Hacker help: A bed that won’t stay put

Jules Yap·
Hackers Help
··60 Comments
hopen bed frame brown 82135 PE208146 S4
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hopen bed frame brown 82135 PE208146 S4
Photo courtesy of IKEA.

Hopefully you can help me out. I have a Hopen queen size bed, and have a problem, where the slats keep falling out of the frame. Do you have any suggestions how I can hack it so that they don’t fall out of the frame?

~ Alexis

Any ideas, anyone? ~ Jules

Jules Yap
Latest posts by Jules Yap (see all)

60 Responses

  1. My Hemnes full size bed is bowing out in the middle, and it’s because the movers didn’t put the crossbars back on. I think it was one move ago.

    I went back to Ikea and got the four crossbars, but I couldn’t get the small screws into the crossbars to keep them from moving – you must need a drill for that? So all that work and it’s probably not going to hold.

    Next I’ll go back to Ikea and get the new style crossbars, as the newer Hemnes bed frame model has just two and they look more sturdy. I’ll need to get the new center bar as well, as they have updated that too I think?

    What a total pain! My dog is now scared of the bed. She’s upset she can’t sleep with me but is too scared to lie on it.

    Someone joked about jumping on an Ikea bed. I’m afraid to even lie down on it lest it break, even with all the required parts attached properly.

    Ikea needs to do better!

    Reply

  2. We are making a frame out of the slats by attaching an 80 inch piece of 1 X 2 wood along the edge. Will make one for each side of the queen bed and then lie it on the bed assembly.

    Reply

  3. I’ve had this bed and this problem. I basically took the approach that John O’Connor above did, but instead of screws I used small Allen wrenches. This makes the bed easier to break down if need be.

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  4. I ran picture wire through the hole through the center of the slats rail and looped it around the hole on the other side, then tightened up the wire. Basically preventing the frame from bowing out, this has worked for more than a year, picture wire just broke will double it up this time around.

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  5. We have a Cali King and I put the wooden slats on the floor & removed the long metal centerpiece. Now mattress sits on top of the wooden slats that are directly on my floor.

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  7. I had a similar problem with the Ikea Malm bed, the slats were slightly too short and any shift on the bed would cause the slats to collapse. I placed two 1/4 inch dowels on either side between the slats and the metal support and it hasn’t been a problem since. Could also have used 3/8 inch ones depending on how much room your have between the slats and metal support. Less than $5 at the hardware store was an easy fix.

    Reply

    1. I tried everything including dowel rods, spacers, etc… Same thing kept happening to me….
      I finally just drilled small holes in the slats and metal supports and screwed them with sheet metal screws. I have moved the bed twice…dismantling and reassembling using the screws with the slats and metal supports. I have never had another issue.

      Reply

  10. So I just got the Hemnes queen bed with slats and while it’s been fine to sleep on, the first time I tried having sex on it the slats fell down and the center beam is now twisted (one part is at a different angle and stuck around the other). It seems like the center beam was not securely fit into the brackets at all. Does anyone have an idea for securing the center beam (assuming we can realign it)?

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      1. Can we please not behave like a complete twat towards women just because they had the temerity to ask a damned question? kthxbai

        Reply

  11. For any of you how might not have gotten the slats, but are still having the issue with your box spring falling off of the edges I have a solution. I just took some 1 x 8 x 80 boards and some 90 degree metal corner pieces with screw holes and placed them over the bed frame and screwed them into the sides. I used four boards placed up the bed. It is very solid now.

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  14. I never buy those slates from Ikea whenever I buy any bed… Paying 60 bucks plus tax for queen size slates is plain stupid. What I do instead is buy 1″X4″ from home depot and get them cut right there to the required size. If you want to do this, just measure the width of a slate panel from the center of the middle support to the side of the bedframe. What i do to prevent slates from falling is I don’t leave any gap between the slates, I mean fill the entire space with the 1X4s. This way you don’t need to strap them and they never fall either. Just make sure the length of the slate panel is measured and cut right. I can get the whole thing for a queen size bed under 20$. It is reliable and saves a lot of money. Home this helps other hackers here.

