Will the Under-Stairs Storage Fit Through the Front Door?

What opening does the unit have to pass?

The clear opening is the gap you can actually pass something through, with the door fully open. A stay, a letterbox, a porch step, or a door that only opens part way all change that gap. Photograph the door from inside and from outside, open, and put a tape across the narrowest point you can see. This page does not turn that reading into a width for every house.

If the front door swings into the hall, the open leaf is part of the gap. A door that was shut when the void was measured is easy to leave off the brief, and then it is in the way on the day.

Where does the route turn?

Walk from the threshold to the stair as if you were carrying a wide panel. A turn at the foot of the stair, a radiator, a console table and the newel are the usual places a long piece stops. The fronts guide is where the newel and the stringer are drawn. Here, the question is whether the piece can turn past them.

A straight hall with the stair at the far end is a different carry from a hall that bends before you can see the stair. Say which one you have. One photo from the door toward the stair, and one from the stair looking back, shows the turn better than a single width.

Can the storage come in as more than one piece?

If a tall end, a bench, or a run of doors will not pass the narrowest opening, say that in the brief. The void can still be filled. The fronts do not have to arrive as one slab. A photo cannot decide the joint. A verified measure of the route, and of the void, comes before anyone decides how the unit splits.

Do not take the old cupboard out just to test the route. The replacement guide is the note for reading that cupboard first. This page is only the way a new front gets from the path to the void.

What is already standing in the way?

A pram, a bike, a shoe pile or a hall table will be there on the day unless the brief says it moves. The walking-line note is the floor you need after the unit is in. This note is the floor you need while it is being carried. A hall that is tight to walk can still take a unit if the route is clear for that hour. A hall that is easy to walk can still stop a panel at the newel.

If the sensible way in is a back door or a garage you already use for large furniture, photograph that route and say the front door is not the way in. Do not plan to take a window out for this. If that is the only idea left, say so before anything is made.

What should I send before the fronts are drawn?

Send the route as it will be on the day, not an empty styled hall. The void measurements stay on the measuring guide. This list does not replace them. Manufacture still waits on a verified measure. Photos scope the carry. They do not skip the site measure.

• The door you will actually use, fully open, with a tape across the clear gap.
• The turn between that door and the stair, from both ends.
• Anything that will still be standing in that route on the day.
• Whether a tall end or a long bench may need to come in as more than one piece.
• Which door is not the way in, if the front door is the wrong route.