 75 cm — will a sofa fit?
It depends on the sofa's smallest cross-section against the lift car's depth and height, not the door width alone. Under 75 cm is verification territory: send the lift's three dimensions to our stylist and we will check against the actual model, or suggest a detachable design.
No lift — is there an extra charge above a certain floor?
Stair-carry and hoisting feasibility and cost depend on the floor, stair conditions and site, quoted case by case. Share the floor level and stair dimensions before ordering so the plan and price are settled in advance, not on delivery day.
Does delivery include installation?
Large furniture is delivered to position, assembled by our team and inspected with you on site. The exact delivery and installation arrangement is confirmed at ordering based on the item and address — see the shipping page or ask our stylist.
Can I return furniture that doesn't fit through the door?
This guide exists precisely to avoid that: returns under the sales terms cost time and money. Measure the five access points and share accurate floor and lift information before ordering, and the situation is almost entirely preventable.
Related Guides
Not sure it will fit?
Send your lift, stair and door measurements together with the model you like — our stylist will verify access feasibility and delivery arrangements for you.