Hickory Platform Bed

[Scott Bernstein]

Last year I built a matching set of Scandanavian-style bedside tables for our master bedroom, using Hickory. This year I am building the matching queen-size bed. It is a matching design with a simple footer and 36" tall headboard. The rails are made from 8/4 Hickory. Header and Footer are joined to the legs with large mortise and tenons I made with the pantorouter. The side rails are connected to the legs with fully-mortised wrought steel bed rail fasteners available from the familiar on-line woodworking suppliers. It's clearly way overbuilt and I'm pretty sure one could park a car on it. Here is my question...

This will be a platform bed, meaning no box springs, so what is the best way to construct a solid platform and still be able to take the thing apart if we ever move?

I have thought of milling sliding dovetails directly into the 8/4 rails for 3 or 4 cross-supports for some large pieces of plywood, or installing some 4/4 cleats around the inner perimeter and milling sliding dovetails into that. I would mill the dovetails into he crossbeams so they fit well, but loose enough to remove easily. I want the cross supports to be stable and strong. Any suggestions?

Scott

[glenn bradley]

If we're talking about side rails to headboard and footboard, bed bolts or cleats are able to be broken down. The platform is usually slats. If there will be support below like a drawerbox, two pieces of play screwed to the drawer box are small enough for breaking down when moving.

[Jamie Buxton]

Cleats fastened to the inside faces of the bed rails. Pegs glued into the top of the cleat. Holes in the ends of the slats, so they just drop on to the pegs. Make the holes loose. The slats need to flex when sleepers move. No need for dovetails.

[rudy de haas]

My wife and I have used our platform bed for 30+ years (made in Denmark, late 70s). the slats are not fastened but are prevented from moving sideways.. see photo.

[Al Launier]

I would only add to include adjustable mid-span supports to prevent sagging.

[Jim Barstow]

I've made all the beds in our house (queen size). I glue and screw a cleat to the inside of the bed rails. Dowels stick up from the top of the cleat and I make cut outs in the ends of the slats that fit around the dowels. This prevents any creep of the slats. I generally use poplar for the slats.

I did make a bed for my son and their mattress required a solid surface. I used the same cleat design but without the dowels. I cut 2 pieces of plywood to fit in the space.

After many beds, I suggest 2 other engineering solutions:

1. I build a separate center support. I laminate 2 pieces of 3/4 plywood that are held up by floor supports at the head and foot. This prevents any possible
sagging since there isn't a box spring. Many modern mattresses are quite flexible and I've noticed a slight sag in the center. This support is not visible.

2. I use 2 bed bolts to hold the rails. A bed needs to be very, very rigid to resist creaks and groans from any source. Depending on the design I either use decorative heads and expose them or hide them.

[Jim Dwight]

I've built at least 7 beds so far and all but one did not have a boxed spring. I've used bed bolts but prefer the linked "cleats" shown above. They are very solid. It's worth making a router jig to do the inletting but otherwise installation is not difficult. They do not show. The wedge themselves tighter as you use the bed so you will need a dead blow hammer to get it apart when you move.

An early bed had the rails at the location called for in the plans I used so I had to build a platform for the mattress. My son and his wife are using that queen sized bed. It is solid enough that it needs no center support. It has vertical pieces of 3/4 plywood and a solid 1/2 inch plywood top. But that is more trouble than just raising the rails and using slats. I did one full sized bed for my daughter that she has in her guest room that has 4 inch slats of 3/4 BB plywood. It's a little soft for me, especially for two people. So the next bed, used slats 12 inches wide of 3/4 pine plywood. I like that better. I also like pegs of large dowels in slots to keep the slats in the same position along the rail. My next bed will use the same cleat fasteners with slats of 12 inch plywood. It will be queen sized and may get a center support, we'll have to see. For relatively light weight adults, it won't need it but for my wife and I it may. It won't be hard to add something fastened to the slats.

