Last updated on September 21st, 2023 at 12:21 pm
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While you may not have considered it yet, it’s worth thinking about how to get furniture through an RV door. Given that the majority of residential furniture is quite large, you may be surprised to find your typical sofa doesn’t fit through the entrance of your RV!
So, how to get furniture through an RV door?
You can get furniture through an RV door by making informed purchases, including measuring your furniture or purchasing furniture able to be assembled inside your RV. You can also remove the RV door, as well as ask for help when moving so that you can angle the furniture in a variety of ways.
But what do you do if you have residential furniture that you want to install in your RV? And what are some useful tips and tricks for fitting furniture through your RV door? In this article, we’ll tackle all of these topics and more. Let’s get started!
How Large Are Standard RV Doors?
The first thing you need to know before getting furniture through the doors of your RV is how large your RV doors actually are. RV doors have a certain standard measurement that isn’t the same as residential doors, so measuring everything during this process is important. On average RV doors measure 20 inches wide and 70 inches tall.
When you consider the average width of a loveseat or sofa, you may already be sweating thinking about how you can possibly make that fit! However, given all RVs are different, I highly recommend measuring your door once or twice before purchasing any particular piece of furniture that you want to fit inside your RV. You may find your door is either smaller or larger than average, which might allow you to fit bigger pieces of furniture inside!
Does Residential Furniture Fit Through An RV Door?
Depending on the type and size of furniture, some pieces of residential furniture might fit through an RV door. However, just like it’s important to measure both the height and width of your RV door, you should do the same with your furniture. Most of the time, you can easily fit tables, chairs, and shelving inside your RV.
You should also have no trouble with assembling larger pieces of furniture inside your RV if it comes packaged in a box. However, if you have a sofa or loveseat you want to bring into your RV or fifth wheel, you may need to measure it carefully. Chances are, it’s too wide or long to fit through the door properly and you may end up without a couch to fit inside your rig!
What To Consider When Getting Furniture Through An RV Door?
There are many things worth considering before attempting to get furniture through an RV door. What might some of those considerations be? Let’s take a look at them now!
RV Door Size
The most important part of considering whether or not you can get furniture through your RV door is the size of the door itself. In particular, you should measure the opening you are trying to fit furniture through as in this instance, it’s the most important!
If you have a toy hauler-style fifth wheel or travel trailer, then you’re in luck when it comes to fitting furniture into your RV. You most likely have a ramp that unfolds from the back of your rig, allowing you a wide opening to move things freely in and out.
However, this is likely not the case for the majority of RVers. The standard size of an RV front door can be particularly narrow compared to the standard size of a residential home. You should keep this in mind when trying to fit furniture inside your RV and always use a rear hatch or ramp as an entry point if you have one.
Size Of Desired Furniture
The size of your desired furniture matters when attempting to fit it through an RV door. While you may have a particular piece of furniture in mind for the interior of your RV, getting it inside through the door is easier said than done. If you’re fitting a particularly large or bulky piece of furniture that doesn’t lend itself to moving well, you may have trouble fitting it into your RV.
However, if you have a simple shelving unit or chair you want inside your RV, it’s likely very easy to fit it through the door. That’s why it’s so important for you to measure any pieces of furniture extensively before attempting to move them into your RV. But we’ll talk more about this later!
Boxed Furniture vs. Built Furniture
You may be able to have the furniture of your dreams inside your RV if you purchase it unmade in a box rather than already built. Assembled furniture takes up far more space and is much more difficult to move compared to boxed furniture that hasn’t been assembled yet.
What’s the catch? Getting furniture out of a box means you’ll need to assemble it, and you’ll likely have to do so inside your camper. This is likely not a huge issue for many RVers, but it can be very stressful if you live full-time in your RV or simply don’t have the living area to construct large pieces of furniture.
You may find you simply don’t have the space to build furniture inside your RV, especially if it’s a compact and small travel trailer or camper van. However, one of the easiest ways to fit furniture through an RV door is to leave it unassembled until bringing it inside the RV itself.
Removing RV Door
If you find it impossible to fit furniture through your RV door, regardless of what it is, you may want to consider removing your RV door. This can solve the issue, but it’s sometimes easier said than done, as RV doors are designed with security in mind.
You may want to take pictures during this process if you choose to remove your RV door. The last thing you want to do is install it improperly or in a position that allows bugs or drafts to enter. You may only want to remove the RV screen rather than the full door, but this can be even more difficult depending on the make and model of your RV.
However, you can likely accomplish this with a simple drill and a couple of other tools. Removing the RV door may give you an additional couple of inches of moving room so you can fix that loveseat or sofa through the front door, no problem!
Helping Hands For Moving Furniture
Sometimes all we need is a little bit of help when it comes to moving, and this is especially true with getting furniture through an RV door. However, sometimes there can be too many cooks in the kitchen, or should I say too many people inside an RV!
While additional hands can help you move furniture at strange angles or move particularly heavy pieces of furniture, you may find that having more hands actually makes things more complicated. There’s only so much moving space in and around an RV, so if you and your 10 buddies try to move a couch into your rig, you may find there are too many hands!
Renting a dolly or other furniture moving equipment is all you need to get the job done. However, everyone is different and has different levels of moving experience, so consider calling a friend if you’re worried about getting furniture through your RV door.
Angle Of Furniture While Moving Through Door
Just like other people can help you move heavy pieces of furniture, they can also help you angle the furniture through your RV door. More often than not, this is the main issue people encounter when attempting to fit large furniture pieces inside a travel trailer or camper.
