The problem is there is very little space to manoeuvre furniture through the doorway of a conversion flat.
Apart from buying flat pack furniture, small armchairs etc. can anything be done to improve the access?
The situation is as follows.
The existing access is up a reasonably wide straight flight of stairs onto a landing that is about three feet by three feet. The front door is on the left with blank walls in front and on the right.
The ceiling height is about nine feet.
It is a very tight fit for settees to got into the flat so choosing settees is a challenge and few have removable arms.
Would it be possible to have a removable door lintel with a top hinged window above it?
This would allow the window to be hinged up, the lintel unbolted thus vastly improving access? A glass pane would be better as it would borrow light into the hallway.
I have never seen this arrangement but at first thoughts but are there any obvious snags appart from convincing the management company and the building regs people that this would work?
My first thought are re fire regs as they are the most important.
A metal frame ?, wired glass ? approved hinges, intumescent strips.
It is not an original doorway so no load worries.
Cost would not be great and it would allow a much wider choice of settees.
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Remove glass from a window and put your furniture through this way. :-)
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For the hassle involved, would it not be more effective to fit a wider front door and frame, rather than a taller one? How was furniture moved into that part of the house before the conversion?
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We had the the windows and doors to the front 2 sides of our bungalow replaced over the last few years, we had French doors fitted to our main entrance (front door), so we use one door for 99% of use, it's slightly narrower at 27/8" wide than a normal door...but obviously opens to 54/6" when the second is opened for hot weather ventilation or large object movements.
This would entail widening the access in your case i think, so might well be discounted.
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Sorry - further info
It is a second floor flat and there is no way the door can be widened due to two adjacent doors within the flat
>>How was furniture moved into that part of the house before the conversion?
The original configuration ( ten years + before my daughter bought it) was obviously quite different and judging by the inferior staircase at that level the staff were on the top floor :-)
The size of settee that will go through the door is a real problem. The door is a normal width but there is little space to move a settee from standing on its end on the landing and tilting it through the gap.
The present tenants said they only just got a medium /small settee through the door.
(We had a similar problem when we moved to our current house. Our long settee with very narrow arms would not go into our front room unless we demolished part of the stairs. fortunately there were french doors on the bcak room so thats where it went)
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My in-laws lived in an, quite small house that featured a remarkably narrow staircase with two very sharp turns top and bottom.
Usual method of getting beds etc onto the first floor involved temporarily taking out the back bedroom's sash windows and hauling the furniture up with ropes.
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My daughter bought a settee from IKEA and it came in three bits, without all the awkward angles.
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>> My daughter bought a settee from IKEA and it came in three bits, without all
>> the awkward angles.
Definitely one of the benefits of IKEA sofas.
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Still a pig to get off the high racks in the warehouse. And into the back of your hatchback
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>> Still a pig to get off the high racks in the warehouse. And into the back of your hatchback
>>
Especially 2.1m long items
So I have a saloon with roof bars!!!
We took a look at the weight of some flat packs and decided at best a DIY job meant unpacking, onto roof bars and repack each large item ( at risk of back damage ).
SO
We made a big list of all the big bookcases and cupboards etc wanted for the forseeable future and placed an order plus just £35 delivery for the lot a BIG bargain.
I had to keep a straight face when the two sub contracted men and a van asked " Where is the lift mate ?" - " Sorry just stairs"
They were the worse for wear at the end so softee gave them a enough for a couple of beers each as they did not winge but did a good job .
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I was in the IKEA maze late last night :-((
Daughter has looked at their offerings and also the sofa workshop, who can make sofas with detachable arms etc and they used to come, for a fee, and check the access.
It is just the reduced choice knowing the access restriction that is the pain.
I would not fancy hauling a settee up to the second floor and through a sash window not much wider than the door especially as it would have to be almost horizontal as it entered the room.
Now if we had what those clever people in Holland use on their traditional old tall houses, a built in derrick, we would be well sorted.
www.canstockphoto.com/historical-dutch-houses-0732459.html
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When it comes to a settee....easy.
We have a 2 seat and a 3 seat leather recliner suite. I have had to do some ' mechanical ' repairs on it where a bolt has come out underneath.
We had to move them out into the garage when we were having the lounge done.
The backs simply unclip and lift out of their sockets. The seats are in individual sections all bolted to rails, front and back.
You can take the whole thing apart into manageable pieces with a 10mm socket and spanner.
The man's coming tomorrow to renew a pull cable for the recliner.
I imagine most suites like ours are of a similar construction.
Ted
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>> French doors
French windows. Sorry, a pet peeve. French windows are doors that are largely glazed, and function as windoes as well. A "french door" is a door from france.
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>> Would it be possible to have a removable door lintel with a top hinged window
>> above it?
If there's not much above the lintel - and there probably isn't - why not juct make a high door opening and put in a tall door?
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How to improve access through a front doorway. - Bigtee
