It's the most feared moment of any move: the sofa, wardrobe or mattress arrives at the entrance of the new apartment and... doesn't fit through the door. You've paid for the truck, you've moved everything from the other end of the city, and now the furniture is stuck on the landing. This article explains why measuring doors before the move is absolutely critical and how to do it correctly.
The measurements you MUST ALWAYS know
Doors (width and height)
- Main entrance door to the building
- Elevator door (front AND side if it has L-shaped opening)
- Your apartment door
- Interior doors in each room
- Balcony or terrace door (if you have outdoor furniture)
Width of hallways and landings
- Hallway from entrance door to elevator
- Landing on each floor (space to maneuver the furniture between the elevator and your door)
- Internal hallways in the apartment (between master bedroom and bathroom, for example)
Elevator: the 3 critical measurements
- Door width: the opening where the furniture enters
- Cabin depth: how much fits inside (sometimes narrower than the door)
- Cabin height: for tall furniture like wardrobes, floor lamps, vertical mirrors
Stairs
- Stair tread width (how many cm the step has)
- Usable width between walls
- Landing space to maneuver
- If there's a railing, its height and if it can be temporarily removed
Dimensions of "problematic" furniture
Sofas
- Standard 2-seater sofa: 160-190 cm long × 90 cm deep × 85-95 cm high
- 3-seater sofa: 200-240 cm × 90 cm × 85-95 cm
- Corner sofa: up to 280 × 250 cm
- Sofa bed open: check it open, it usually measures 50-80 cm longer!
The sofa is the king of problems. Measure it in all 3 dimensions and compare it with ALL the openings it has to pass through.
Mattresses
- Single: 90 × 190 cm
- Standard double: 135 × 190 cm
- Queen: 150 × 200 cm
- King: 160 × 200 or 180 × 200 cm
Spring mattresses are rigid: the longest dimension is what matters. To pass a 200 cm mattress through an 80 cm door, you have to carry it on its edge. If the hallway turns 90°, the calculation is more complicated.
Wardrobes
Wardrobes usually assemble and disassemble, so the problem isn't the doors but the complete sides (entire panels that cannot be disassembled further):
- IKEA Pax 2-door wardrobe: side panel 236 × 58 cm
- Built-in prefabricated wardrobe: depends on the manufacturer, check invoice
Refrigerators
- Standard combi: 60 × 65 × 200 cm
- Large combi: 70 × 75 × 200 cm
- American (side by side): 90 × 70 × 180 cm — the most problematic in old apartments
Washing machines
- Standard: 60 × 60 × 85 cm
- Top-loading: 40 × 60 × 90 cm (narrower)
Other problematic items
- Dining table with solid top: width ~90 cm, length 140-200 cm
- Bed headboard: variable width, height 80-120 cm
- Pianos: see specific piano transport guide
- Large mirrors: very fragile, their size is limited more by safety than by fit
How to measure correctly
Measure TWICE
It's proverbial: "measure twice, cut once". For moves: measure twice, transport once. A 2 cm mistake can be the difference between getting the sofa in or having to return it.
Measure the USEFUL OPENING, not the closed door
When an open door is against a wall, the useful width is reduced by the thickness of the door itself + the handle. Measure the FREE SPACE with the door open at 90°, not the nominal dimension of the door.
Consider the diagonal
Sometimes a piece of furniture that doesn't fit head-on does fit diagonally. Calculate: if the door is 80 cm and the sofa is 90 cm deep, it will pass on edge if the sofa height is low enough (90 cm high × 90 cm deep, on the diagonal makes 127 cm, so it would fit with 80 cm opening if you tilt it).
This requires experience and professional workers. A moving company with 15 years in the business calculates it almost always by sight.
When it doesn't fit even with maneuvering: 4 solutions
1. Disassemble the furniture
The most obvious option. Table legs, wardrobe doors, sofa supports... many modern pieces of furniture are designed to disassemble. It takes 30-60 minutes and solves the problem.
