beds again

[engineerone]

in another place i asked about making beds.

at the time, i did not get the project sorted.

however hopefully, in the new year will get round to it, so
is there a minimum size of the bed frame that one needs to consider?

ignore what is going on underneath the mattress, but what things do you need to consider in the mattress frame apart from air flow???

is 4x1 (1000x 250 mm) adequate for a double/king size bed.

paul

[engineerone]

cause like a lump i got my conversion wrong
i meant 100x 25mm

still i did say a king size bed ;D

paul

[pj]

Paul, I made a bed a couple of years ago and used 150x30 stretchers with a 50x25 cleat screwed to the inside to hold the slats. It was basically a copy of the craftsman's bed in the 'beds' book by taunton, which is a good resource for starting from. The finished bed was rock solid with no squeaks. ;D
If I was to build another I think I would not reduce the sizes of the stretchers unless it was incorporating drawer storage underneath or it was a platform resting on the floor.

Philip

[mailee]

I have built a few beds in the past and agree with Phillip above. I used 1x4" for the slats and 1x2" for the ledges into which the slats fit. I also used to mortice and tennon the legs together with long coach bolts and use blanking plates on the legs to cover the nuts. Very solid construction and I even built three, four posters this way complete with canopies and they were solid as a rock in use. Oops! should have rephrased that. ;D

[engineerone]

so none of that ikea squeaking then

as if we knew what you meant ;D

i am thinking about putting drawers underneath,
but obviously want to restrain the mattress from sideways and endways movement.

i had considered a torsion box, but worried about the airflow to the underneath of the mattress. recent publicity about bugs kind of gets you a little concerned about decent airflow. ;D

i do wonder whether it is actually possible to make a workable torsion box out of peg board tops and bottoms???

paul

[mailee]

I always talor the beds to the mattress and sit the mattress inside the rails of the bed. It only needs to be around a half inch to stop the mattress moving and won't interfere with your legs while sat on the bed side. This way with lats slung below the mattress you can also still fit drawers under the bed and have a good airflow around the mattress. I did make a four poster once where the bottom sides were panelled and both panels were the drawers with a lip at the bottom to open them. Above the drawers they were open to the mattress and lats so giving plenty of air flow around it. I just wish I had taken some pics of it but this was before the advent of digital cameras and David Bailey I am not. ;D

[mrgrimsdale]

Re air flow: I spent a cold winter in caravan some years ago. When I peeled back the mattress in the spring condensation had made my profile underneath like the Turin shroud but on wet mouldering hardboard. No ventilation.

[engineerone]

there are times jacon when you really do tell me things i do not wish to know in such detail ;D

i just thought that was a peril of caravan life

not so your american motorhome

thanks for the other tips guys, will check it out more

paul

[thallow]

mrgrimsdale said:

Re air flow: I spent a cold winter in caravan some years ago. When I peeled back the mattress in the spring condensation had made my profile underneath like the Turin shroud but on wet mouldering hardboard. No ventilation.

eeeewwwwwwww was just eating my porridge when I read that

[dirtydeeds]

it certainly is the time of year to break out the porridge

cold wet AND dark in the mornings

[dirtydeeds]

being english my porridge has milk and dark brown sugar and is made in the microwave

not all this scottish boil it for 72 hours over a peat bog then "i hae it wi salt an a wee dram" << fake scottish accent

[dirtydeeds]

but i do like kippers and arbroth smokies for breakfast

i just dont get to scotland these days, pity

[dom]

DD, you do realise that you're having a conversation with yourself, don't you ? ;D

[mailee]

Don't know about not getting to Scotland these days Dom I think he doesn't get out enough. ;D

[dom]

I think we should all get out more, but don't forget the laptop ;D

[thallow]

dirtydeeds said:

being english my porridge has milk and dark brown sugar and is made in the microwave

not all this scottish boil it for 72 hours over a peat bog then "i hae it wi salt an a wee dram" << fake scottish accent

Porridge, mashed banana, muesli and honey - absolutely gorgeous, sets you up for the day! (sorry for hijacking thread but I blame people for telling us about their damp beds ;D )