Bed frame

[Casey Carr]

It's getting to be more and more of a priority that I get a new bed frame built. I don't want to buy a new mattress until I have a frame built so I need to figure out what I'm going to do. We have a cal king bed, and I really don't like the middle support under the bed.

I've heard Charles Neil has a video on a bed frame without the middle support, but nothing functions on his website. No email address and the phone number I found was not functioning. I hesitate to send someone $80 that has no means of contacting. I also don't want a video, would just like a set of plans as I'm going to modify it to my liking. But the mattress support and joinery should all be similar.

Does anyone one know of any plans for a bed frame with no middle support? Any help would be appreciated.

[Jamie Buxton]

What kind of bed do you want? Do you have one giant box spring, or two box springs? Or do you want slats under your mattress, without a box spring?

[Jim Becker]

Unfortunately, unless you can create a structure with extremely strong cross members (likely of tubular metal), it's hard to avoid the center support for a king-sized (regular or Cali) bed. The distance that needs to be spanned is too great. I'm not familiar with the design you mention, so I cannot comment on that.

[Casey Carr]

Currently have two box springs, I think all cal kings have two? Don't know what my next mattress is going to be, but I can't imagine going away from box springs. There are the beds that raise up and down, feet and head, but I don't think I want to spend that kind of cash on a bed.

I dont know about tubular beams, may have to run some calcs on that. It's going to have to be some pretty heavy walled stuff to keep even that from bending unless I go with structural beams or something. May end up having to put something under it. The bed I'm currently on doesn't have anything, but it's been sagging for years, lol! Something my dad put together. Maybe someone else will chime in.

Thanks for the input.

[Jamie Buxton]

On box-spring beds, the weight of the bed and sleepers is taken up by the bed rails. Because the top edge of the bed rails can extend higher than the bottom of the box spring, they can be tall enough to be strong. With two box springs, the middle supports can extend only up to the bottom of the box springs. That is, they can't be as strong as the bed rails.

Solutions (without a center support):

a) make the whole bed tall enough that the middle support can be tall enough to support you.

or

b) abandon the box spring. Use slats instead. Now the middle supports get to go all the way up to the bottom of the mattress.

or

c) use steel for the middle rail.

[Jim Becker]

Currently have two box springs, I think all cal kings have two?.

Foundations for king size beds are generally two pieces so that they are able to be brought into a normal house and up stairs to where bedrooms are often located. Foundations don't "bend" like a mattress so making them narrow helps with maneuverability.

[Charles Wiggins]

I worked the warehouse and delivery at a bedroom furniture store for over two years. You MUST have center support for a king OR QUEEN size. Not having it will destroy the set in no time and any warranty will be void. I've see what happens if you don't.

If you want to avoid a center support you'll have to move down to a full.

I built a king sized platform bed based on a hard-side waterbed design. It sits on a drawer pedestal we bought because I didn't have the space or tools to build one and I could get it at a deep discount through the store where I used to work.

[Robert Engel]

What don't you like about the middle support?

I would think a couple 4x4's amidst some 2x4 slats would be enough.

[Wayne Lomman]

What do they make beds out of these days? We have a queen bed that is steel framed with full span slats, no centre support and it is 12 years old and as straight as the day we bought it. I built a timber queen bed for our son and daughter in law when they got married - side rails were 6 x 2's, slats were 4 x 2's and they only got rid of it last year because they wanted a newer look. Timber was framing grade pine. None of us are built like jockeys either. Cheers

[Jim Becker]

None of the queen beds in our home have a center support to the floor, but both have a frame member that runs down the middle to provide some stability. For king, there's pretty much no way around it unless you over build with steel.

[Charles Wiggins]

Most folks don't use two-bys for bedroom furniture, unless it's a hard-side waterbed. As to the steel, I'd have to see the construction.

All I can say is that every commercially produced bed frame I've seen that was for a queen, king, or cal. king had center supports of some kind. Our salesmen always warned purchasers that a queen had to have center support. With kings and cal. kings it's generally a given because they come with the split foundation or box spring, otherwise you'd never get it into most homes, so most king frames are designed with that in mind.

I've gone out on inspections resulting from customer complaints and the FIRST thing we always did was determine what type of frame the bed was on and if it had support in the middle. I went out on one inspection of a king. The couple was complaining that they were both rolling toward the center. When we pulled up the mattress the problem was obvious. The center where the two foundations met was dished. When we pulled the foundations up there was no center rail. The bed frame was low to the floor and the lower edges of the foundations were just resting on the floor. The whole mattress set was ruined in just a few weeks.

[Charles Wiggins]

Depending on the design and the weight of the occupants, that may be sufficient, but I'm a belt and suspenders kind of guy. My son's queen bed has three legs up the middle - one near the foot, one near the head, and one in the middle.

[Casey Carr]

Thanks guys! Guess I'm going to put the middle brace in.