How to fix a broken bed frame. Mattresses and box springs are pricey, but there’s no need to spend a lot of money on a new system each time.
The first place to look for bed frames is at thrift stores, online classifieds, and craigslist ads often you can find a mountain of them for $50 or less each.
I’ve even seen mattresses and box springs new in the original packaging being sold this way because people make mistakes sometimes.
How to fix a broken bed frame
If a bed frame has inadequate support, cracks and splits typically develop. The wood that is no longer supported by the surface it’s lying on tends to break off or splinter into smaller pieces.
Repairing the problem is an easy task just glue and clamp any broken/splintered pieces back together, add in some small pieces of additional wood to help fill in any gaps made by your repair work.
Sand down all of the surfaces to make sure they’re smooth again and there you have it – an instant fix to a common problem.
1. Splits and cracks
Cracks and splits in wooded bedding happen when the bed doesn’t have adequate support. Common areas where cracks occur are along with the horizontal grain pattern of the wood on either side or at either end of a frame.
To fix this problem, apply glue, use clamps to hold it securely in place while drying, and lay down some scrap wood as reinforcement.
Strip your bed
The mattress and box springs should be removed. The slats should remain in place. The mattress and box springs should be removed from the bed frame.
The slats of the bed should stay in place. Insert a screwdriver into any cracking that you feel with your hands on the outside of the frame and pry it back slightly.
Clean out splinters or chips as needed with a utility knife or chisel where necessary.
The glue should be added
Place the bar clamp on the frame, making sure the crack is within its grasp. Slide the clamp along until glue oozes out of the split in the wood.
C-clamps are an alternative, but they are not as strong as bar clamps and can’t grab as much at once so you would have to position them individually.
After that one has been secured, move to another section of damage and repeat the process. Once you’ve applied more than one clamp along the length of two or three splits, apply glue to prevent unwanted expansion into other cracks that might form later on. Allow them to dry properly and then remove them overnight.
Drilling and reinforcing the joint
Take the measurements and use a table saw or a miter saw to cut the second piece of 1/2-inch plywood that is 6 inches wide by the measurement.
You can also use any available scrap wood if you prefer as long as it isn’t significantly thinner than 1/2-inch thick. Drill about 8 holes into this new piece using a 3/16 in drill bit which should fit the screws you’ll be using to attach the work benchtop in a few steps.
A gluing and screwing technique
A scrap piece of plywood should be glued to one side of the split and set in place. The pilot holes in the frame were already drilled to act as guides for screwing in the 1-inch screws from each side. Let the bed dry overnight before repositioning it.
2. Defective joints
If your antique bed has loose joints, they could fall out over time and must be secured again by removing the brackets and regluing the joint.
Take out the brackets
Unfold the metal brackets underneath the frame (use a drill to unscrew the bracket from within it) and reinforce the corner joints with mortise and tenons (this is known as a ‘Dutch’ joint).
If your bed doesn’t have brackets, you can simply attach 20mm x 60mmm planks instead.
Cleaning and disassembling
When building a wooden product, check the condition of your joints. A mortise and tenon joint consists of a square block and a slot.
If they are loose, tap them with a rubber mallet. Apply chiseled-dry glue if necessary. If not, don’t tamper with them any further.
Tape the wood and glue it
Measure the tenon. Cut 2 pieces of wood tape. Glue the wood tape to the tenon, making it look thicker and wider. Add more width to the joint at this point if it looks really sloppy.
Sometimes in such a case one could even go ahead and add 2 layers of wood tape as well, 1 on each side of the tenon to make sure that there is enough space for each ledge to lay comfortably on top of one another so that there would be no gaps between them when you put them back into place.
Attach the brackets
It is necessary to reposition the brackets so that the existing holes do not line up with the screws. Tighten the screws with a screwdriver if they won’t stay in place.