Most RV doors are fairly tall, but they aren’t very wide. Turning furniture on its side or at a different angle may help you accomplish your goals. However, keep in mind that your RV door is usually in a narrow space surrounded by walls or important appliances. Pay special attention when moving any furniture so you don’t damage the interior of your RV. But more on this later!
Weight Of Furniture
Let’s say you found the sofa of your dreams and you want to put it inside your RV. However, you have an extremely lightweight travel trailer and a tow vehicle that can’t handle very much extra weight. How much does that new sofa weigh?
RV weight limits and towing capacities matter, especially if you have a travel trailer or fifth wheel. If you are towing your rig, you never want to put too much weight inside of it, nor do you want the weight to be unevenly distributed while you drive.
If you’re able to find how much your furniture weighs, I highly recommend learning these numbers before attempting to bring in any new furniture inside your RV. Not only does your travel trailer or fifth wheel have an overall weight limit, but it also has weight limits depending on the axle it’s primarily resting upon.
The last thing you want to do is purchase a heavy new piece of furniture and find that it offsets the balance of your rig while driving. While this may mean you need to take a few extra steps in terms of planning, it results in peace of mind every time you hit the road in your RV.
Tips For How To Get Furniture Through An RV Door
Looking for some expert tips when it comes to getting furniture through an RV door? Here are some of my own personal opinions, learned after remodeling and moving furniture in and out of a vintage Fleetwood travel trailer!
Measure, Measure, Measure!
There’s the famous phrase “measure twice, cut once”, and I think the same is true with purchasing anything that’s going inside your rig. Not only should you think about your RV storage anytime you pack up for a trip, but you should also think about how much space your furniture is going to take up.
Most residential furniture is designed with residential home square footage in mind. This is why the majority of standard furniture doesn’t fit well in an RV setting, given how compact and oddly shaped the majority of RVs are.
You should measure both the furniture pieces and the area where you want to install the furniture accurately. There’s no harm in measuring a few times, especially if you’re getting something custom-made or aren’t sure whether or something will fit in the first place.
Another consideration when measuring is whether or not your furniture will conflict with any cupboard openings or storage solutions found inside your RV. I highly recommend measuring everything with any drawers or cupboards open so you can be sure your piece will fit seamlessly inside your RV.
Consider Boxed Furniture
Besides moving in a mattress, I’ve only ever purchased furniture for the interior of my RV that comes in a box and unassembled. This allows me to build the piece of furniture inside my rig so that I know it fits and don’t have to worry about getting it through the RV door.
Purchasing boxed furniture usually means you are saving some money by not getting the furniture already assembled. However, this does indeed mean you have to assemble it! You may not have as much space as you like inside your RV to build your new piece of furniture, so it’s worth thinking about building it in sections and bringing them into the RV one by one.
Unassembled furniture pieces are usually budget-friendly and more affordable than other options. Given the wear and tear your RV goes through any time you take it out on the road, you likely don’t want to have antique or very expensive furniture inside your camper. The chances of them getting damaged in the moving process may be a risk you don’t want to take.
Remove Your Door (If Necessary)
Sometimes you have no choice but to remove the door of your RV if you have a piece of furniture that simply won’t fit with the door on. However, I do recommend avoiding this option at all costs, given the potential complications of replacing your door.
Some RV doors have complicated hinges or assemblies that may make it difficult to put them back on correctly. The last thing you want is a loose RV door or one that allows for bugs or drafts to get in. You may gain an extra few inches if you remove your RV door, but it may not be worth it in the long run.
Choosing a piece of furniture that’s slightly smaller will likely help you out more than removing the RV door. Consider the fact that the interior of your RV isn’t particularly large, so if you need to remove the door to get your sofa inside, it may be too large a piece for your RV interior in the first place!
Try Another Furniture Angle
If you know a piece of furniture will fit inside your RV and look absolutely perfect, there’s no harm in attempting to fit it through your RV door. However, let’s say the furniture just won’t fit because of the interior of the RV and the way it’s structured. What can you do?
You may need to move your furniture inside your RV and through your RV door using a series of extremely unique angles and tilts. This process can be tricky, especially when you consider moving a large piece of furniture with multiple people. Not only is the doorway to your RV narrow, but the hallways are as well. It can be difficult to move things in a very small space but it is possible to get furniture through an RV door, as shown in the video below:
Take your time and consider all angles when moving large furniture pieces. You may also want to wrap the furniture in blankets or protective padding so it doesn’t get damaged in the moving process, nor does it damage the walls of your RV.
Relocate Based On Weight
Sometimes we do everything right and it still doesn’t work out. You may end up saying this about the location of your RV furniture, even after it fits through the door. More often than not, the weight limits and distribution of weight inside your RV matter more than the total weight of what’s inside your RV.
You may love the location of your new bookshelf inside your camper, but it may come with a catch. Once you fill it with books and weigh it down completely, it might be far too heavy to tow when fully set up. This is especially true if you place a piece of furniture toward the back of your RV, or to either side.
If you sense your RV is leaning one way or the other or isn’t level while you tow it, you may need to reassess where your new piece of furniture stays inside your RV. You may find it’s simply too heavy to safely tow your RV, so keep this in mind when shopping. Even if the piece of furniture fits inside your RV and through your RV door, it may not be right in an RV setting.
Final Thoughts
Learning how to get furniture through an RV door takes a bit of practice. However, through measuring and some precise moving angles, you shouldn’t encounter many problems making the interior of your travel trailer or fifth wheel exactly what you want, using the furniture you want. Enjoy designing the interior of your RV today!