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Original poster

I seem to have irreperably broken ds's bed - help!

41 replies

theduchessstill · 20/08/2018 18:07

I am at the end of my tether and I just don't understand what I've done. I've moved ds1's bed to another room today. I made the stupid decision to try and move it without dissembling it first because I'm rubbish at furniture making (I've only done a small Billy bookcase) and I knew once it was apart it wouldn't go together again.

That led to 3 hours of manoeuvring it inch by inch around the landing before having to take it apart anyway. Now it's finally in the room it should be and just needs screwing together, but the screws are just going round and round and not getting tighter. I know I have the correct screws and allen keys and ds2's bed is identical so I took one of those screws out to see if it would reveal something to me, and at first that was fine and screwed back in normally, but when I did it a second time, that went loose two Shock.

WFT am I doing wrong? I am actually sobbing here Blush .

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Original poster
theduchessstill · 20/08/2018 18:08

I meant to put this in chat -sorry.

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cookielove · 20/08/2018 18:10

Use a spanner to hold the bolt that the screw is going into on other side!

MatildaTheCat · 20/08/2018 18:11

Try inserting a matchstick or even half one into the hole and then screwing in the screw. You may have just lost the grip if the hole has slightly widened. Hope that makes sense?

Any tiny scrap of soft wood would do.

mumonashoestring · 20/08/2018 18:12

Don't worry, it'll be fixable - even if it needs new screw holes - and a night or so sleeping on a mattress on the floor won't hurt if it buys you time to sort it.

Are they just screws that go into the wood, or do they screw into little metal cylinders? Can you put up a photo?

It's possible the screw holes have just loosened - did you use an electric drill/screwdriver or do it by hand?

Original poster
theduchessstill · 20/08/2018 18:13

God I don't even know what a bolt is Blush. Nothing came out of the holes except screws, and some of those bits of wood, but they are back in...

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Original poster
theduchessstill · 20/08/2018 18:14

I only used allen keys.

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TattyFrench · 20/08/2018 18:15

Are you screwing them the right way? Generally "lefty Lucy, righty righty" but I've found with some furniture - inexplicably the screws go the other way. Or, it could just be the orientation of the furniture.

mumonashoestring · 20/08/2018 18:16

A bolt has a head shaped like a hexagon and a flat end and you have a little metal hexagon, the nut, that you put onto the other end to hold it in place, a screw is pointy and goes straight into wood.

Sounds like the screw holes have loosened, do you have a drill?

Springersrock · 20/08/2018 18:17

Have you lost these things out of the holes? That’s what the big bolts screw into

I seem to have irreperably broken ds's bed - help!
Fluffyears · 20/08/2018 18:19

No more nails and glue the fucker! My dad used to use no more nails on everything.

Original poster
theduchessstill · 20/08/2018 18:19

Yes, they're really long screws. I don't think there are any nuts and bolts or I would have seen them and they would have come out when I took it apart. I don't get how the holes have widened - with the other bed it worked fine at first and then seconds later it wouldn't work.

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mumonashoestring · 20/08/2018 18:21

Have a really good look inside the holes - we used to have a bed like that and you couldn't tell the little mockingbird things were in there unless they fell out! Give the bit of the bed where the hole is a good shake and see if anything drops out.

Original poster
theduchessstill · 20/08/2018 18:22

Nothing came out of the holes other than the big screws. Could those little things pictured above be stuck in the holes? So I would need to take it apart again and tip it up? Glue is looking like a good option...

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mumonashoestring · 20/08/2018 18:23

Does it look like there's a screw in the bed level with the hole? This is the kind of thing I'm thinking of

I seem to have irreperably broken ds's bed - help!
AornisHades · 20/08/2018 18:24

I second Matilda's suggestion to pack out the hole with something like a used matchstick.

RandomMess · 20/08/2018 18:26

I too think the bolts felt have fallen out but they weren't where you took the bolts out of... they are around the back of or in another bit of the frame.

Springersrock · 20/08/2018 18:27

The little bolt things could have moved round so the holes aren’t lining up with your screw.

I recently put some old bunk beds together for a friend and the holes had loosened slightly so it was quite difficult to get the screw to line up with the bolt so it caught it when you screwed it in

I had to take them out, make sure they were lined up and try again. Over and over

Are you sure they didn’t drop out when you took it apart?

elephantoverthehill · 20/08/2018 18:27

Duchess is it an IKEA bed? Can you photograph on of the screws?

Springersrock · 20/08/2018 18:29

On the beds I put together, the long screw went in through the head/foot of the bed, but the little bolt things were in the long side frame of the bed, underneath the rail that the slats screw into.

Not where you take the long screw out so easy to miss if they dropped out when you took them out

Original poster
theduchessstill · 20/08/2018 18:31

So I took it apart again and shook the headboard, Nothing. There's no way those little things could have fallen out without me noticing, not four of them anyway. I'm not sure where the bed is from as I'm not it's first owner and not in touch with the person who was. I'm so grateful for people's help.

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TattyFrench · 20/08/2018 18:34

Could you post a picture? Maybe one of the identical bed that's still together and one of the dismantled one with the screws and screw holes showing?

nikkylou · 20/08/2018 18:35

Can you take a photo of the bed as well as the screws in question? Potentially , we can identify it, find the instructions and solve the screw crisis.

Original poster
theduchessstill · 20/08/2018 18:37

Here's the screw, or bolt, whatever it's called... Will try and take one of the bed too.

I seem to have irreperably broken ds's bed - help!
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RandomMess · 20/08/2018 18:38

The bolts would have been on the sides of the bed... can you turn the long plank bits upside down and look for deep holes - the bolts may be in there but have twisted around.

Original poster
theduchessstill · 20/08/2018 18:38

FFS, that didn't work either Sad

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