My latest project

[byhammerandhand]

After having my 10 grandchildren in various bedding places at Christmas visits, someone suggested a triple bunk.  So here it is, all set for the next visit.  "Cabin chic" made out of SYP joist material. 

[gene]

I'm not a woodworker, but are you sure that's going to support your 10 grandchildren?  ::)

I can hear the fighting for who gets the top bunk already.  :)

What did you use for the mattress support?

I know there are codes for how wide apart the rails can be. Did you look into this or just eye ball what you thought would be safe?

Thanks for the pic.

gene

[byhammerandhand]

This is for only three at a time.  :-)  My daughter with 4 kids says she can put the younger two foot-to-foot on the  bottom bed.  Thus avoiding the "I wanna sleep on the new bed." cry.  I have built 3 sets of bunk beds for their homes and have one more to do in a couple of years.   So all but two of them will be sleeping on bunks at home.

The requirement for guardrails is 5" or less from the top of the mattress to the bottom of the rail.   Mine are 4" between the support rail and the guard rail.   The mattress is less than an inch above the man rail.

For slats, I bought IKEA slats.  They are parallel laminated birch (think Baltic Birch ply, but with all the grain going the same direction) and crowned upwards. Enough spring so you don't need a box spring, thus saving a few inches to convert to headroom   They're also cheaper than I can buy lumber. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30292785/#/60160217   I bought them and the mattresses prior to setting final dimensions on the bed and made the bed to fit them.

[baileyuph]

Now, that is a clever idea, in general, but what really got attention is the slat ingenuity. 

The physics they offer is an idea that we just might see in seats and if they are really that strong -- just think it might work in all kinds of seat building for off road stuff. 

To add, it appears the bed(s) can be stored on its end to reduce space requirements.

Doyle

[Mike]

being the little brother I had the top bunk one hight I rolled out of bed overe the guard rail and my brother woke me up :)

[byhammerandhand]

I made this one with the thought that we might make another one for the other bedroom.  My wife thought that if we did that, we could take it up and down as needed (like once or twice a year).   It's the room next to her sewing room and where she keeps her ironing station (an over-sized ironing board that I made for her and does knock down easily).  Now, I don't think that's going to happen. There are 8 loose tenon joints and 12 bed-rail fastener joints.   Trying to get them all lined up and working together was quite the task  After failing at the first attempt, I decided to use gravity to our advantage and do them while the bed was on edge.   Then roll it over to upright.   There was about 1" clearance to the ceiling.

To add, it appears the bed(s) can be stored on its end to reduce space requirements.

Doyle

I bought some (so-called) bed slats at an internet auction last week.  The box got separated from its bed somewhere and a liquidator was sellinig them.   I got them for $0.01 since no one else bid on them.   Worst case was I had some cheap wood. As it turns out it was a number of King-sized (80") slats.   They appeared to be from CDX plywood that was surface sanded down and pretty roughly cut.  I cut them down and made 3 @ 12" x 18" wood crates for storage.

[Darren Henry]

being the little brother I had the top bunk one hight I rolled out of bed overe the guard rail

Dad had built a rail for my upper bunk that "clipped" into the angle iron uprights. One day my sister and our cousin where playing a board game on the floor and I was up in my bunk watching, so I'm kneeling sideways on the mattress with my hands on the top of the rail. I don't know if I sneezed or what , but rail came up--rail went down (outside the bracket!!!) and I did a red baron interpretation that should have killed at least one of us. It was the first time I can remember having the wind knocked out of me. I think Colleen caught a "wing tip" but my sister Sheila got away clean. I can't remember for sure---I was like 8  and not breathing. That's what adults were for---DAD !!!!