Have you ever seen a crane move a piano into an upper-level apartment? If you’re considering moving into a walk-up apartment, that image may stick with you. But getting furniture into your new place doesn’t necessarily mean heavy machinery in your future. With some good planning and preparation, you’ll be settled in in no time!
Measure and Measure Again
In a furniture showroom display, everything looks proportional. However, unless you have huge rooms, that furniture could be too big for your space. Keep size in mind when looking for apartments and thinking about furniture placement. You’ll also need to measure to determine if your furniture will fit through doorways and up staircases.
- Minimum door widths: Modern building codes require exterior doorways to be 36” wide. But if you’re looking at a walk-up in an older brownstone, those doors may be narrower.
- Stair dimensions: Stairs should be 42” wide at the widest points. Measure the entire width, even going through the railings. Don’t forget to measure height of the stairwell.
- Consider all dimensions of furniture: Don’t just measure the length of a couch—include width and depth. Caster feet can often be unscrewed for moving.
- Bedding: King-sized bedding can be a real challenge to get up even wider stairs.
Remove Doors Temporarily
Face the fact that you may have to actually remove doors and stair railings to accommodate your furniture in the move. Consult your movers to see if they do this. If moving yourself, find someone who is knowledgeable about construction to advise you. Clear this with your landlord well ahead of moving day. If you damage walls or doors, you don’t want it to be a total surprise to them!
Hoisting and Cranes
In extreme case, you might have to hire a service that will use a crane to hoist your furniture. Often they are able to get your furniture in through a balcony sliding door. Keep in mind that these services can be very costly. You may have to sacrifice some of your furniture if it’s physically impossible to get it into your new place.
This post was provided by Nancy LaFever of MyMove.com, an online resource where you can find the information, products and moving coupons you need to streamline and save during a move.
