1.
WHAT IS THE
MOVING SOFA
PROBLEM?
Your real-life struggles lugging sofas up staircases and getting them jammed around corners might seem epic – but it’s nothing compared to the half-century long mathematical quest to find a solution to the as-of-yet unsolved Moving Sofa Problem.
The quandary is this: you’re carrying a piece of furniture through a corridor and need to navigate it around a right-hand turn. But what is the largest area of shape you can move along that corridor?
In real life there are options for making an awkward piece of furniture fit. You can lift it, twist it, turn it, disassemble it if need be – but in geometry the sofa and the corridor are 2D.
Gerver’s solution: this is currently the most optimal solution to the Moving Sofa Problem
A couple of different solutions have been suggested, but so far no one has been able to prove that they’ve definitively found the answer to the Moving Sofa Problem. You might have coerced a corner sofa into a living room so small you’re never further than two feet away from the TV (and don’t get us wrong, we’re impressed). But unless you’ve got a good grasp of some complex geometry – you might be a master mover, but in a mathematical sense, you’ve probably not cracked the conundrum just yet.
2.
CHOOSING
YOUR
MOVING
BUDDY
ne in ten of us have ended up in a huge argument over moving furniture. And with such a precarious mix of heavy lifting, obstacle dodging and household navigation to deal with, it’s no wonder. With that in mind, choosing the right moving partner is key when it comes to keeping things friction-free.
So, while your best mate, partner, or dad might be the easiest person to persuade to give you a hand with the manual labour, it might be better to make a tactical choice.
The math
It might not seem like your choice of moving partner has much to do with mathematics. But when you start to think about weight, and who should be doing most of the lifting – understanding a little bit of physics will help you pick the perfect partner.
The flatter the angle you carry the sofa at, the more equally the weight will be shared between the people lifting it.
Have you ever lifted the edge of an item, and dragged it along the floor? When a sofa is on the ground it’s stationary - the ground is supporting all its weight. If someone lifts one end of the sofa into the air, they lift some of that weight, but most will still be supported by the floor. The centre of gravity (where the most weight is borne) has shifted towards the lower end of the sofa.
When a person lifts the other end of the sofa, at first it might feel very heavy. As they stand up, and the angle of the sofa becomes more horizontal, the centre of gravity shifts back towards the middle and it will feel lighter.
If you've ever lifted the edge of an item and dragged it along the floor, you'll have probably found it easier than lifting the whole thing.
How it works in the real world
There are a couple of factors you need to think about when picking a moving partner, beyond who you can convince to help you out!
If you and your moving partner are carrying the sofa totally flat, you both need to be able to lift half the weight of the sofa.
If there’s a height difference between you, remember: because the shorter person is closer to the ground, they will be taking more of the weight.
You also need to think about your relationship. If you don’t know how to communicate with each other, it’s a recipe for disaster.
“Something I’ve found important with moving partners is age. If you get a young individual with an older person, there’s always an argument because they’re moving at different paces. That’s when things get damaged. So, if you’re choosing someone to help you move furniture, try and find someone roughly your age.”
Home Delivery Operative
“As a couple (or even if you’re just enlisting someone else to help you move) one person will usually take charge – and that can work. But in a lot of situations, both people want to be in control, and that means a lot of negotiation and compromise is required. Whoever you choose to move your sofa with, make sure they’re someone you know you can talk to openly and honestly.”
Couples Counsellor
3.
LIFTING YOUR
SOFA THROUGH
THE DOOR
ou’ve moved house and the time comes to manoeuvre your treasured Chesterfield sofa into the new living room. But what happens when you get to the front door and realise your sofa won’t fit through?
Considering over a quarter of us have hurt our backs trying to carry heavy items planning how you’re going to actually get your sofa into the building should be thought about long before the day arrives.
The math
At the most basic level, to move a sofa through a door you need to make sure the width of the sofa is less than the width of the doorway. Of course, it’s not quite that simple for most people. Unless you have a particularly spacious hallway, you’ll probably need to turn the sofa at some point while moving it through the door.
For a standard rectangular sofa, tight corners and turns can be tricky - it all depends on the size and the length of the sofa.
Turning the sofa at an angle creates a whole new set of challenges. You create space on one side of the doorway, while closing space on the other; it’s here that the shape of the sofa becomes important.
The Moving Sofa Problem challenges us to calculate the largest area of shape that can move through an L-shaped region. And despite the name, most of the existing solutions have fairly un-sofa-like shapes. For a standard rectangular sofa, tight corners and turns can be tricky – it all depends on the size and the length of the sofa, and dimensions of the corner.
In the moving sofa problem, a semi-circular shape replaces that of the average, rectangular sofa - allowing for a larger area of item to be moved around.
How it works in the real world
Lifting a sofa through a doorway should be one of the most straightforward parts of the moving process. Some things are obvious:
Don’t try and move the sofa on your own.
Bend at the knees when you lift.
If you need an extra inch or two to get it through, try removing the feet.
Other techniques might not be so clear. If you’re lifting something large and cumbersome like a 4-seater sofa, one good tip is to put it on its knees. That means flipping it over, so as the cavity of the sofa is facing the floor and the back corner is in the air. From the side, it would look like an arrow, pointing up. By grabbing the bottom two edges you’ve got a good grip to hold on to when you lift.