[Jim Barstow]

I'd be wary of using bed cleats. (This is the system where one piece is morticed into the bed post and the other into the end grain of the bed rail.) I used these
for my first 3 beds and they worked fine for small beds for kids. For an adult bed, there is too much force concentrated on too small an area of the bed rail. I actually had a bed rail split because of this. They also result in a bed that is less rigid than one put together with bed bolts. This can result in creaking if the bed's users are active.

[Scott Bernstein]

Great advice, everyone! As for the mortised bed cleat system, I've already installed them so it's probably a little late to change now. It certainly seems strong enough. I've used the extra long heavy-duty cleats with 4" long hi-torque screws to fasten them and the hickory is extremely strong and dense. One thing I could do is supplement the mortised cleats with non-mortised bed cleats on the inside of the four siderail-leg connections. I can't imagine that 8/4 hickory would come apart in that setting. Guess I'll find out.

We are going to use a non-synthetic latex foam mattress on this bed and they want minimal gaps between the slats, so I plan to use 3/4" ply for the platform. I think the most sensible and solid option to support the ply is use 4-6 vertically-oriented 4/4 lumber (?oak ?poplar) parallel to the headboard/footboard. Sort of like floor joists.

Scott

[Jim Becker]

I would only add to include adjustable mid-span supports to prevent sagging.

This is very important...even with a queen size, center support is going to make for a much more stable platform.

BTW, I hope you have better luck with the latex mattress than I have had with ours. It was great initially, but I'm not getting anywhere near enough support for my lower back and hips and also have issues with pressure points. I had to put a memory foam topper on my side to get rid of the latter, but fear we're going to have to go to a hybrid solution for the support I need. (I sleep great in hotels, but am in pain at home) I had the same issue with memory foam, too. Sucks to be me, I guess...

[Wayne Lomman]

If using ply for a solid platform, you need breather holes and a lot of them. Moisture from sweat migrates through mattresses over time there fore the need for air to get to the underside even if the mattress is flipped frequently. Tried sleeping on impervious plastic? You will know where the moisture comes from.

I always use framing pine for slats - F8 90 x 45 usually and the sag is negligible. Anything less needs a centre rail. Cheers

[Scott Bernstein]

OK, thanks - that is a great point. So I think I will go with a cleat around the periphery, the cross beams (effectively, multiple 'center' supports), then the slats on top of that. If the bed is about 60" wide, I'll have supports 18-20" apart placed lengthwise. I can use un-glued dowels or dominos, or threaded inserts/screws to hold the slats in position relative to the support beams. I can space them about an inch apart and still be in compliance for what the mattress requires. The support beams will be mounted vertically, that is, perpendicular to the flat surface of the platform.

As for the latex mattress, we have one already on one of of our kid's beds and we love it. We've had it for about 5 years and no issues.

If using ply for a solid platform, you need breather holes and a lot of them. Moisture from sweat migrates through mattresses over time there fore the need for air to get to the underside even if the mattress is flipped frequently. Tried sleeping on impervious plastic? You will know where the moisture comes from.

I always use framing pine for slats - F8 90 x 45 usually and the sag is negligible. Anything less needs a centre rail. Cheers

[Jamie Buxton]

If using ply for a solid platform, you need breather holes and a lot of them. Moisture from sweat migrates through mattresses over time there fore the need for air to get to the underside even if the mattress is flipped frequently. . .

I've read this for years, but find it difficult to believe. If a sleeping body temporarily raises the moisture level of the top of a mattress, where is that water going to go when the sleeper isn't there? Is it going to burrow its way down through many inches of foam rubber, or is it going to take the much shorter path to the top surface of the mattress? It seems to me that it'd come back out the top.

FWIW, I've slept on foam mattresses on solid platforms for over forty years now. I've never seen any degradation of the bottom surface of the mattress, or any moisture-related effects on the plywood platforms.

[Wayne Lomman]

Yes, and I have removed and installed dozens of beds and seen the effects of solid platforms - not all are obvious but most. I'm not much of a one for belief. I gave that up about 30 years ago. I'm a bit more swayed by evidence. Cheers

[John Sanford]

Cheat. The cost of this is low. The engineering is very good, and it's a very proven approach.

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