    Reply

  15. Try DuckTape. Run the tape perpendicular from the headboard to the base. Stick some tape to headboard and foot baord too. Run parallel tapes 2 or four times. Put some ductape on each slat sticking to the sideboards.

    Reply

  16. I have a slightly different problem. It might sound slightly irrelevant to this post, but I have a king size ikea Fjellse bed and the screws in the middle wooden part (the one with the three legs) keep unscrewing and falling off. So almost every morning we wake up in an almost broken bed. We tried to put different screws but they keep bending and unscrewing. Any ideas?

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  17. mine just feels uneven…… tight to lie on right along the edge…. solid right in the middle where the metal pole is, but everywhere else is uneven and lumpy 🙁

    Reply

  18. we have the king size version of this bed.. we were having the same issue we had the slats that bend.. those were a joke.. so we just purchased there cheap slats that are flat and wide.. haven’t had any issues since

    Reply

  19. Update to my previous post: The slats started popping out again, so I ditched them entirely.

    I built a frame out of 1x8s and 2x8s, stuck some furniture moving pads to it to increase the thickness to the height of the buttons on the metal rails, dropped it inside the frame, and laid a sheet of 3/4″ g1s plywood on top of it. Come to think of it, I could have just used the slats instead of the plywood.

    Reply

  20. The truth is, if you are having this problem you haven’t put your bed together properly. It is really a very well made bed. We had the same problem and IKEA told us to go back and reassemble following the directions very carefully. They were right. We have had ours for several years and it hasn’t fallen through since we reassembled it.

    Reply

    1. You couldn’t be more wrong. My queen sized Malm was built exactly according to instructions and it is still falling apart, and if you look at the instructions and the pieces you’re meant to assemble the bed with you’ll understand why! There aren’t any screws holding the bed together at all! Pretty much the only thing keeping it together are wooden pegs, which don’t even screw into anything, they just sit there in the ready-made holes. How is that bed meant to withstand any kind of action?!

      Reply

  21. I had this problem with my Ikea Odda single bed (the kind that has drawers underneath). I figured out that it wasn’t the slat’s fault, but the frame was bowing in the middle. I tied some ordinary heavy duty string across the middle of the bed between the two metal rails and pulled it tight. Now the slats fit as they should, and the frame stays square.

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  22. I have the same bed and after my center support beam bent… yeah I was jumping on the bed. I decided to make it stronger. So I measured the distance from the head board to the foot board. I went to Home Depot and purchased a simple 4×4 fence post. It didn’t matter if it was rough cause I would never see it. I bought 4×4 deck brackets that wrapped around the base of the 4×4. I also used 1/8″ bolts so that I could break down the bed if I moved. Once this was all together, the slats never fell off, but they still moved a bit. So I put set screws to hold tension of the slats. This was about 4.5-5″ from the head board. I did the same at the foot board and it’s been holding great. The other benefit is that the 4×4 center (cross) beam has helped to make the bed a lot more sturdy and firm so that the bed stay’s square.

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  23. Its VERY simple – buy a piece of dowling and place down the entire length of the bed between the slats…problem solved and costs very little

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  24. I HAVE THIS NYLON STRAP MATERIAL, THAT IS USUALLY USED FOR PURSES AND BAGS, LIKE CAMERA BAGS & BACK PACKS.