“Always measure your doorframes and your access points before moving a sofa or having one delivered. It’s also important to do if you’re moving a piece of furniture out of a room – if the doorframe’s been replaced or upgraded, there’s a chance you won’t be able to move your sofa out again in one piece.”
Home Delivery Operative
“To avoid arguments and keep things as stress-free as possible, forward planning is necessary! Take measurements and make lists of everything that needs to be done. This is especially important if you’re moving houses with a partner. Recognise that this may be an emotional time for you. A new house also means the loss of an old house”
Couples Counsellor
4.
TACKLING
THE
STAIRS
ven without a sofa to carry up, tackling the stairs can be fairly physically challenging. So, it’s no surprise that over a quarter of the people we asked said they wouldn’t help a friend carry a sofa upstairs.
But if you don’t live on the ground floor, there’s no lift you cram your 2-seater into and it’s too late to call a professional for help – you’ve got no other option. Prepare to get hot, sweaty and potentially, a little bit cross.
The math
The same law of physics that means the shorter person carrying one end of a sofa has pulled the -ahem- short-straw, also affects who carries the most weight when carrying a sofa upstairs.
The same law of physics that means the shorter person carrying one end of a sofa has pulled the -ahem- short-straw, also affects who carries the most weight when carrying a sofa upstairs.
On a flat surface, you will both be carrying more or less the same amount of weight – about half that of the sofa. Once the person carrying the front takes their first step up the stairs, the centre of gravity (and therefore, the weight) will shift towards the person carrying the back. What’s more, the longer the sofa, the bigger the difference will be in the weight you take.
Before you even think about lifting the sofa up, do your measurements and have a think about the route you'll take it to its final destination.
How it works in the real world
While it’s physical work taking a sofa up five floors, as long as you have the right technique, you’ll be fine. Communication between the people carrying the sofa is the biggest issue – that’s why you need to be facing each other.
The person who goes up first is the eyes. They need to shout out where the steps are, how many there are and warn you about any obstacles that might be in the way. It’s their job to decide when to push, pull, lift and turn.
Whoever’s lifting the back of the sofa needs to be the muscle – they are, after all, taking the brunt of the weight.
“When you’re carrying a sofa up a flight of stairs, communication is the biggest issue. You need to be facing each other so you can communicate. Whoever goes up first is the eyes – they need to be looking out for everything, telling you where to step, where the steps are and how many steps there are to come before an obstacle.”
Home Delivery Operative
“This is the kind of situation that can easily cause raised tempers, and sometimes even after the moving process is over, people can hang on to that resentment. Anger is often due to a build-up of other difficult feelings. If you’re feeling the stress and share your feelings immediately, then often that anger won’t take place.”
Couples Counsellor
5.
MANAGING
CORNERS
here’s nothing worse than the sinking feeling you get when you realise you’ve got a piece of furniture stuck in a position that you can’t get it out of. Maybe it’s squeezed at an angle through a doorframe or maybe you’re wedged in a corner, or on a staircase.
But if you don’t live on the ground floor, there’s no lift you cram your 2-seater into and it’s too late to call a professional for help – you’ve got no other option. Prepare to get hot, sweaty and potentially, a little bit cross.
The math
The need to pivot to get around a corner is intuitive, yet for some it can be the trickiest part of the moving process.
Pivoting is about symmetry. You’re rotating an object around one fixed point, so the shape of the sofa doesn’t change, but everything else moves in relation to the sofa
Sometimes objects are just too large to pivot around a particular point – that’s when things can end up getting wedged into positions.
If you do end up getting an object stuck, there’s not really a mathematical perspective except for the obvious, logical one: that which became stuck can become un-stuck by doing everything you did to get it stuck, but in reverse.
Twisting, turning and flipping your sofa might help you with troublesome corners but if you're truly stuck, a delivery operative can help you take the sofa apart.
How it works in the real world
Thankfully, there are different ways to get around the problem of sofas that just won’t turn in the way you want them to.
For particularly tight spaces, when you need to pivot a sofa through a doorway and into a room, you can use the cavity of the sofa to create more space.
By standing the sofa up vertically, with the seat of the sofa facing the way you need to turn, you naturally create extra space which you can use to curl around the doorframe.
As with the whole moving process, communication and teamwork will help to make sure you don’t get your couch stuck in a space where you can’t get it out. The person carrying the back of the sofa needs to listen to the directions given by the person carrying the front.
“The best way to think about moving a sofa around a corner is to visualise what we call ‘the smile’. It’s the shape of the path you move a sofa round, curving it smoothly from one side to the other. It works whether you’re moving a sofa around a corner, or if you’re standing it upright and see-sawing it through a low doorway.”
Home Delivery Operative
“In Friends, it’s played for laughs. But when you don’t quite understand what someone is asking of you, don’t respond in a defensive manner. Don’t raise your voice. Don’t repeat what they have said to you. Don’t respond with sarcasm or humour, as this will frustrate and irritate the person needing help.”
Couples Counsellor
Once you’ve mastered the maths and managed to manoeuvre your sofa, there’s nothing quite like a well-deserved sit down after a day of heavy lifting. But why lift when you could lounge? Every Furniture Village sofa is delivered to, and through, your door. So, leave the hard work to the experts and sit back, relax and enjoy. After all, that’s what sofas are for.
Test your knowledge with our how to move a sofa quiz