Designing a house that you cant get furniture into!
Discussion
I recently purchased my first home, a 3 bed town house essentially. The ground floor is mostly a garage so all the living areas are 1st and second floors.
Now I realised access was gonna be tricky but I didn't realise quite how bad it is. The stairs double back on themselves to the 1st floor landing and there is a wooden post that goes from ground floor to 2nd floor in the middle. This post, which probably goes someway to supporting the stairs, cannot be removed.
Now I measured up as best I could to estimate the size of sofa I can get up the stairs and then bought small 2 seater to get me started. I have now discovered it won't go up the stairs due to this fkin post.
Who the f
k designs a house you cant get small / medium sofas into? It's a 2007 build so not some tiny cottage or anything.
So it looks like im gonna have to hoist it in through the lounge double window, but there is a Juliet balcony in the way so thats going to have to come off as well!
Is this normal for modern homes? Strikes me as being very poor design.. It's not as if im trying to get a 15ft chesterfield in there!
Also bovis, when you build homes get your builders to do the plumbing correctly, that way everything won't leak!
Now I realised access was gonna be tricky but I didn't realise quite how bad it is. The stairs double back on themselves to the 1st floor landing and there is a wooden post that goes from ground floor to 2nd floor in the middle. This post, which probably goes someway to supporting the stairs, cannot be removed.
Now I measured up as best I could to estimate the size of sofa I can get up the stairs and then bought small 2 seater to get me started. I have now discovered it won't go up the stairs due to this fkin post.
Who the f
k designs a house you cant get small / medium sofas into? It's a 2007 build so not some tiny cottage or anything. So it looks like im gonna have to hoist it in through the lounge double window, but there is a Juliet balcony in the way so thats going to have to come off as well!
Is this normal for modern homes? Strikes me as being very poor design.. It's not as if im trying to get a 15ft chesterfield in there!
Also bovis, when you build homes get your builders to do the plumbing correctly, that way everything won't leak!
no way we're getting through any of the windows 
A wealthy customer had an ultra luxury flat built on the top floor of an old warehouse, the design of the stairs up to the flat meant that anything larger than a shoe box would not fit up the stairs.
We ended up hiring a huge teleporter and making a big flat 8X4 pallet so we could lift the furniture up the 40 feet to the balcony and then lift the furniture over the rail and in that way.
We had to get the police to close the road for half a day and put cones and people in hi-viz coats all round the machine to stop passers by getting too close.
It was great fun !
We ended up hiring a huge teleporter and making a big flat 8X4 pallet so we could lift the furniture up the 40 feet to the balcony and then lift the furniture over the rail and in that way.
We had to get the police to close the road for half a day and put cones and people in hi-viz coats all round the machine to stop passers by getting too close.
It was great fun !
That type of house (OP's) is often a nightmare for that.
Was once offered an almost new £4k designer italian sofa... catch was I had to chop it in half to remove, as the builders were just gonna smash it to pieces! The chippie had already sawn all the bannisters out & properly repaired them 2 months previously to get the thing in before the guys gf decided she didn't like it or something. fail.
Was once offered an almost new £4k designer italian sofa... catch was I had to chop it in half to remove, as the builders were just gonna smash it to pieces! The chippie had already sawn all the bannisters out & properly repaired them 2 months previously to get the thing in before the guys gf decided she didn't like it or something. fail.
MoleVision said:
Now I measured up as best I could to estimate the size of sofa I can get up the stairs and then bought small 2 seater to get me started. I have now discovered it won't go up the stairs due to this fkin post.
Who tried to get it up - you? I'm not saying it will go, but it's amazing what skilled furniture movers can do.MoleVision said:
So it looks like im gonna have to hoist it in through the lounge double window, but there is a Juliet balcony in the way so thats going to have to come off as well!
Why not just buy a self assemble sofa that comes in part, obviously Ikea do them depending on your budget but there are also lots of other companys, go for modular sofa and the individual parts should easily fit up the stairs and then come together to form the sofa size of your needs...surveyor said:
dxg said:
Well I spent yesterday removing the bannisters from the stairs in my recently-bought mid-seventies place.
All to get rid of a huge sofa that the previous owners had "mysteriously left behind" in an upstairs bedroom...
Would it not have been easier to destroy the sofa insitu?All to get rid of a huge sofa that the previous owners had "mysteriously left behind" in an upstairs bedroom...
Deva Link said:
MoleVision said:
Now I measured up as best I could to estimate the size of sofa I can get up the stairs and then bought small 2 seater to get me started. I have now discovered it won't go up the stairs due to this fkin post.
Who tried to get it up - you? I'm not saying it will go, but it's amazing what skilled furniture movers can do.Alternatively...
dxg said:
Well I spent yesterday removing the bannisters from the stairs in my recently-bought mid-seventies place.
All to get rid of a huge sofa that the previous owners had "mysteriously left behind" in an upstairs bedroom.
So it's not just new houses...
I recently had to remove the lounge window to get the FIL's new sofa in mid 70'a place also.All to get rid of a huge sofa that the previous owners had "mysteriously left behind" in an upstairs bedroom.
So it's not just new houses...
I used to deliver to construction sites I reckon if you treated animals with the contempt homebuilders treat buyers you would be arrested.
Shame many people don't actually look @ the specially built small furniture in the showhome before buying.
speedyguy said:
Shame many people don't actually look @ the specially built small furniture in the showhome before buying.
When I was looking to buy this place, I also looked at a new development. It was obvious they were compact and bijou, but there was something else nagging at the back of my mind. It wasn't until I got upstairs that I twigged. All the furniture was about 3/4 scale!Im my locale, i just don't get why these new 'townhouses' cost so much more than existing pre-war homes which have much bigger rooms and you can actually get normal-sized furniture through the front door! Please explain to me why .. obviously i went for a cheaper 30s home because i'm the practical sort but why do people pay a premium for less?
AtticusFinch said:
We've got a Nabru jobby in an occasional rooms, and it is fair quality and well stuck together, but in all honesty I couldn't see it being able to last as the main sofa for any significant length of time. But, I agree, the modular build would get around the staircase issue.fido said:
Im my locale, i just don't get why these new 'townhouses' cost so much more than existing pre-war homes which have much bigger rooms and you can actually get normal-sized furniture through the front door! Please explain to me why .. obviously i went for a cheaper 30s home because i'm the practical sort but why do people pay a premium for less?
Land prices & greedy national/international developers rather than local builders ?Some companies have/used to have massive land banks for development, there's also loads of planning regs now probably starting how many cages/homes can be squeezed on a plot.
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