Tuesday, July 16, 2013

How to Fix a Squeaky Platform Bed

Found this pic online - the EXACT same bed we have except a queenWe scored a fantastic, vintage King Size teak platform bed recently at a local vintage store. After having it set up for a couple weeks, we began to notice creaks and squeaks becoming more and more pronounced.  We simply put up with the noise until we had guests for a couple of days… the guest room is directly below our boudoir.  Regardless of whether we were doing anything interesting, it certainly sounded like it any time we rolled over or moved in any way.

I agonized over a fix for days, until the solution finally came to me in a dream.

Seriously.  It came to me in a DREAM.

I was not gifted with a solution for Cancer or AIDS, or the conflict in the Middle East, but instead divine intervention showed me the way to fix a squeaky 60’s platform bed.

Whatever.  I’ll take it.  Better than nothing.

One morning I awoke smiling.  My wife asked me what was up and I told that I was given the solution to our squeaky bed problem in a dream!  I had dreamt about running a bar of soap along the rail on each side and center of the bed that suspends the slats that hold the mattress.  The bed is built solidly, so it’s not the frame squeaking, it’s just those slats rubbing back and forth, wood on wood (minds out of the gutter).

So that night I tried it.  Right before I did, I thought, “I’m an idiot.”  This isn’t going to work at all.  Who dreams of a solution to a problem like this?

But sure enough: it worked!

Hopefully the next time I am visited in my dreams by the Powers of the Universe, I will be given the solution to something a little more significant.  Meanwhile, I am very thankful to have the solution to our squeaky bed.

UPDATE: While the soap worked for a while, it definitely wore off.  Sure, I could keep applying it, but then I had another idea.  I purchased some cork shelf liner (sticky-backed cork), cut it to fit the edge upon which the bed slats rest, and now the creaking is permanently gone!

5 comments:

  1. Hi. In a previous life I was a bespoke cabinet maker and built stuff to order from customers drawings. Every drawer runner (all timber) was waxed using a candle. No squeaks or creaks. It's basically timber rubbing on timber - never tried it on a bed though...

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  2. Thank you for the cork tip. Cured my creaky bed and allowed me to resume bedtime activities without the neighbours knowing, lol!

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  3. So happy I came across this. I just used the cork paper to fix my creaky platform bed and it worked like a dream! Thank you!!!!

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  4. May I ask please how did you use the soap and/or cork? I am not so aware of these things? Specifics so I can try?

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  5. Hi, Eric! Soap works (as well as wax), but either will wear off, so you have to keep re-applying it. Cork is a more permanent solution. I purchased a roll of cork shelf-liner and cut a thin strip the same size as the edge rail that the bed slats rest on. Then I simply stuck the strip to that rail and put the bed slats back. No more noise!

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