--- title: "Will It Fit Through the Door? Sofa Check | Tiny Room Life" description: "Check whether a sofa, wardrobe or bed will fit through a door and round a hallway turn: upright, on its back, on end or tilted. Inches or cm, free." url: https://tinyroomlife.me/ --- Sofas, wardrobes, beds, desks # Will it fit through the door? Check a piece of furniture against your door and hallway before delivery day: upright, on its back, stood on end or tilted through the frame, with the legs on or off. ## How the check works The furniture is treated as a box. Whatever goes through a doorway has one side pointing through the opening and the other two across it: one must fit the door's clear width, the other its clear height. The checker tries the piece upright, on its back and on its side, then tilted in the frame, and with the legs off if you tick that box. With a hallway, it also works out the longest piece of that width that can be carried round a right-angled corner. ### Measuring a sofa's diagonal depth Sofas are not boxes: the seat sits lower than the back, so a sofa tipped onto its back can be narrower than its depth or height. Lay a straight edge from the top of the back to the front of the arm, then measure from the bottom of the back up to the straight edge at right angles. If that is less than the door's clear width, the sofa can usually be tilted back through. Measure the clear opening, not the door: open the door fully and measure from the face of the door to the stop on the other side, at the narrowest point. Check handles, hinges and skirting that stick out, and allow for blankets or wrapping. ## Sources - Clear door width is measured "between the face of the door and the stop, with the door open 90 degrees": [2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design](https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/design-standards/2010-stds/#404-doors-doorways-and-gates), section 404.2.3. - How much a door takes from the opening: NKBA notes that a 32 in (813 mm) clear opening needs at least a 2 ft 10 in (864 mm) door ([NKBA Kitchen Planning Guidelines with Access Standards](https://kb.nkba.org/uploads/2022/05/Kitchen-Planning-Guidelines.pdf), Guideline 1), and England's Approved Document M treats a standard 826 mm door leaf as a 775 mm clear opening ([Approved Document M, Volume 1](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-to-and-use-of-buildings-approved-document-m), Table 2.1, note 3). - 1 in = 2.54 cm exactly: [NIST Special Publication 811, Appendix B.8](https://www.nist.gov/pml/special-publication-811/nist-guide-si-appendix-b-conversion-factors/nist-guide-si-appendix-b8). - Everything else is geometry: a rectangle fits a door opening when its turned outline does, and the corridor-corner limit is the minimum of a/sin θ + b/cos θ − w/(sin θ cos θ) over the angle θ. ## More small-space tools For the rest of the flat once the sofa is in. - [Furniture clearance guide](https://tinyroomlife.me/furniture-clearance-guide/): How much space to leave round beds, sofas, desks, dining chairs and kitchen aisles, with sources. - [Room layout planner](https://tinyroomlife.me/room-layout-planner/): A scale plan of your room: move furniture around and see clearances, overlaps and the door swing. - [Wall spacing calculator](https://tinyroomlife.me/wall-spacing-calculator/): Evenly space shelves, hooks or picture frames, with the centre marks to measure. - [Room lighting calculator](https://tinyroomlife.me/room-lighting-calculator/): Lumens for the room size and use, and how many bulbs that takes. - [30-day declutter planner](https://tinyroomlife.me/declutter-planner/): One small task a day, room by room, with a checklist that remembers your progress. ## Recommended Two free services for the online side of moving and furnishing a small place. 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[Try WebTraceCheck](https://webtracecheck.com/) ## Questions **Does an exact fit count?** In the sums, yes: a piece exactly as wide as the opening is shown as fitting with nothing to spare. In real life you need a little room for your hands, blankets and a slight wobble, so treat anything under about an inch (2.5 cm) as very tight and measure again. **What does tilted through the diagonal mean?** A long, thin piece such as a mattress, headboard or tabletop can be turned in the plane of the door so it runs corner to corner across the frame. The checker searches every angle and tells you the one that leaves the most room, if any. **Why does a hallway turn matter if the door is wide enough?** A long sofa has to swing round the corner as well as pass through the opening. In a narrow hallway the corner limits the length that can turn, so a piece can clear the door in theory and still jam at the turn. Standing it on end at the corner sometimes helps if the ceiling is high enough. **Should I take the door off its hinges?** If the fit is close, it often helps: the open door and its hinges take up part of the opening. Ask your landlord first if you rent, keep the hinge pins and screws together, and measure again between the stops once the door is off.