    I USED A STAPLE GUN AND AND SPACERS AND SPACED THE SLATS AND THEN STAPLED THE STRAPPING TO THE SLATS. OR YOU COULD MAKE A FRAME OUT OF 2 X 2S, AND SCREW THE SLATS INTO THE FRAMES, IF THEY ARE FLAT. I AM NOT SURE IF YOU HAVE TWO SETS OS SLATS OR NOT, OR IF THE PROBLEM IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BED OR THE OUTSIDE OR BOTH. YOU COULD TAKE 4 2X2S THE LENGTH OF THE BED, CUT SMALL CHUNKS OF WOOD FROM A 2X2 FOR SPACERS. SCREW SPACERS INTO THE 2X2S FOR THE OUT SIDE OF THE BED. THEN USE LONGER PIECES OR 2X2, (ABOUT 4 IN) AND PUT THE TWO PIECES OF 2X2 FOR THE MIDDLE TOGETHER. PLACE THE SLATS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE ATTACHED TO NYLON AND PUT A LONGER PIECE OF WOOD IN BETWEEN, SLATS AND SCREW THE SPACER TO BOTH PIECES OF 2X2 THAT ARE THE LENGTH OF THE BED. THIS SHOULD KEEP IT STABLE. THE SPACERS SHOULD FIT SNUGLY TOGETHER WITH THE SLATS, SO THERE IS NO ROOM FOR MOVEMENT. HOPE THIS HELPS.

    Reply

  25. I had the same problem with my Queen Malm, the slats kept moving towards the center and falling off the outer metal ledges. I just pushed the slats to the outer edges, measured the distance in the gap down between the slats on each side of the middle metal beam, bought 2 wooden dowels with the same width as the gap, had about an inch cut off each top and inserted them all in the gaps, with the longer pieces in the middle and cut off smaller pieces at the ends. I’ve never had an issue with the slats falling since. Event after 2 more moves.

    Reply

  26. I had this problem too when we had a bed from Ikea. After so much movement the slats woulld slip and it got so annoying I used Loctite (a very strong adhesive I had for the screws on my wheelchair) to glue the slats to the frame. It worked so well the movers had trouble getting them off so they could take the bed apart!

    Reply

  27. Easiest solution? We have a malm that had the same issue. Took a couple of dowels from an Ikea plate rack (maybe 1/2 inch diameter?) and set them in at the edges of the bed rails. It keeps the rails from dropping out of the frame and didn’t cost anything extra. Just pick up some cheap dowels at the HW store and do the same.

    Reply

  28. I had the same problem. i put an eye screw on either side of the wood bed frame, attached a heavy duty wire rope (about a 1/4 of an inch thick or so) and attached one of those cinching tools in the middle to pull the rope taut. It keeps the frame tighter together and the slats haven’t slipped since we attached it two years ago-

    Reply

  29. i have a king size version of this bed, same issues – the slats would eventually not hold at all. ikea wouldnt replace them even though we told them what was happening.

    we went and got 2 2×4 boards ran them down the interior sides (8 screws from the outside) at the same height as the central metal support. we then bought and 8’x4′ sheet of 3/4″ plywood and put it over the 3 supporting pieces and it works great. don’t know what to do with the slats though.

    Reply

  30. I’d go for some “self-drilling” screws and drill in one in each corner of the slats, then they’ll never move again unless you want them to.

    Btw, I have the exact same bed, but I have a continental-mattress in it, so I have no slats in it 😀

    Reply

  32. We have the exact same problem with our Malm-bed 140cm, it happend after we moved it to a new appartment. So it was like 7 months old. So irritating! I shall look tru all these tips and make the bed better!

    Reply

  33. We had this problem with our king sized Hopen bed, after we’d had it for about 3 years. The screws holding the cross-braces stripped their holes and so our bed sides were bowing and the slats were falling out. We took a strip of old towel and wedged it between the slats at the mid-beam. This pushed the slats to the bed sides so that they are bearing properly on the brackets at the bed sides. The towel allows for some give, so that the slats aren’t actually pushing the bed sides out more. It’s worked for about a year now!

    Reply

    1. Exactly the same thing’s happening with my Ramberg bed, except instead of the towel i’m wedging fat markers/pens in the space between the slats on top of the midbeam. This worked for a couple months but not anymore 🙁

      Reply

    2. Thanks! I’m having the exact problem. The middle of the bed is bending out, making it wider. I’m going to try the towels!

