# Bunk bed plan review



## turqmr2 (Jan 5, 2012)

Hello,

For my first post, I would like to share the plans for a bunk bed/play house that I have been working on for a while. I am pretty happy with it, but since I have never taken on a project of this size, I would love some feedback.

My goals were to make this functional, strong, and fun for my two daughters who will be graduating to twin beds soon. I have holes in the steps for three drawers and the box on the front is for climbing between beds (I am thinking a rope, ladder, and rock wall one on each of the inside walls). I think the box might be too wide and cause accidental fall while sleeping, so I will likely make that smaller.

My biggest unknown, besides what you woodworkers bring up, is the slide. I was thinking I could lay and glue two layers of 1/4" plywood, but I am not sure if I will be able to bend it to the form.

And finally, I have a 12" miter saw, a circular saw, and a jigsaw. I am hoping i can do this without buying a table saw.


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## tymann09 (Mar 4, 2011)

Wow, i wish i had that when i was younger, this seems like a great project. First off, welcome to the forums.

I have a couple of questions as well as suggestions. first off, you say you havn't taken on a project of this magnitude, i'm assuming you've got quite a bit of expierience with woodworking or else you wouldn't even be tackling something like this? also, what are you planning on building this out of? i think this is an important factor on several counts. if you build it out of pine, you could make it a permanent structure and when they outgrow it, just disemble it and possibly burn it. however, if you made it out of a hardwood such as maple( i would say oak, but that could be splintery for youngsters if every single piece wasn't sanded down.) you could make the structure collapseable so you could sell it when you no longer need it. 

another note on the splintery subject. I'm not so sure that i would fashion a slide out of wood, i don't think it'd be quite so fun to get a splinter up your bum when you're trying to have fun :no: perhaps you should look into an alternative for a slide, perhaps even one of those plastic ones that are seen on home swingsets. if you're set on building it out of wood, i would do it with 1/8 ply and build it up to 1/2, the reason being is, if you do 1/4", it's already got 2 layers of ply and those are glued together making it rigid and they are glued flat, this could pose some problems structurally trying to bend it.

lastly, if you're thinking of building all this with simply joinery, aka screws, lags, etc, you should be just fine without having a tablesaw. to make sure that you don't need one you could always make sure that in your design, you only have widths that are sold at the lumber yard, this way you don't need to do any rips. you could with a skil saw, but they wouldn't be gorgeous. as far as everything else, you should be just fine with wht you've got as long as you have some hand tools, hopefully you have a drill too. 

hope this helps.


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## turqmr2 (Jan 5, 2012)

Thanks for the tips! There is always something more to consider. I did some remodeling, but I wouldn't consider myself a woodworker. I was trying to keep the design simple, think through all the details, then cut carefully.

I am planning to get everything at Home Depot or Lowes and using 4x4s (douglas fir?) and 3/4" plywood for almost everything. Great tip on the slide, I will definitely get the 1/8" (I thought 1/4" was the thinnest). I was planning to sand and put several layers of polyurethane. I will just keep an eye out for splinters. I looked into the plastic slides but the prices changed my mind, plus, I would still have to build the platform.

As for the joinery, lags for everything. I am going to separate it in sections: stairs, beds, climb tunnel, slide. I did some more work to the plan since my first post: marked all lag bolt places, moved a couple things, shortened the climb tunnel (added the ladder and rock wall). Attaching in case anyone would like to look.

One more thing: does anyone know the recommended torque for these lag bolts?


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## tymann09 (Mar 4, 2011)

it looks like you've thought things through pretty well. i'd say whatever home depot has would work just fine. the joinery sounds like it would work good for you, for the lags, if tightening by hand, just tighten to what you think is good. usually you put a fender washer on to expand the clamping area and when i tighten, i tighten enough so that the washer just sinks into the wood.


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## Thadius856 (Nov 21, 2011)

What type of joinery do you plan to use? I'm a bit murky here... rabbit and lag bolts? Hmmm.

Mortise and tennon would probably stand up very well to the abuse a child would put on this item.


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## turqmr2 (Jan 5, 2012)

Thadius856 said:


> What type of joinery do you plan to use? I'm a bit murky here... rabbit and lag bolts? Hmmm.
> 
> Mortise and tennon would probably stand up very well to the abuse a child would put on this item.


Hi Thadius, thanks for the comment. I will try to explain my reasoning, so please point out the flaws since I am pretty new to this.

Of the plans I could find online, most were built using 1x4s sandwiched together to make a kind of mortise and tenon joint. Looking at these, I felt like they would not be very strong, if only because of the 1x4s. Thinking 4x4s would improve the strength, I came up with this design. On the top rails, I put the rabbets because I thought the only weakness would be if my daughter is pulling up on the rail with sufficient strength (seems unlikely) and I like the smooth top. I originally started looking at through mortises, but I am not confident in my chisel abilities nor do I own a mortising tool. Also, it is important for the bed to be able to be disassembled/reassembled relatively easily and I was having trouble coming up with a non-permanent mortise/tenon solution.

