Can I Cut My Couch In Half?

Can you cut your couch in half?   not a question you often expect to get. However, it is more common than you think. We aren’t saying that you should cut your couch in half just for the hell of it.

No. But sometimes our furniture gets old, and it needs replacing and when that time comes we need to get rid of the old one.

However, sometimes getting the old couch out of the house can seem like a real drag, especially when you are likely to have worked super hard to get your new one in. 

Even if it is not hard work getting it out, you then need to get it to a dumpster, and something carrying a whole couch about is just too much effort when it will just get thrown out anyway. 

Can I Cut My Couch In Half

If you are removing the couch from your house, there may be easier ways to break it down than to simply cut it in half though. Consider setting the cushions aside for a start.

The first step to taking any couch apart is to remove the cushions, they are bulkier than you think and if they are removable then this can save you a lot of extra weight and effort. If your couch is a sofa bed then you should remove the mattress before you do anything else.

Pull out the metal bed and take the mattress off, unscrew the hinge arms that connect the metal frame and remove it. You wouldn’t believe the weight that this can shed. 

Now, you can start removing the upholstery, in order to break it down you will have to remove the covering. Most upholstery is fastened by staples which can easily be removed with a staple puller if you will be reapplying the fabric later.

However, if it is just going down to the dumpster then you can just rip or cut the fabric off by hand, or as we have noted already… Just cut it in half. 

If your couch is a pain trying to fit it through the door then remove the legs. Use a screwdriver or saw, although some couches will have legs with screw tops, in this case just grab the leg and twist, and it should come off.

Then take apart the rest of the frame, keeping in mind that every couch is different. So, if you can do this and how you do this will depend on the kind of couch you have. You may need one tool, two tools, or multiple, but this could take a while to do.

If you are putting the couch back together, save the materials and reassemble it after, although this is a lot of work, if not, you can reuse these materials.

You can use the cushions for pet beds, floor pillows for children, use them with some waterproofing and use them for your outdoor seating area. Get creative. 

However, if you cannot be bothered with all this work just to remove a sofa, if it seems like way too much work just for something you are throwing out, then you can just ignore all this.

Chances are a very old and extremely used sofa is not going to be used again, even as a low-quality second hand option, so you could easily cut it up.

If you have some pent-up anger from that horrible day you had at work, or that argument you had with your relative last week. You can always cut the couch in half and take out your frustration by doing so, while also making the disposal a little easier to bear

How to do it

If you do decide to cut the couch in half though, don’t just go whacking at it like a slasher from a horror movie. Be safe and secure about it, and avoid making a mess. 

First of all, you should place some newspaper or other covering on the floor, underneath the sofa, so you can avoid a heavy clean up from the mess you are about to make. 

Then remove the sofa cushions and any fabric covers that are removable. 

Lay the sofa down on its back so that the seating part is vertical. 

Put on some safety goggles, you do not want the debris getting in your eyes. Now plug in your electric saw, saber saws work well, as do circular saws, or heavy-duty jigsaws too. 

Use your saw to carefully saw down the center of the couch, working your way through the seat and then through the back of the sofa. Once you’ve done the back, you have cut your sofa in half. 

Make sure to be safe if you do this. Wear safety goggles, and gloves. We would also recommend keeping the surrounding area clear as things could get messy, and you are using a dangerous power tool. 

While you can save some of the materials and completely disassemble your sofa to get rid of it, it does take a lot of time and effort to do so, and not everyone has the time or the patience for this, so cutting the sofa in half can be an easy escape from a lot of work.

All you have to worry about after sawing your sofa in half is the cleanup and getting both halves to the dumpster.

The sawing process may be messy, so be prepared for a lot of cleanups, if you are doing this near any other furniture it may be wise to cover it with plastic so that you do not have to clean up your new sofa or the surrounding items.

Depending on the sofa there may be a large or small amount of debris from the act of sawing a sofa in half. 

It is also a good idea to understand the inner mechanisms of your sofa if you do this, if there are springs in your sofa, they may explode out of the sofa when you cut the frame, so be sure to be aware of this as it can be dangerous.

If in doubt, you can always hire a professional to simply take apart your sofa for you.