Clean up bed upgrade draft and add repair photos
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@@ -9,65 +9,85 @@ title = "🛏️ Bed Upgrade"
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author = "nicholas"
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okay stream of consciousness. transcription of me talking to my phone on the subject of my future blog post on the subject of restoring functionality and safety to a used dorm loft bed kit that I purchased from Amazon marketplace
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Okay, stream of consciousness: a transcription of me talking to my phone about my future blog post on restoring functionality and safety to a used dorm loft bed kit that I purchased from Amazon Marketplace.
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some context is that i sleep on a queen size foam mattress on a platform style bed frame. the problem is the platform frame is probably one of the worst products I have ever used in my life for a number of reasons. the bed is a generic metal steel rectangle tube frame which is very typical. very common.
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Some context: I sleep on a queen-size foam mattress on a platform-style bed frame. The problem is that the platform frame is probably one of the worst products I have ever used in my life, for a number of reasons. The bed is a generic steel rectangular-tube frame, which is very typical. Very common.
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basically, the main flaw which causes me a great deal of frustration is the way that the slats which support the mattress are fastened to the main frame of the bed. there are like 20 small metal tubes which slot into holes on the side of the bed frame and they lock into place by way of a plastic tab. a literal piece of plastic that interfaces with sharp metal and you can imagine where this is going. perhaps the metal with enough cycles of movement and getting in and out of bed. eventually will shear off at the plastic tab that secures it to frame resulting in eventually. as of now basically half of the Cross members or the slats being freed from there whole and they just wiggle around and they make a terrible metal on metal banging noise and scraping noise and it's really just unpleasant and it's not sturdy and there's the list goes on and on. it's just a fatal terrible god-awful design but it fits in a box and it cost s maybe $40 to manufacture so it has its merits. it's profitable and it's obviously a you know it's what the people want. but the problem is that the people have bad taste and unfortunately my wife has fallen victim to this this illusion of A quality product. what I mean is you go to Walmart. you see the bed frame. you look at the reviews and the people are happy with it because who knows.
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Basically, the main flaw that causes me a great deal of frustration is the way the slats that support the mattress are fastened to the main frame of the bed. There are about 20 small metal tubes that slot into holes on the side of the bed frame, and they lock into place by way of a plastic tab. A literal piece of plastic that interfaces with sharp metal. You can imagine where this is going. With enough cycles of movement and getting in and out of bed, the metal eventually shears off the plastic tab that secures the slat to the frame. As of now, basically half of the cross members, or slats, have been freed from their holes. They just wiggle around and make a terrible metal-on-metal banging and scraping noise. It's unpleasant, it's not sturdy, and the list goes on and on.
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anyways, the old bed frame it sucks and it's time for a new bed frame and me. thanks a new paradigm a whole new world. one can share a bed with another and yet not share the bed. a sort of Best of both worlds. no movement transfer. totally independent custom mattresses for each. I mean what's there? is there even a trade-off here? it's modular. you can fit it in a trailer. you can leave it downstairs. easy peasy.
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It's just a terrible, god-awful design, but it fits in a box and costs maybe $40 to manufacture, so it has its merits. It's profitable, and it's obviously what the people want. But the problem is that the people have bad taste, and unfortunately my wife has fallen victim to this illusion of a quality product. What I mean is, you go to Walmart, you see the bed frame, you look at the reviews, and the people are happy with it because—who knows?
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this is sort of forbidden and ancient and lost technology and that is two twin XL beds. two twin XL frames. two twin XL mattresses. push them next to each other. Bob is your uncle. you have a king size bed but you can bunk them. you can walk them. you can put them next to each other and make a king size you can. the options are endless
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Anyway, the old bed frame sucks, and it's time for a new bed frame. Methinks a new paradigm, a whole new world. One can share a bed with another and yet not share the bed. A sort of best of both worlds: no movement transfer, totally independent, custom mattresses for each. I mean, is there even a trade-off here? It's modular. You can fit it in a trailer. You can leave it downstairs. Easy-peasy.
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at least all of this is in theory. I've never tried it personally and so this will require us to experiment and the best way to experiment is cheaply and without great cost. so naturally you look to Facebook marketplace for used items
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This is a sort of forbidden, ancient, lost technology: two twin XL beds. Two twin XL frames. Two twin XL mattresses. Push them next to each other, and Bob's your uncle: you have a king-size bed. But you can bunk them. You can loft them. You can put them next to each other and make a king-size bed. The options are endless.
