36" door is a piece of cake with all regular sofas provided you have good egress before and after the door. A basic door with primer as it pertains to furniture deliveries - and very general.

Most furniture is designed to go through 33" - 34" doorways, so a 36" door is a luxury (if you ever want to see delivery guys break out in a big grin, have a double opening front door).

At 32" things get interesting. There are certain larger sofas that won't fit, and some that have to be 'shoved' through if the customer decides thats OK, and might have get abrasion marks on leather pieces, or light soiling on fabric ones. In my delivery trucks we carry a special pad with metal bands to fit around door jambs for exactly this reason.

Anything other 32" requires careful planning beforehand, and many pieces simply won't fit. You're up against the laws of physics. 29" and 30" doorways are virtually useless for sofas, but you can get recliners through them relatively easy by opening them up flat and carrying them through in an extended mode (be very gentle if you do this, as its hard on the mechanisms).

Whats as important as door width is egress on each side of the door. On many doorways, we have to be able to 'hook' the sofa around the door frame. If we can't do that, it may not go in.

An experienced delivery crew is your best bet. They can tell usually very quickly be eyeballing the doorways if a piece will or will not go in, plus they know the tricks in handling larger pieces to get them in the house, whereas a new crew will simply give up and put it back on the truck.

There is a decision-making point on some difficult deliveries that the customer must decide upon whether they want the furniture pushed up against the jambs and walls. If you as the customer say 'yes', then expect some minor blemishes on your furniture or walls. Sometimes thats the only way to get a piece in.

I've often remarked that every architect should have to work on a furniture delivery truck for at least a month before they get certified. We'd see a lot better egress into homes if that happened.

-Duane Collie