Free calculator
Will my sofa fit through the door?
Enter four sofa numbers and the narrowest door and hallway turn on the way in. You get one of three answers: straight through, only by tilting, or not without taking something apart.
Delivery path check
Fits with a maneuver- Door: it only fits by tipping the sofa back and hooking it through (diagonal depth).
- Clear door width this sofa needs: 30.5 in (includes 0.5 in for hands).
- Corner: too tight to carry flat; it works only if you stand the sofa on end.
- Longest sofa this corner takes flat: 49.7 in.
- To turn this sofa flat, both hallways need about 54.3 in.
Geometry estimate, not a delivery guarantee. Confirm tight results with the retailer or movers.
See it in your roomMeasure these four numbers
- Length, depth, height. Overall sizes from the product page, including arms and legs.
- Diagonal depth. Only matters when depth and height are both wider than the door. Measure it as in the drawing.
- Door clear width. Open the door fully and measure from the stop to the face of the open door, not the frame. The clear opening is usually a few inches less than the door's nominal size.
- Tightest turn. At the sharpest 90° corner on the route (hallway, landing, entry), measure both hallway widths and the ceiling height.
How wide a corner a sofa needs to turn flat
Calculated with this page's calculator for a sofa carried flat round a 90° turn between two equally wide hallways, with 0.5 in left for hands. "Thickness" is the slimmer of the sofa's depth and height.
| Sofa length | 30 in thick | 34 in thick | 38 in thick |
|---|---|---|---|
| 72 in (183 cm) | 48 in (120 cm) | 51 in (128 cm) | 53 in (135 cm) |
| 84 in (214 cm) | 52 in (131 cm) | 55 in (138 cm) | 58 in (146 cm) |
| 96 in (244 cm) | 56 in (142 cm) | 59 in (149 cm) | 62 in (156 cm) |
The longest sofa a common hallway corner takes flat
| Both hallways | 30 in thick | 34 in thick | 38 in thick |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 in (91 cm) | 40 in (103 cm) | 32 in (83 cm) | won't turn |
| 42 in (106 cm) | 57 in (146 cm) | 49 in (126 cm) | 41 in (106 cm) |
| 48 in (121 cm) | 74 in (189 cm) | 66 in (169 cm) | 58 in (149 cm) |
Reading it: most hallways are 36–42 in wide, so a full-size sofa almost never turns flat. That is normal. Movers stand it on end at the corner, which needs a ceiling clearly higher than the sofa is long (tipping it up sweeps a little more than its length).
What this calculator does not check
- Stairs. Handrails, low ceilings over steps and tight landings need their own measurement.
- A door straight off a narrow hallway. The swing into the room depends on wall thickness; treat a result within an inch or two as a maybe.
- Recliners and sleepers. Mechanisms do not compress and make the sofa heavy to tilt.
- Packaging. A boxed sofa is bigger than the listed size. Ask for the carton dimensions.
Questions
What is a sofa's diagonal depth?
Lay a straightedge from the top back corner of the sofa to the front top edge of the arm, then measure from the back bottom corner straight to that straightedge. That shortest distance is the diagonal depth: the slimmest profile the sofa shows when you tip it back and hook it through a door.
How wide does a door need to be for a sofa?
The door's clear opening (measured with the door open, from the door stop to the face of the open door) must be wider than the sofa's depth, its height, or its diagonal depth, whichever is smallest. Leave about half an inch for hands. A door's clear opening is usually a few inches narrower than its nominal size because the open door and the stop take up space.
Why does my sofa fit the door but not the hallway?
A long sofa carried flat has to swing round a 90-degree turn. An 84 in sofa that is 30 in thick needs both hallways to be about 52 in wide to turn flat; most hallways are 36 to 42 in, which is why movers stand sofas on end at corners. That only works when the ceiling clears the sofa as it is tipped up (a little more than its length) and the upright footprint can still turn the corner.
What if it still does not fit?
Unscrew the legs, take the door off its hinges (that usually gains about the door's thickness, roughly 1⅜ in for interior doors and 1¾ in for exterior doors), remove the door stop molding, or choose a modular or sectional sofa that arrives in pieces. Ask the retailer for the exact dimensions in the box, because packaging adds size.