Terrace & period homes
Terrace removals in Ilford
In a period terrace the furniture is not the question — the route is. Four measurements decide what leaves the house in one piece, and one of them decides most of it.
- 01
The front door opening
Narrower than people assume, and frequently narrowed further by a replacement door in a period frame. It is the last constraint on the route and the one nobody checks, because everyone measures the room door instead.
- 02
The hall at its narrowest
Usually beside the stairs, and usually with a radiator or a newel post in the way. A sofa that fits the doorway and not the hall is a sofa that gets as far as the mat.
- 03
The half-landing turn
Width at the turn, the handrail, and the ceiling above it. This is the decisive measurement in an Edwardian terrace — everything upstairs has to pass it, and a piece that came up before a carpet was replaced does not automatically come down.
- 04
The loft hatch
Where there is a conversion, the staircase to it is narrower again, and where there is not, the hatch itself limits what can come down in one piece. Either way it is measured rather than assumed.
Number three is the one that matters. Everything else is care; that one is physics.
And when something will not pass
Four answers. None is a disaster; all are cheaper as a plan than as an improvisation.
- 01It comes apart — most modern furniture and all flat-pack does
- 02It goes out through a window, with a crew equipped for it
- 03It goes down in a different sequence, once the load plan is rearranged
- 04It stays — a decision, and a far easier one made in advance
Terrace removals — questions
Will the sofa get down the stairs?
Sometimes not. There are four workable answers and all of them are listed on this page. Discovering it on the morning is not one of them.
Our hall floor is original.
Then it is covered before the first carry, not after the first scuff. Floor protection at both addresses is included on every job.
Do you take furniture out through windows?
Where the route requires it and the building allows it, yes, with a crew equipped for it. Planned in advance, and far more ordinary in period houses than people expect.
We are in a permit street.
Most of Ilford is. We apply to Redbridge for a dispensation or a suspended bay; they want notice, so tell us the road early.
Barking terraces too?
Yes. Similar housing, same parking question. The riverside blocks are the part that differs.
Moving out of a terrace?
Tell us the widest piece you own and how tight the stairs are. We can usually say straight away whether it is a problem.