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At least all of this is in theory. I've never tried it personally, so this will require us to experiment. The best way to experiment is cheaply and without great cost. Naturally, you look to Facebook Marketplace for used items.
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So I arranged pickup for a Track-Lock-style dorm bed frame, including a loft kit. The item was described as “Used – Like New,” which is one of the categories that Facebook Marketplace offers, in addition to “Used – Good” and “Used – Fair.” This is relevant because the decision to pick up these pieces of furniture was predicated on them being “like new.”
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In my talks with the person who listed the items, I made sure to make it clear that, if the items were like new, there would be no need for me to pick among the 20 or so units on offer. It would make no difference to me to be sold an arbitrary couple of units, since they were all like new.
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When I got to the sorority house where the furniture was stored in the basement, I saw that they were not, in fact, in “Used – Like New” condition. Instead, they seemed to be “Used – Good,” maybe “Used – Fair.” But I didn't want to select the items that were “Used – Fair.” I picked through the 20 or so units and found the two that I thought were the best. I gave each one a good visual inspection: no rust, no cracks, no issues. Just cosmetic damage, like bumps and scrapes, and leftover adhesive from Command hooks and such. So everything was good.
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I got the units home, brought them upstairs, and began the process of swapping out the old bed frame for the new ones. The first order of business was to make sure they were structurally sound. I identified the correct screw-head type, which happened to be square drive, and began tightening each of the screws that fastened the track to the oak head and foot uprights.
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At some point, I noticed that the screws were just turning in place. They were not engaging the wood. They could not be tightened.
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{{< image src="images/stripped-screw-holes-top.JPG" alt="Stripped screw holes with the track removed" caption="Stripped screw holes with the track removed" >}}
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So I messaged the seller and explained the issue, mentioning that I could not have discovered this at the time of purchase and that I would like a refund. She agreed to refund me something like a quarter of the value, and whatever—that's fine. The furniture market for sellers is absolutely brutal right now, and it's very difficult to sell furniture. They lose something like 80–90% of their original retail price. That's great for me because these dorm beds were already very cheap. They were very inexpensively priced, so I wasn't too upset. But it does weaken my trust in sellers, even sellers who have something like 100 five-star reviews. You just can't trust anyone. You simply should not trust anyone.
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Anyway, the problem was fixable. All I had to do was remove the track, drill out the stripped wood, plug it with new wood, drill pilot holes for the screws, and reattach the track.
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I spent a day or two, on and off, working to repair four uprights. That creates the two twins, which create the king.
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{{< image src="images/bed-assembled.jpg" alt="Assembled bed after the repairs" caption="The assembled bed after the repairs" >}}
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## Repair Notes
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For each stripped hole:
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1. Drill out the hole with a 1/4-inch bit. Use tape or a drill-stop collar for depth control.
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{{< image src="images/drill-out-dowel-holes.JPG" alt="Holes drilled out for the repair dowels" caption="Holes drilled out for the repair dowels" >}}
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2. Apply a thin coat of Titebond III inside the hole and on the dowel, including its flutes.
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3. Insert the dowel with firm pressure or light taps only. Clean up excess glue with a damp rag before it cures.
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{{< image src="images/dowel-iso.JPG" alt="Dowels inserted into the drilled holes" caption="Dowels inserted into the drilled holes" >}}
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{{< image src="images/dowel-top.JPG" alt="Inserted dowels viewed from above" caption="Inserted dowels viewed from above" >}}
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4. Allow the glue to cure for 24 hours before redrilling or reinstalling screws.
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5. Trim the dowel flush with an oscillating multi-tool or a flush-cut saw, then sand with 60 grit.
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{{< image src="images/trim-dowel.JPG" alt="Trimming and sanding the dowels flush" caption="Trimming and sanding the dowels flush" >}}
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{{< image src="images/towel-pins-trimmed-top-close.JPG" alt="Close-up of the trimmed dowels" caption="Close-up of the trimmed dowels" >}}
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6. Drill a new pilot hole with a 7/64-inch bit.
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{{< image src="images/drill-new-pilot-holes.JPG" alt="New pilot holes through the track into the dowels" caption="New pilot holes through the track into the dowels" >}}
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7. Reinstall the #8 screw gently. Seat it firmly against the track, roughly no more than 1/8 turn past snug.
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{{< image src="images/track-reattached.JPG" alt="Bed uprights with the tracks reattached" caption="Bed uprights with the tracks reattached" >}}
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so I arranged pickup for an item which was a track lock style dorm bed frame including a loft kit and the item was described as like new used like new which is one of the categories that Facebook marketplace offers in addition to used good and used fair and this is relevant because decision to pick up these pieces of furniture was predicated on them being" like new"
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Calipers are useful for checking dimensions. After reassembly, the track should have no perceptible movement.
