Would someone *please* help me out here? I live in a really old row
home/townhouse in Philadelphia.  I'm buying a couch and now I'm afraid
that it won't fit through my door!  There're two obstablces: the front
door to the house and the door to my apartment.  Here are the door
dimensions:

Front door: 83.5? high, 35? wide
Apt door: 82.5? high, 31? wide

Here are the couch dimensions:

Width: 92 7/8 "
Depth: 41 3/4 "
Height: 37 3/8 "

It's actually the Ekeskog couch from Ikea, which can be viewed here: 
http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10101&storeId=12&productId=10957&langId=-1&parentCats=10114*10294

If someone could ease my weary mind I would be so, so grateful.

---

Request for Question Clarification by tlspiegel-ga on 12 Aug 2005 13:50 PDT

Hi maura_d,

Don't stress!  I've moved many times in my life and have yet to see a
sofa that wouldn't fit through a door.

Please let me know if this would be a fully satisfactory answer to your question.

Here's some tips to help you.

The first thing you'll want to do is cover the sofa with a clean
protective sheet (queen or king size fitted sheet works nicely).

-  Remove any doors
-  Try moving it through without removing legs of sofa
-  If necessary, remove legs 
-  Approach the door like a see-saw 
-  Have one end of sofa as high as possible 
-  Have the other end as low as possible - at the same time keep the
sofa tilted at a 45 degree angle - not 90 degree angle
-  Place clean pieces of cardboard between the sofa and the door frame
to prevent rubbing
-  Tip the furniture and pass it through the doorway at an angle

Or, bring the furniture in through a window - cover sofa with a fitted
sheet before moving through a window.

Good Luck to you!  
tlspiegel

On the other hand!

I have ordered a couch that didn't fit up a narrow stair case. The
delivery guys tried for a half hour. I gave them cash and beer for
their efforts. It didn't go. The store refunded me the money. Even if
it doesn't fit it isn't the end of the world.

There are also companies that specialize in taking apart sofas to get
them to fit thru doorway and put them back together and you never know
anything was done.    I'm not sure what the key word search would be
in the yellow pages, but I've seen them advertised and good furniture
stores even recommend them.

If you view the couch end-on, it will look like:



                ||             
                ||                
                ||             
   37 3/8"      ||          
                ||        
                ||     
                ||  
                ||=============================
                             41 3/4"

If you rotate it about its long axis, so that when it is viewed
end-on, the top of the back of the couch and the front edge of the
couch are aligned vertically and parallel with the door frame, the
width of the narrowest door the couch can fit through (in inches) is
given by "x" in the following equation:

  x^2 +{[(37 3/8)^2 +(41 3/4)^2]^0.5 - [(37 3/8)^2 - x^2]^0.5}^2 - (41 3/4)^2 = 0

This equation has a positive solution for x of 27.846 inches.  Because
your narrowest door is 31 inches wide, you should be able to fit the
couch through the opening (with a couple of inches to spare) by
rotating it along its long axis.  This assumes the legs of the couch
are included in the dimensions you gave in your question.

Depending on how long the hallways are on either side of the door
openings, you may need to tip the couch up (but not all the way,
because the couch it longer than your doors are tall).

If it gets any more complicated, get stuck  and weird things happen

I suggest you consult

              Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

http://books.regehr.org/reviews/dirkgentlysholisticdetectiveag.html

Two people may help Fred and Charlie from a British song many years
ago as the item they are moving gets stuck with a a catchy little tune

Right said Fred, both of us together, one each end and steady as we go 
Tried to to shift it, couldn't even lift it, we was getting nowhere 
And so, we, had a cup of tea 
Right said Fred, give a shout to Charlie, up comes Charlie from the floor below 
After straining, heaving and complaining, we was getting nowhere 
And so, we, had a cup of tea 

Charlie had a think and he thought we ought, to take off all the handles 
And the things that hold the candles, but it did no good, well I never
thought it would

Right said Fred, have to take the feet off, to get them feet off
wouldn't take a mo
Took it's feet off, even with the seat off, should got us somewhere but no 
So Fred said lets have another cup of tea and we said right-o 

Right said Fred, have to take the door off, need more space to shift the so and so 
Had bad twinges taking off the hinges, and it got us nowhere 
And so, we, had a cup of tea 

Right said Fred, have to take the wall down, that there wall is gonna have to go 
Took the wall down,  even with it all down, we was getting nowhere 
And so, we, had a cup of tea 

Charlie had a think and and he said look Fred, I've got a sort of feeling 
If we remove the ceiling, with a rope or two we can  drop the blighter though 

Right said Fred, climbing up a ladder, with his crowbar gave a mighty blow 
Was he in trouble, half a ton of rubble, landed on the top of his dome 
So Charlie and me had another cup of tea and then we went home 

I'll said to Charlie we'll just have to leave it standing on the
landing that's all
You see the trouble with Fred is he's too hasty 
Now you never get nowhere if you're too hasty.

the link may also work  www.rexbrough.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rsfr.html