How to Measure for Furniture Delivery
Every delivery crew has a story about the sofa that stopped halfway up the stairs. Almost all of them were preventable with a tape measure and ten minutes. Fit is not luck. It is a comparison between two sets of numbers: the size of the piece as it travels, and the tightest point on the path it has to travel through.
Measure the piece as it ships
Start with the overall width, depth and height from the tear sheet, then find out what changes in transit. Do the legs unscrew? Do the back cushions come off? Does the frame ship in sections? A solid hardwood frame does not flex, so its numbers are its numbers.
Find the diagonal depth
Sofas rarely travel flat. They go through doorways on their side or on end, so the number that predicts fit is the diagonal depth. Run a straightedge from the top of the back to the front edge of the arm. Then measure from the bottom back corner of the frame straight across to the straightedge. The result is the smallest opening the sofa can pivot through on end.
Walk the path with a tape
- Doorways at their narrowest: from the face of the open door to the stop on the far jamb, measured around hinges and hardware.
- Halls and corners: the width of both legs of every turn, plus the ceiling height at the corner itself.
- Stairs and landings: the clear width between rail and wall, the height from the step nosing to the ceiling, and the size of every landing where the piece must turn.
- Elevators: the door opening, the cab depth and height, and the diagonal from the door to the back corner of the cab. Ask the building about freight hours, padding and any certificate of insurance it requires.
Note anything that eats space along the way: light fixtures, handrails, radiators and thermostats.
If the numbers are tight
Do not panic yet. An experienced crew routinely takes off legs, takes doors off their hinges, moves cushions separately and pivots a piece on end, and a path that looks impossible with the door on is often comfortable with it off. When the arithmetic truly fails, change the piece rather than the house: a sectional that ships in components, a smaller scale of the same frame, or custom upholstery sized to the stairwell.
For what happens once the piece is through the door, see what happens on a white-glove install day.