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in my talks with the person who listed the items, I made sure to make it clear that if the items were like new then there would be no need for me to pick among the 20 or so units that were on offer and that it would make no difference to me to be sold and arbitrary couple of units since they're all like new. now when I got to the sorority house where the furniture was stored in the basement I saw that they were not in fact used like new condition. instead it seemed they were used good. maybe used Fair but I didn't want to select the items that were used. Fair. I went ahead and selected. I picked through the 20 or so units. found the two that I thought were the best. I gave each one a good visual inspection. no rust, no cracks. no issues. just cosmetic damage like bumps and scrapes and and left over that adhesive from command hooks and such so everything was good. I got the units home. I brought them upstairs and I began the process of swapping out the old bed frame for the new ones and the first order of business was to make sure that they were all structurally sound and what I did was identify the correct screw head form factor which happened to be square head and I began to tighten each of the screws that fastened the track to the wood, oak head and foot uprights
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## Specifications and Equipment
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I noticed at some point that the screws were just turning in their place. they were not interfacing with the wood. they were not able to be tightened
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so I messaged the seller and explained the issue mentioning that I could not have discovered this at the time of purchase and that I would like a refund. so she agreed to refund me something like a quarter of the value and whatever that's fine. the furniture market for sellers is absolutely brutal right now and it's very difficult to sell furniture. they lose something like you know 80 90% of their original retail price. and that's great for me because these doorbeds were already very cheap. they were very inexpensively priced already so I wasn't too upset but it is. it does weaken my trust in and sellers, even sellers who have something like 100 five-star reviews. you just can't trust anyone. you simply should not trust anyone
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anyway, the problem was fixable. all I have to do is remove the track, drill out the stripped wood plug it with new wood drill pilot holes for the screw and then simply reattach the track.
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The summary here is that I spent a day or two, on and off working to repair four uprights, which creates the two twins which creates the king
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Item Spec
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Adden Roommate RM07 Track-Lock bed system (RM07TRK family).
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Item Spec
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Bed system Adden Roommate RM07 Track-Lock family
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Existing screws Approx. #8 × 3/4" wood screw, ~4.0–4.2 mm major Ø, ~2.3 mm root Ø, S2 / #2 square drive
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Replacement screws Match original: #8 × 3/4", same head profile, S2 drive
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Repair dowels 1/4" generic fluted hardwood dowel pins
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Glue Titebond III
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Repair-hole drill bit 1/4" (6.35 mm)
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New screw pilot bit 7/64" (2.78 mm)
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Drill Variable-speed drill/driver
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Driver bit S2 / #2 square / Robertson #2
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Screw tightening Seat firmly against track; roughly ≤1/8 turn past snug
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Dowel insertion Firm pressure/light taps only
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Dowel trimming Oscillating multi-tool with fine-tooth wood/plunge blade, or flush-cut saw
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Sanding 120–180 grit
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Depth control Tape or drill-stop collar
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Measuring Calipers useful
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Glue application Thin coat in hole + on dowel/flutes
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Cure time 24 hours before redrilling/reinstalling screws
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Cleanup Damp rag before glue cures
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Final check Track should have no perceptible movement after reassembly
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Repair sequence: drill 1/4" → Titebond III + fluted dowel → cure 24 h → trim flush → drill 7/64" pilot → reinstall #8 screw.
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For each stripped hole: drill 1/4" → glue dowel → cure 24 h → trim flush → drill 7/64" pilot → reinstall #8 screw gently.
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| Item | Specification |
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| --- | --- |
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| Bed system | Adden Roommate RM07 Track-Lock family (RM07TRK) |
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| Existing screws | Approximately #8 × 3/4-inch wood screws; #2 square drive |
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| Repair dowels | 1/4-inch generic fluted hardwood dowel pins |
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| Glue | Titebond III |
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| Repair-hole drill bit | 1/4 inch (6.35 mm) |
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| New screw pilot bit | 7/64 inch (2.78 mm) |
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| Driver bit | S2 / #2 square / Robertson #2 |
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| Dowel-trimming tools | Oscillating multi-tool with a fine-tooth wood/plunge blade, or a flush-cut saw |
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| Sandpaper | 60 grit |
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| Mallet | For seating the dowels |
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| Vacuum | For cleaning up wood chips and dust |
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