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Discussion Forum

bed framing

drstone | Posted in General Discussion on October 14, 2005 05:54am

This is for all of you physics professors out there….I want to buy a Queen size bed at a furniture dealer.  This bed has a wooden frame on all four sides with the little wooden piece that the mattress sits on (or the plywood, or the six 2x’s that lay across the width to support the mattress.)  Anyway, the company that sells this bed says that I REALLY need to purchase this metal frame that attaches (screws) to the wooden frame little piece. The metal frame has ONE leg that rests on the floor in the middle of the bed for “support”.  They say without this extra $50 metal frame, the wooden frame could split voiding the warranty.

My question is….is this balony or not.  My gut feeling is that they’ve been making frames like this for hundreds of years, and the weight of the mattress and people in it will be distributed evenly along the little wooden piece and couldn’t possibly harm the bed.  But….just thought I’d ask you guys to see if you had any thoughts.

Thanks!

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  1. jvhannah | Oct 14, 2005 07:50am | #1

    I made bed frames (Twin thru Hollywood King) at the Amana Furniture shop for 3 years (late 70's to early 80's) (Wow thats a long time ago isn't it).  Hundreds of bed frames.  All of the bed frames, except the hardware connecting the side rails to the Head board and Foot board and a few screws, were walnut or cherry.  No metal frames at all.  Some of the wider beds had a little metal angles on the center bed slat (from head to foot) ends that engaged a slot in the two ledges that supported the other slats and were on the inside of the long bed rails.  Again no metal side rails. 

    By the way the box spring and mattress weight is not applied uniformly to the slats.  The load goes thru the box spring frame onto the slats a very small distance away from the long side rails.  This is my experience with bed rails and slats, other may vary.

    Hope this helps,  Jim H

  2. Danno | Oct 14, 2005 02:36pm | #2

    Well, my mind being habitually in the gutter, the thing I thought of was two people in the center of the mattress doing their favorite adult activity would put a heavy load right in the center, rather than distributing it evenly as in two people side by side sleeping. Of course, other combinations and permutations are certainly possible.

  3. Rebeccah | Oct 14, 2005 09:28pm | #3

    It depends in part on what you plan to use for a mattress.

    I have a double (full)-size bed, and I can tell you that with two people in the middle of it, whether or not engaged in high-energy recreational activities, if you use an unstructured mattress (such as polyurethane foam, latex foam, or a futon), you will load the middle enough to make the wood sag. With a queen size bed, this effect will be amplified.

    On the other hand, if you use a box spring, the load will be distributed primarily along the edges, where the box spring is most rigid, and it *might* not be a problem. All the queen or king size metal frames I've seen, and most of the wooden ones, have one or two legs down the middle to support the bed platform.

    I used to have a plain metal frame with no center support, and 1 1/8" plywood to support the foam mattress. The plywood was in two pieces (couldn't find 56" wide sheets, fancy that?), held together with metal plates screwed to the face of the wood. I eventually got sick of rolling toward the middle of the bed, and bought a storage bed base to put my plywood on. The storage bed supports the platform in the middle with all of the drawer framing. Much more comfortable.

    I'm not sure what kind of a little wooden piece you're talking about in your case, or where the 6 2x's come in if you've got plywood, but I say, spend the $50 and get the extra leg. It's nothing compared to the overall cost of the bed, and if the bed has any kind of a warrantee, it will probably be voided if you don't.

    Rebeccah

  4. IdahoDon | Oct 15, 2005 06:06am | #4

    Each matress mfg has specifications for the frame that spells out if it needs center support or not.  As cheap as everything else is nowdays it won't surprise me when all beds need center support.

  5. jvhannah | Oct 15, 2005 07:01am | #5

    I'll throw some more comments out and see if it muddies the water.  I agree with Rebecca that some of this really depends on what kind of mattress and box springs you are using.  If you are using a flexible mattress or a futon type mattress you really need a platform type bed and not a side rails and slat type bed frame.  However if you have a decent box spring support under the mattress then a wooden rail bed should not require a fifth leg to provide adequate support.  I guess that some of the metal side rail bed frames are light enough and unbraced enough that a fifth leg would be required to adequately support the mattress.  I always thought that the middle rail was so you could use smaller box springs and be able to maneuver them up stairs and down twisty halls easier than a full queen or king sized box springs.  I would suggest testing the frame in the store to see if it sags with a higher load in the center than you plan to apply and if so get the additional support.  Also think about how actively you intend to load the bed while using it.  Collapsing the springs and slats while sometimes hilarious is not a generally pleasant experience.

    Just as a side note my great aunt use a rope framed bed to support her feather bedding.  Definitely a deep bottom bed that promoted winter warmth and companionship.

    I still think a decent bed frame with good wood side rails and maybe a wooden middle rail should not need a fifth leg.  But metal rails maybe a different story.

    I wouldn't have seen this thread if, but shouldn't this thread be in FW(if it has forums) instead of Breaktime????

    Thanks anyway, Jim

     

    1. User avater
      Sphere | Oct 15, 2005 03:25pm | #6

      look right above this post..see brealtime in BLUE, just to the left is KNOTS in grey...that is the FWW BS room..cooks over to the right one notch, dirt diggers next, wanna be designers next, and the betsy ross types after that.  Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

      Money don't talk, It Curses

      (the other Bob)

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