Make Wall Bunk Bed Frames
Although a traditional bunk bed is a free-standing piece of furniture, bunk beds mounted directly to the walls can provide more stability. The lack of support posts also makes it easier to use the area undereath the bottom bunk for storage. These directions are for bunk beds that will mount directly to your wall studs, using standard spacing of 16 inches between centers. If your walls have different spacing, you'll need to adjust your wall screws to get proper anchoring. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
Prepare Lumber
1. Use the stud finder to locate the studs in the wall where you want to make the bed. If they are spaced differently than one stud per 16 inches, adjust these directions to match the spacing of the studs.
2. Drill four holes through the four-inch face of two 75-inch beams using a drill bit slightly smaller than the diameter of your 4-inch wood screws. Drill the holes at 5 inches, 21 inches, 37 inches, 53 inches and 69 inches from one end.
3. Drill two holes through the two-inch face of the 75-inch beams you haven't drilled. Position one hole one inch from each end. Use a drill bit the same diameter as your eye bolts.
4. Sand all faces of your lumber.
Assemble Frames
5. Gather two 36-inch beams, one 75-inch beam with four holes and one 75-inch beam with two holes. Set the beams up in a rectangle with the shorter beams inside the longer beams. All beams should rest on the narrow (2 inch wide) faces.
6. Connect the beams with two 3-inch wood screws at each joint. Drive the screws through the face of the long beam and into the center of the end of the short beam. When attaching the beam with two holes pre-drilled, avoid having the screw cross the line of the hole.
7. Set one plywood sheet on top of the frame, so that all sides of the plywood are flush with the sides of the rectangle.
8. Attach the plywood with one 3-inch wood screw per corner.
9. Use a drill bit the same diameter as your eye bolts to drill through the holes you already drilled in the two-hole beams. Drill down the length of the hole and through the plywood you've just attached.
10. Repeat steps one through five to build the second mattress frame.
Mounting the Beds
11. Set up the laser level to cast a line two feet above the floor on the wall where you intend to install the beds.
12. Use your stud finder to locate the studs in the wall. Draw a vertical line across the laser line at each stud. Space these lines to match the holes you've drilled in the frames.
13. Using a drill bit slightly smaller than the diameter of your 5-inch wood screws, drill a single hole at each point the vertical lines cross the laser line.
14. Set up four stacks of two cinder blocks each, resting on their narrow ends so the stacks are two feet high. Set one mattress frame on top of the stacks, resting with the four-hole beam against the wall.
15. Attach the frame to the wall by driving a 5-inch screw through each hole in the beam and into the hole in the wall.
16. Run your eye bolts through the holes in the outside corner of the bunk, with the eyes on the upward side. Use one washer on each side of the bunk. Finish by screwing down the corresponding nut.
17.Use a caribiner to attach one length of chain to the eye bolt. Attach a second caribiner to the far end of the chain.
18. Connect an eye screw to the caribiner on the loose end of the chain.
19. Pull the eye screw toward the wall until you can lay the screw flat against the wall at a point even with the eye bolt. Mark that position by poking the point of the screw into the sheet rock.
20. Using a drill bit slightly smaller than the diameter of the eye screw, drill a hole in the wall at the point you've just marked.
21. Detach the eye screw from its caribiner. Screw it into the hole you've just drilled. Hook the caribiner onto the mounted screw.
22. Repeat steps six through eleven for the other outside corner of the bed.
23. Repeat steps one through twelve to attach the second bunk at a height of five feet. When it comes time to stack cinder blocks, stack them three high on the bunk you've already mounted.
24. Remove the cinder blocks.
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