Bunk Beds, Kreg screws strong enough?

[Mack]

I am going to build a low loft bunk bed for my 5 year old. Hopefully he can use for many years.  I have a seen a few nice plans on the forum and many use carrage bolts.  Are the kreg joiner system screws strong enough to hold by themselves? 

[Jens Jensen]

Jason lets see some bunks you have built with KS

[James Waller]

I know Kreg pocketholes make a strong joint, but when making something like bunk beds I feel more secure and safer using carriage bolts. If you building them for kids (or even adults) you will feel more at ease knowing you have a strong joint using bolts cause all people (young or old) love to play on their beds.

Below is an image of a loft bed I made a couple years (date on image is wrong) and used the top shelves as storage. I used carriage bolts and it held firmly even when I moved it around the room. It has since been dismantled and wood used on other projects, but it was very useful and I felt safe sleeping in it.

[Jay Boutwell]

From reading the prior comments I see that no one has taken into consideration as to what your are doing when you are touching on the very upper limits of a tool and its fasteners.  Using a kreg screw in a bunk bed or any other item that is subject to weight, racking and movement is asking for trouble.  In this case you are risking the health and safety of human beings, that will most likely be injuried should the bed frame fail.  The degree of injury could even be life lasting or even death.

  It is fine to use a kreg screw as a method of assembly of a bed frame  providing that you use additional hardware to support the frame work.  In this situation the bed frame will be  weighted down, racked and stressed by movements as well as the aging of the wood where time will take a toll on the fasteners and their ability to withstand the pressure applied to the threads of the screw.  Not only do you need to consider the type of joints and the type of fasteners but you also must consider the quality of the material you are using for the project.   Building something where you question where or not you are at the upper limits of what the tool and fasteners or material are capable of providing is simply asking for failure and complicated with possible health hazzards with medical bills and legal problems just around the corner. 

I guess what I am saying is if you build a bridge over deep waters using only screws, don't expect me to drive my buick over it and I certainly would not want to be sleeping under the bridge when anyone else drives over the bridge.  Please think about the end results of your finished products. 

[Derek Vattelana]

I built the kreg wood bench and used nothing but pocket screws, and I have stood on the rails and never had a problem with it.  There was zero deflection in the 2 x 4.  Today I am going to be building a loft for my storage unit and I was going to use simpson strong tie connections, but I think I might just go 100% kreg jig obviously non hd, and I will see how this loft handles all of the weight I am going to put on it.  It will be 4 x 8 built with 2 x 4's with a middle support (2 x 4) coming down to the floor in both the front and back.

[nathan storm]

The kreg joiner system screws would be strong enough to hold the maximum weight, it would not only gives the bed a great strength but also are easily removable at the time of disjointing. Good luck for rest of the work.

Regards,

Nathan.

Funique

[Jeff Miller]

I wouldn't do it. Check out the bunkbeds I built for my kids - The carriage bolts make a HUGE difference in stability. I reference the plan I used in my description, hope its helpful!

http://kregjig.ning.com/photo/album/show?id=2900167%3AAlbum%3A43335...

[Sam Poulson]

I know it's an old thread, but maybe it will be a timely resurrection for someone

If you're willing to screw 2x4's to the wall, all you need is 1 post. My dad was a carpenter in Louisiana and built tons of bunks like all these types of beds https://10restbest.com/best-storage-beds over the years on offshore supply boats and tugboats.

He would screw a 1x4 to the back wall and side wall (if in a corner. Then run a single ~7' 1x4 to post and then ~3' 1x4 back to the wall. Would rout oak boards to screw to the outside. Cut the plywood to fit right on the 1 x4's.

For his 1 corner post, he'd use 2 1x4's cut at a 45 and glued together.

When I helped him with installs it basically went like this:

1. he had 2 rectangles made from 1x4's. He'd screw 1 or 2 sides (if in a corner) to the wall.
2. He' support them with a 2x4 or something else.
3. Then he would screw in the decorative oak trim on all outside pieces.
4. Attach corner posts.
5. Fit plywood on top of 1x4s.

I laughed at him the first time I saw him and he told me 500 lb men slept in his beds.

When we built our camp he did the same thing, only put a full sized bed on bottom. Have slept in that bed with the entire family on a few trips to the camp.

There's no reason 2x4's won't be sufficient.

If you screw the supports to the walls, you don't need angled supports.

Here is my work