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Old 07-17-2018, 01:15 PM   #1
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Penthouse bed platform weight reduction

Our penthouse bed foundation is made out of 3/4" x 40 1/4" x 68" plywood. It is reinforced at each w a cross piece of plywood. Head of the bed a 3/4" x 3" cross strip and at the food of the bed where we climb up by a 3/4" x 5" cross strip of plywood. The bed is covered with carpeting. See below pics. If I make the base out of 1/2" plywood (-12 pounds) and eliminate the carpet cover (-8 pounds) I could reduce the platform weight from about 45 pounds to 25 pounds (not counting mattress and bedding that we always leave up there). Seems very doable. I would put three reinforcing cross strips instead of current design two. One more in the hip area.



Anyone out there already made a similar platform out of 1/2"???
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Old 07-31-2018, 02:19 PM   #2
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If you and whoever else may be up there are smaller, I don't see why it would not work. You could always build a prototype cheaply and put weight on it to see how it would work before committing.


Personally, for a savings of 20lbs., I would stick with the safety margin of 3/4"...maybe just remove the carpet. I doubt there would be a sudden, catastrophic failure but why risk it if you were on a trip?
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Old 07-31-2018, 03:14 PM   #3
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I can check tonight Len, but I think our CCV platforms are made of either 1/2" or 5/8" (fairly sure they are not 3/4") with 2x2's added for additional bending strength. You may not want the additional depth of the 2x2 hanging down though.
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Old 07-31-2018, 03:50 PM   #4
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I was curious, and House next door is going through an extensive remodel, which meant it has a lot of building materials. So, we took a 4'x8' sheet of 1/2" plywood, and positioned two 2x4"s (parallel to each other) spaced apart the same distance as the tracks on my Sportsmoble that hold the bed.
If you love your significant other, and both sleep in the upper bunk, then I think the 1/2" will bring you closer together - literally. Board began to sag.
Believe Zuren's post "I would stick with the safety margin of 3/4"..." has merit
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