So, I ended up with the rabbets on the top and the bed supports with multiple dadoes. Attached is a shot of just the frame to better illustrate what I'm saying. The stability of this is critical, so, please let me know if this can be improved.


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## Thadius856 (Nov 21, 2011)

I see what you're going for here. It's certainly unique.

I wouldn't immediately discount the 1x4/2x4 sandwich as weak. When I bought this house, the previous owner had built a sheeted catwalk, floating on 2x4s over an unsupported span of 12'. Two or three of the 2x4s were snapped. I found some leftover 1x4s in the back yard, applied some construction adhesive, and screwed those puppies together. It can hold 2 grown men crawling over that unsupported 12' span at approximately 400 lbs with only minimal flex.

Your system certainly looks like it will work. Adding cleats could add strength if you were really worried about the joints, but I wouldn't bother with them myself. My only concern with the dado joinery you have going is that they'd be very frustrating and hard to cut to depth accurately and cleanly if they weren't very close to the end of the board. But if you're up for it, I don't see any reason to not move ahead.


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## john73738 (Dec 25, 2011)

I have to agree that I wish I has something like this when I was young. My suggestion for the slide would be to use your 1/4" plywood to form the slide, then put on a smooth surface such as a hardboard or fiberglass panel.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Get some roll metal. Etch the metal and then paint to match the bed.

George


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## screamon demon (Feb 18, 2011)

I am by no means a woodworking expert but I built a bed last spring. I posted it on here somewhere. I learned a few things along the way thought i'd at least share. The first thing I learned is about the space. When adding large steps and the slide the bed was really big. I had to go steeper on the slide to reduce the risk of the kids bouncing their mellons off the far wall. I also had to modify the stair design for the same reasons. I also played around a lot with the height of the top bunk compared to the bottom. I could never find a good answer so I had to play around with a cardboard template for a bit. 

On your slide - what if you ran horizontal slats along the curvature of your slide to form the base of your slide then cover that with some formica. It would be durable and easy to clean and you could get it in just about any color you could think of


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

screamon demon said:


> I am by no means a woodworking expert but I built a bed last spring. I posted it on here somewhere.


This thread?










 







.


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## turqmr2 (Jan 5, 2012)

screamon demon said:


> I am by no means a woodworking expert but I built a bed last spring. I posted it on here somewhere. I learned a few things along the way thought i'd at least share. The first thing I learned is about the space. When adding large steps and the slide the bed was really big. I had to go steeper on the slide to reduce the risk of the kids bouncing their mellons off the far wall. I also had to modify the stair design for the same reasons. I also played around a lot with the height of the top bunk compared to the bottom. I could never find a good answer so I had to play around with a cardboard template for a bit.
> 
> On your slide - what if you ran horizontal slats along the curvature of your slide to form the base of your slide then cover that with some formica. It would be durable and easy to clean and you could get it in just about any color you could think of


What were your dimensions that you settled on, are you still happy with them? On my drawing both beds have about 3' of head room and the slide is about 6 1/2' which should leave about 4' of floor to land/roll. I too made the slide steeper than at first drawn and settled on the 55 degree slope as pictured.

I am liking the idea of using formica for the slide. I briefly looked at sheet metal and am completely lost, I have no idea where to get it locally, what gauge I would need, don't have metal working tools, and some online pricing puts it out of my comfort range at about $150. I am going to save the slide as the last part of this project so I have time to get it right.

Also, I was looking at your thread and noticed you used the magnetic paint. Does that hold magnets well? Would you use it again?


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## screamon demon (Feb 18, 2011)

First off the magnetic paint is awesome. I think I used three coats and then covered with whatever Paint I used in that part of the bed. The kids love it. 

I used a traditional box spring under the bottom bunk. I actaully like your plan with the bunkie board on the bottom. It gives you more freedom. Between the mattress and the bottom of the 2x3's on the top bunk is 30". I never measured the distance on the top bunk but that reminds me I have to remove the ceiling fan in the kids room. 

Overall I am happy with the bed. If had to do it again I would have flipped the design so I could put it on the other side of the room. My mind often exceeds my capabilities and time to get things done. I got some inspiration from the batcave toy. I wanted to incorporate some of the gadgets like a periscope but never got to it. 

Lastly - My boys were 2 and 4 last spring. I had them help me through the whole thing. It was a blast. the 4 yo taped off the stairs when I was taping for the stone finish. I left his tape, finished around it, and let him pull it off. I laugh every time I see it.


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