The very first time this happened to us, we were moving in a sofa to a third floor apartment in Edinburgh, and removing the owners old sofa to the recycling centre. All was going well, and we placed the new sofa into the sitting room and began manoeuvring the old one towards the door. We got as far as the front door and very soon it became apparent that this sofa was never going through the opening.
Normally at that point I start checking the apartment windows for an oversize one, but as we were three floors up, this was not an option. The home-owner then revealed that he had bought the old sofa many years ago and had since had the door and windows replaced from timber to PVC and that perhaps that was why the sofa would no longer fit.
The new PVC door frame has a reduced opening of around three inches due to the steel reinforcement built in for security, and this makes all the difference when moving large items. In this case, as the sofa was to be broken up for recycling we simply cracked the arms out of place and moved it through the door, but had the sofa been part of one of our removals in Edinburgh for example, then we would have been in for a much longer job involving opening up the sofa to remove bolts in order to fit it through. This is something we've done on many occasions, but it adds time and therefore cost to the job, as well as requiring the necessary tools.
The advice I would pass on is to try and be aware of the furniture and appliances in your home before carrying out major alterations, as there are always consequences down the line. Though it's usually possible to dismantle most items, things like double fridge freezers aren't so flexible and discovering the problem on moving day when you've got to be out by noon can make a bad situation worse.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Kinnaird |
OK folks, maybe I should go into a bit more
detail about how to split your sofa apart. It's quite simple, but if
you're nervous you can call on any of the major sofa retailers who
will send out one of their people to do it for you. (For a small
fee.)
Firstly, put a blanket down to protect the sofa, then flip it over.
Covering the base, will be a sheet of hessian or black fabric. It's
stapled to the base frame all the way around the edge. Depending on
the time you have available, you can pluck out all the staples, or
simply cut the fabric off using scissors or a craft knife. Cut as
close as you can to the existing staples, and you'll then be able to
re-attach the fabric later.
Once that's done you can see the inner frame of your sofa. If you
have recliners at each end, look for the bolts attaching the
mechanism to the sofa framework and remove them, and disconnect the
cable which triggers the recliner. Then lift the sofa away from the
reclining seats and move them out of the way.
If you don't have recliners you're now looking at the inner woodwork
and hopefully you can see the nuts and bolts which hold the sofa
together. Your sofa is made up of four parts. The base, the back and
the two arms. It might be enough to remove the two arms only, or
maybe just the back so depending on your situation you can decide
how much to dismantle. You'll need a spanner or a socket set or just
an adjustable spanner to get the bolts out. Most sofas have captive
nuts embedded in the framework now so that you only need to unwind
the bolts, but if the nuts are free, you'll need to hold them still
with another spanner while you undo the bolts.
Once you've got the bolts out, put then in a bag, or in your
toolbox, then remove the arms and split the back away from the base
and you're done. Sometimes, the back is stitched to the base, so all
you can do is fold the two together and tie them up for transport,
but usually that's enough to get your sofa through the door or
around that tight corner.
I hope that helps you get the job done and you have a happy moving
day experience. Let me know how you get on.
Tom.