2. Remove the door or frame
Doors come off their hinges in 5 minutes. Sometimes, that gains you those extra 2-3 cm you need. Frames: only if you have a lot of experience.
3. External crane (lifting via balcony)
For impossible cases, a crane lifts the furniture from the street to the apartment's balcony. It requires municipal permission for public road occupation (OVP), which the moving company handles. Extra cost: €200-500 depending on height and time.
4. Accept that it doesn't fit
Sometimes it's better to sell that huge sofa on Wallapop before you move and buy another one adapted to the new house. If you bring the sofa to the new apartment and it doesn't fit, you have to pay for return transport or take it to the waste disposal site. Better to decide before.
Pre-move technical visit: the moving insurance
At Horizont Atlantic, for medium to large moves we offer a free pre-move technical visit. A technician goes to your current home, notes dimensions of critical furniture, and then goes to the new one (if available) to measure ALL the openings. The quote we give you already accounts for:
- If furniture needs to be disassembled
- If an external crane needs to be used
- If we need additional staff for a specific piece
This avoids surprises on moving day and eliminates the risk of "it doesn't fit, it stays on the landing".
Your measurement list: download and print
To not forget anything, collect this data before any move:
- Main entrance door (height × width) origin and destination
- Main apartment door (height × width) origin and destination
- Interior doors in each room
- Elevator (door × cabin) origin and destination
- Stairs (usable width) if there's no elevator
- Critical hallways (bottleneck)
- Sofa, main mattress, largest wardrobe, refrigerator, washing machine (3 dimensions each)
With this table in hand, any moving company can correctly assess your case and give you a price that won't increase on moving day.
Want a free technical visit?
For moves to or from the Canary Islands, where the shipping cost and the difficulty of "redoing" the operation if something doesn't fit are high, the technical visit is practically mandatory. Contact us and we'll coordinate a technical visit to your current home at no cost or obligation.
Frequently asked questions about door measurements in moves
What is the minimum door width to fit large furniture?
Modern standard Spanish doors: 82-90 cm usable (after frame). This admits: standard 2-seater sofa (90-130 cm), standard refrigerator (60-65 cm), washing machine (60 cm), king mattress in vertical position (180 cm long, 90 cm without folding). Problematic: large chaise lounge sofas (180+ cm without disassembly), American refrigerators (90+ cm wide).
How to correctly measure the door before the move?
Measure the ACTUAL OPENING (not the entire door). Open wooden frame: distance between the right side of the frame and the left side, with the door completely open at 90°. Also note the opening height (floor to top of frame). For furniture that enters by rotating (sofas, washing machines), also the depth of the landing (maneuvering space).
What do I do if a piece of furniture doesn't fit through the door?
In order of cost: 1) complete disassembly and reassembly at destination (cheaper if it has hardware), 2) lowering/raising via balcony or window with external crane (€200-500), 3) disposal and purchase of adapted furniture at destination (depends on furniture value), 4) temporary storage in a furniture warehouse while you decide. More about lifting furniture: lifting large furniture to an apartment.
What if the entrance door to the building is narrow?
Even more limiting. Old building entrances can have 70-75 cm usable, clearly insufficient for much modern furniture. Solution: unload in the street + manually load into the entrance with crane or by stairs. If you have furniture that doesn't fit through the entrance OR the balcony: selling at origin is the only realistic option.
How to avoid surprises on moving day with measurements?
Pre-move technical visit: professional companies do a free visit to measure doors, stairs, elevator, street, and plan. If you don't book a visit: send photo + measurements to the moving company via WhatsApp 1 week before. Better to discover a problem with time (you can disassemble, sell, plan crane) than on moving day with the truck waiting.
Measuring the door is exactly what we do in the pre-move visit: from there we determine if the furniture fits, if it needs to be disassembled or if furniture lifting is needed. All of that is included in the quote for our moves in Tenerife, and not as an extra that appears on loading day.
