WWA Info Exchange

We have a church member whose heart is in the right, but his head isn't always

He made up some plans to construct 3-level bunkbeds for the local cold weather shelter. An honorable undertaking, for sure. and "No" they will not look anything like the Star Wars version. I haven't seen the actual plans, but he described them to me.

What concerns me is the stability/safety of these beds. They are going to single beds and the frames are going to be constructed from framing lumber from one of the BORGs. The plans call for a 10' 2X4 on the outside of each corner. He then plans to cut pieces for the inside of each corner. The first will be 12" long and attached to the inside of 10' 2X4, then he plans to attach a 2X6 rail, cut a 34" piece, attach another 2X6 rail, then another 34" piece, then the third level rail. The rails are going to be bolted through the 10' 2X4 and will be resting on the short pieces. Will look kind of like a lap joint. Not sure how the end rails are going to be attached, but I believe it will be with screws. According to him, they will not be attached to the walls or anything. He didn't mention any type of diagonal bracing. I'm sure there will be something to support the mattress, but he didn't go into details on that either.

He supposedly got the County to buy into his design, but we haven't seen any proof of that yet. So, generally speaking, do you think this design will be stable enough at that height?

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John

John Boy:

That sounds like how I constructed these wood storage shelves. Each upright 2x4 is screwed to the 2x4 piece and each shelf is screwed to the upright 2x4. It has 3/8" plywood screwed and glued to the top of each platform. It's sturdy. BUT, these are only 24" wide, 6 ft tall. Even on casters, they held a lot of lumber.

These do not have any cross-bracing, except for a 2x4 under the middle of each shelf. I would think you would need cross-bracking if it were wider than 2'.

I would worry about it being very top heavy if there was only a person on the top bunk.

I'm not a structual engineer, but 10' tall is a bit tall, IMHO.

Verna

I think it will be strong enough verticaly. I might have gone with 2x6s for the rails to help prevent racking end to end and used 3 bolts in each joint.
As far as stability side to side, I am a bit concerned that if all the "sleepers" are near one side and the top man desides to desend on that side that it might fall over.
I would assume that the ladder to the top and second bunk will be on one or the other ends. Still, I think that it would be safer if it could be tied in to a wall or column of the bed room.
Actually, my work bench is designed alot like you describe and it is VERY solid however, it is only 39" tall and 22" wide at the legs and the top has a 3" over hang all around. It is on wheels and has never even looked like it would tip over even with a big load on the top.

Rog

PS Oops, just re-read your post.....He IS going to use 2x6s!!! Well then, I think that it will be strong enough but, I'm still worried about the tiping if it is going to be taller than 8 feet.

Rog

_________________
Dont badmouth no strangers, they just friends you aint met yet.

An ounce of responsibility is worth a pound of State and Federal laws.

I spent most of my money on woodworking
tools and beer, the rest I just wasted.

John Boy,

Here is a link to a bunkbed made from building lumber. While it is only 2 beds high it may give some ideas.

http://www.shop-for-wood-working-tools. ... nk-bed.htm

Note two things:
1. He used 2 X 10s for most of the construction.
2. He used panels on the ends to stop the racking that can occur with folks in the upper bunks.

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C J K
in beautiful -
Oxford GA, USA

I just measured the walls in my shop and they are 117" tall!!!! 9'-9" from floor to celing, that is 3' shorter than the 10 foot you are talking about!!!
There is NO way that I'm goung to climb a ladder to the top bunk and get a good nights sleep!!!
That is a loooonnngggg way up! I just got down off a step ladder to change a light bulb and had to sit and have a smoke for a few minutes after I got down.

Rog

_________________
Dont badmouth no strangers, they just friends you aint met yet.

An ounce of responsibility is worth a pound of State and Federal laws.

I spent most of my money on woodworking
tools and beer, the rest I just wasted.

10' tall, you are getting into nose bleed height. Hope there are side boards on it. Could you imagine being in a deep sleep and rolling over, out of it. What a rush, falling then the sudden stop.

Bill

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Amateur Bill
O'Fallon, MO
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If a man speaks in the forest, and no woman hears him, is he still wrong?

I'm in shape, round is a shape.

All of this stuff has been along the lines of what I was thinking. I don't see how this will ever get approved, but I guess we'll see.

Bill, not only waking up from a sound sleep, but some of these people are less than sober when they show up at the shelter. I was thinking about rolling a coconut off of a 10' stepladder for effect.

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John

Vertically it would be strong enough, but it needs some sort of diagonal bracing, both horizontal and vertical. The tipping could be handled with a a cross piece at floor level on each end extending beyond the bed, say 12" or so. Not pretty, but it would work.

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Jess
my gallery
more photos

I'm going to look at this a different way.
I believe the increase number of beds would be a overload for the shelter.
There are health limits (number of bathrooms).
The Health Department could come in and say
the shelter is pushing it with the number of bunkbeds.
Now we want twice the amount of bathrooms.

I could keep going on, but the increase bed count just leads to much more.

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Bob Malone
WWASCAUX#1/WWAMDAUX#11

Occupancy issues aside, which I agree should be addressed...

A three tiered bunk does not have to be 10 feet high to provide adequate room for sleeping. Head clearance while sitting the edge might be a consideration but I think three people could sleep one above the other within 8' floor to top bunk.

Even at that, there's no way I'd allow installation of something like that without it being anchored to the wall or the floor to prevent tipping over. The top sleeper has a quite a bit of leverage if he/she gets agitated in the night. In addition, I live in a seismic zone III part of the US meaning that by instinct I add earthquakes to the equation. Paranoid you say? Yeah probably.

I like your storage racks, Verna, but I doubt if your timbers roll and thrash around during the night like some of us folks do. Point being bolts get slack in wood. Wood swells in humid times and will actually crush itself against bolt or washer heads. Then dries out in less humid times then the bolts are loose. If I were attempting to build this project I'd make no apologies for adding some plywood gussets to the rail/post connections. Glued and screwed.

I gotta agree with you, John Boy; This just doesn't sound all that thought out.

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Nullum Gratuitum Prandium

Cheers - Dennis

This will really not increase the occupancy much. The number we have at the shelter is pretty consistent. Right now, there are mats covering virtually every square inch of the floor in the main room where the men stay. The main thought was to get them up off the floor. While the bunkbeds may be more comfortable, you don't have as far to fall when you're already on the floor. The women have a separate room, and because there are less homeless women (at least in my area) they have plenty of room and a door to keep the men out

I am not really that wild about the project, but signed up to be able to have some input and make sure that if it happens, it happens right.

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John