How to Move a Couch
by yourself, through doors and up the stairs
By Igor S.Red Cat co-founder, moving people since 2012
The couch is the piece everybody gets stuck with: too long for the hallway, too wide for the door, too heavy to carry alone. Here's how our movers do it every day: by yourself on a hand truck, out of an apartment door into a tight hallway, and up L-shaped stairs.
The short version
- 1Wrap it in moving blankets, with shrink wrap around the middle.
- 2Stand it on end on a hand truck, back against the hand truck, and strap it on.
- 3Hold the couch, not the handles: one foot on the axle, the other leg back, and tip it onto you.
- 4In a tight hallway, stand it up as it clears the door, turn it, and tip it back.
Measure first
Will your couch fit through the door?
Measure the door opening from jamb to jamb, then the couch three ways: its height, its depth and its diagonal depth. A couch is thinnest on its diagonal, from the top of the back to the front of the seat, so a door narrower than the couch is deep can still let it through.
- The diagonal depth: lay a straight edge from the top of the back to the front edge of the seat, and measure from the bottom back corner straight up to it, at a right angle.
- If the door is wider than the height, the depth or the diagonal, the couch goes through turned that way.
If it still won't fit
First
Take the legs off
Most couch legs unscrew. Lay the couch on its back, twist them off and put the screws in a bag taped to the couch. That buys back the height of the legs.
Then
Take the door off its hinges
Not enough? Tap the hinge pins up and out and lift the door away. An open door still sits in the opening; without it you gain its thickness, about an inch and a half.
Still no? Our furniture hoisting crew brings it in through a window.
By yourself
How to move a couch by yourself
One person and a hand truck can move a couch that two people would struggle to carry. The trick is in the last step: you hold the couch, not the handles. It's much bigger than the hand truck, and the strap is already holding the two together.
Step 1
Wrap it
Wrap the whole couch in moving blankets, then run shrink wrap around the middle to hold them on. Legs off if they unscrew, with the screws in a bag taped to the couch.
Step 2
Stand it on the hand truck
Stand the couch on one arm on the hand truck's nose plate, lying on its back against the hand truck: the seat faces out and the legs stick out to your side.
Step 3
Strap it on
Run a strap around the couch and the hand truck and pull it tight, so the two move as one piece.
Step 4
Tip it onto you
One foot on the hand truck's axle, both hands on the top of the couch, and step your other leg far back, almost a kick: that's your leverage. Lean back and the couch comes down onto you.
Tight doors
How to get a couch through a door
An apartment door that opens onto a narrow hallway, with a wall right across, is where most couches get stuck. Don't push it out ahead of you. Go out first, and let the couch follow.
Step 1
Go out first
With the couch on the hand truck, you go out of the door first: hold the couch, lean back and walk backwards, pulling it through after you.
Step 2
Stand it up as it clears
As the couch comes out, start lifting it, so by the time it clears the door it's standing straight up on the hand truck.
Step 3
Turn it a quarter turn
Standing up, the couch takes almost no floor, so it turns easily: give it a quarter turn to line it up with the hallway.
Step 4
Tip it back and go
Tip it back onto you the same way, foot on the axle and the other leg back. Then stay behind it, hands on the top of the couch, and push it ahead of you down the hallway.
Stairs
How to move a couch upstairs, around an L-shaped landing
Same principle as the hand truck, with two people instead: the couch rides on end, tilted at the angle of the stairs, and at the corner of the L it stands up, turns and tilts again. Legs off and the couch wrapped before it leaves the room.
Step 1
Carry it up tilted
The couch goes on end, the same way it rides on the hand truck. The one going first stands above the top end, facing the one below, arms up, lifting it; the one below holds the bottom end with arms down. The two of you and the couch in one line, it rides tilted up the stairs.
Step 2
Set it down at the corner
At the landing, the first one keeps going, up onto the next flight, lifting the top end higher, while the one below sets the bottom end down on the landing floor. Now the couch stands on end.
Step 3
Turn it 90 degrees
Standing on end, the couch takes almost no floor, so it turns in the corner of the L: shift it a quarter turn to line it up with the next flight.
Step 4
Tilt it and carry on up
Now past the turn: tilt it the same way again, the one above facing the one below, arms up, and the one below with arms down, and carry it up the second flight.
Measure the landing before you start. If the couch is taller than the space under the ceiling at the turn, it can't stand up there and won't make the corner: that's a job for a window and a hoist.
Rather have a crew carry it?
Our movers wrap, carry and move couches across DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia every day, up the stairs and around the tight corners, for one flat price set before we start: from $240.
Won't fit through the door at all? See furniture hoisting.
FAQ
Couch moving questions
answered
What people ask before they move a couch themselves. Anything else, give us a call.
Talk with Red Cat- Wrap it in moving blankets with shrink wrap around the middle, stand it on one arm on a hand truck with its back against the hand truck, and strap the two together. Then put one foot on the hand truck's axle, hold the top of the couch, step your other leg far back and tip the couch down onto you. Hold the couch, not the handles: it's much bigger than the hand truck, and the strap keeps them together.
Know your price.
Then let's move.
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