Thread: Building an expanding bed

I have made a few beds and day beds from Surian Cedar for the same reasons you mention ... light but plenty strong enough.

A few questions:
1. Do you want the main bed frame to be knock down?
2. The mattress will be stood up against the wall when not in use?
3. How far are you expecting to have to pull out the retractable section?

The dimensions apparent in your attached pic. would appear to be more than adequate to be considered robust - side rails around 150mm x 35mm? - almost regardless of what timber you use. I would expect that weight would not be a problem if you have rollers/castors on the retractable section so anything from Pine to Vic. Ash would be fine. As John has pointed out Surian Cedar is both light and strong, quite attractive too. If you want to be able to knock down the main bed frame Hafele bed brackets would be my choice. For any permanently fixed joints mortise and tenon, either conventional or loose tenons, would be the preferred method. For wheels on the retractable section you could recess something like the wide rolling wheels used on fridges/freezers and low profile furniture moving jigs.

For the proposed design to work well your floor would need to be flat and level.

Originally Posted by WouldPecker

Hi Everyone, fully new to woodworking and looking to make the bed in the picture but with more reinforcement. My dad is extremely fussy with beds. As he gets older he visits more and thus i need a guest bed that absolutely does not creak.

DSC_8213.jpg

WouldPecker
Welcome to the forums

my first question is
1. where will you store the mattress for your proposed guest bed ??
If it ends up being a two piece jobbie I expect your "extremely fussy" father will complain about the hollow at the join.

for what it's worth, I would suggest a conventional single or 3/4 bed with a headboard but NO foot board, that can hold a conventional mattress and be dressed with additional pillows so it looks like a day bed when your dad is not using it.

I’m with Ian. If your dad is fussy about squeaking/creaking, that design is high risk, even if you’re a very good craftsman. If you want ‘absolutely does not creak’, you want no moving parts...
I’d build a standard single bed. Only you know the priorities of dad’s sleep verses your space. ��

Be wary of wheels,
on carpet-probably ok
on any hard surface they will roll with any movement on the bed.

our spare bedroom is polished concrete and a normal queen bed with 9 stubby legs on wheels skated over the floor beautifully, not conducive to a good nights sleep.

taped around each of the wheels to stop the spinning, this reduced but did not eliminate.

bought the little cup things designed for bed legs to sit in on hard surfaces, still skates.

bought a rug that fits under 6 of the legs problem solved.

cheers

​​

Originally Posted by aldav

A few questions:
1. Do you want the main bed frame to be knock down?
Not sure what knock down means

2. The mattress will be stood up against the wall when not in use?

I was thinking stacking one single mattress above the other.

3. How far are you expecting to have to pull out the retractable section?

Creating the main frame as a single bed to accomodate a single mattress and the other sliding frame also a single size to slide in shut fully or open up fully to accomodate a single mattress.


The dimensions apparent in your attached pic. would appear to be more than adequate to be considered robust - side rails around 150mm x 35mm? - almost regardless of what timber you use. I would expect that weight would not be a problem if you have rollers/castors on the retractable section so anything from Pine to Vic. Ash would be fine. As John has pointed out Surian Cedar is both light and strong, quite attractive too. If you want to be able to knock down the main bed frame Hafele bed brackets would be my choice. For any permanently fixed joints mortise and tenon, either conventional or loose tenons, would be the preferred method. For wheels on the retractable section you could recess something like the wide rolling wheels used on fridges/freezers and low profile furniture moving jigs.

For the proposed design to work well your floor would need to be flat and level.