bunkbed nightmare

[darkhorse8]

HI, Have bought a wood frame bunk bed and inner lip which slates set on has only been stapled in. One has come off while laying with our 4 yr. son making the mattress fall. (thankfully on bottom bunk at time) The frame is very sturdy, but is it worth wood gluing and re attaching the slates with nails? Or take the thing apart and go buy a metal bunk bed set? Can anything make this safe for our son? Cheers for any help as I am not the best at DIY on this level.

[Newshound]

My sympathies.

Two strategies, create a stink with the supplier invoking your local trading standards department if necessary.

If repairing, not too difficult but I guess you would want to do all four battens. I'd drill screw and glue. Quicker, easier, and more secure than nailing if you have a cordless drill (and if you havn't, you should have!). Flip drivers are handy but in this case they probably won't drill a deep enough clearance hole. Use only pozidrive screws (e.g. screwfix goldscrews trade pack). Drill a clearance hole through the batten, you won't need a pilot hole into the main frame for these screws in modern pine, and with a screwdriver bit in the cordless drill you won't need a countersink either, the head will pull into the batten.Use ordinary "white" wood glue. The screw should go just over half way through the bit it is screwing into. About six screws along the batten. Presumably this has a set of slats stapled to tapes for spacing? Screw a few of the slats to the batten (you shouldn't need to screw them all if the tapes and staples are OK). Go for it & good luck.

[mindwipe]

wood glue and dowels to take the strain or biscuits or even screws

[bigcat]

I'd stick with the wood bed, wood can be upgraded any time and altered any way, metal is difficult to do anything with.

I would definitely drill pilot holes in the frame when screwing the strip back, as if its this flimsy, the wood is liable to be on the light side, and could crack somewhere with no pilot holes. Crack = loss of strength, you dont want that... it doesnt take a mo to add a pilot hole.

You might also want to look to add another bit of wood as extra support, as it ought to be stronger. 1 or 2 cross pieces underneath the bit the slats sit on, screwed into the frame, will add the braces to the belt.

As far as dangerous goes, I doubt it is particularly, though its not fun having someone fall on you.

NT

[Rob Morley]

I'd just add a few screws to attach the lip securely to the frame - drill pilot right through (but not out the other side!), clearance through the lip, and countersink.

[Lobster]

That comprehensive bit of advice is really gonna help this OP isn't it? (Visions of chocolate digestives spring to mind...)

[Andy Mckenzie]

Whatever you do don't buy a metal bunkbed - we bought one and it was the noisest piece of furniture ever, completely impossible to stop it creaking and squeaking with thes lightest movement, despite much attention to the tightness of joints etc. I eventually decided that it was meant purely as a decorative item, and wasn't actually ever meant to be used by real live wriggling children, or at least not in houses where anyone else wanted to sleep. Now consigned to a skip. At least a wooden bunk bed generates useful lumber at the end of its life!

Andy

[Christian McArdle]

Glue and screw for this. Always. I wouldn't trust nails or staples. The screws firmly clamp the pieces together, making the glue more effective. You need to choose the length of the screws carefully. You will also need clearance drill holes. If it is hardwood, rather than pine, then pilot holes, too. Do all the battens, not just the one that has come off.

Christian.

[Rob Morley]

Did you try greasing it?

Old bed frames are a great source of steel tube and angle for people who have uses for that sort of thing.

[Andrew Gabriel]

The battens are presumably supposed to flex to provide the effect of a sprung base, and that will involve them sliding on their supports, which won't work anymore once glued and screwed. I suspect this will make it firmer (which probably won't matter), but also likely to break the battens as the tensional forces on the ends will now be very high, and weakened by screwholes and bending the battens sharply over the edge of the frame where previously there was no bending.

A child's bed really should be designed to remain safe with a child jumping up and down on it. This one doesn't sound like it comes close to this, unless it had been assembled incorrectly.

[Rob Morley]

I think we're talking about the battens along the inside of the bed rails, that the slats sit on.

[Christian McArdle]

I would be very surprised if the battens were intended to move at all. I've never seen a wooden bed frame where the battens were intended to have any give at all.

With glue along the entire length, I would be surprised if the localised loading on the battens was anything other than extremely light along the entire length. Perhaps you are confusing the battens with the slats?

Christian.

[Mary Fisher]

I doubt that you can get them now but we had an ex-WD metal bunk bed for two of our children. It was great, not noisy and the top bunk was high enough for the person in the bottom one to have plenty of headroom even when the last occupants were eighteen. The metal frame - angle iron - was used for something when it wasn't needed any more, we waste nowt.

But I do understand the problem with modern children's metal bunk beds, we have to use them when we stay with a son, we feel cramped because of the lack of headroom and it does seem to move with every turn of the top occupant. That metal wouldn't easily be re-used either.

Mary

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[Andy Mckenzie]

Perhaps I should have tried greasing it, and the steel tube could perhaps have been recycled, but to be honest I was so annoyed at myself for having waasted money by not buying a quality product that the dismantling + disposal operation had more than a bit of revenge about it.

Andy

[GlintingHedgehog]

We have no such problems with the metal bunk-beds we have, so presumably there is some variation in them, just as there is in wooden ones.

[:::Jerry::::]

I doubt that it was designed, sold or intended to be used as an 'adults' bed, next you'll be expecting those small kids plastic chairs and tables to support an adult weight...