      Reply

  34. Similar to what Chris did with dowels, we just put a row of pencils along one side on our Malm. No more falling-through slats. Granted, not a perfect fix, but it works and was cheap and hassle-free (our nearest IKEA is 3 or so hours away). Good luck!

    Reply

  35. I had this problem with a Malm bed – one of the slatted bases (Sultan Lillaker) is known to cause this problem with bedframes, to the extent it’s been fully discontinued. Odds are if it happened with that base, it will happen with others too.

    Go to Ikea and tell them it’s faulty and you need a replacement frame under the 25 year guarantee. It took a LOT of perseverance and someone coming out to look at it, but in the end I got a replacement bedframe.

    Seriously, don’t try and fix it – just get it replaced. I love Ikea – and love hacking! – but why try and work around something they know is a fault?

    (In the interim you can unscrew the L-plates that the slats rest on, fold up some corrugated cardboard, put it between the plates and bedrame and tighten up the screws again. It takes out just enough space to make the slats a tight fit again.)

    🙂

    Reply

  36. I had the same problem. I went to Michaels (craft/art supply store) and bought a couple of round wooden dowels. I inserted them on both side’s of the bed in between the sides of the bed and the slates. That kept the slates from shifting and kept me from falling on the floor.

    Reply

  37. Hi,

    I am having the exact same problem on the exact same frame. However, I’m a little bit new, so can someone explain to me or point me to a guide that explains this cross bar thing?

    Thanks!

    Reply

  38. We had the problem… we used the cross bow but the screws didn’t hold on the metal and so it got loose and didn’t hold the sides. To hold it together we got some hardware and a metal rope and attached it in the middle
    holds the bed straight and the slats aren’t falling! I guess anyway to keep the bed straight works fine!

    Reply

  39. Seriously we NEVER have the problem in our showroom (Belgium’s Ikea), cause we fixed the cross bars ass much ass we can (it’s sooo important and people just don’t believe us, cause it look simple, but trust me … it is).

    But still when we sell a bed, we recommand to take slats with a frame like the Sultan Lödingen (in Belgium again it doesn’t exist in every country) for a 2 personns bed.

    kr,
    Patrick

    Reply

  40. I laid dowels between the slats and the rails in my Malm bed, on both sides. This way, the slats don’t have the wiggle space to fall out of the bed.

    Reply

  41. Wow thanks guys, I’m happy Ikea Hacker posted my question cause its been killing us to always have to reposition the slates every couple of days. I will look into getting a new middle support and possibly getting the 2 x 4’s as well.

    Thanks again,

    ~ Alexis

    Reply

  42. I had a similar problem and it was because the side rails were twisting outward just enough to drop the slats. I replaced the middle slats with a piece of 1/2″ x 2″ wood and screwed it into the rail and the middle beam and it’s been working for 4 years. Good luck!

    Reply

  43. WE found the solution to ourMalm bed…to keep the frame square we have the metal sport down the bed like it came with, and then 3 2x4s across the other way. This keeps tge bed square which keeps the slats in place. We have had our full bed this way for 2 years now, and we are large and restless sleepers.

    Reply

  46. The cross-bars are very important. Have people push in the sides while you tighten up the cross-bars, guarantee it will work. The slats should not have room to slip through – if they do, the bed is bowing out and needs to be pushed in and tightened at the cross-bars.

    Reply

  47. I used two 2×4 pieces of wood instead of the cheap metal L channel that came with the bed. I simply used round head lagbolts and bolted the two 2×4’s directly to the side of the bed. Worked like a charm.

    Reply

  48. I had this same problem. Go back to Ikea and buy another metal pole frame for the center. They have significantly beefed it up and it is much thicker and stronger now.

    My old one has bent downward slightly and the slats always fell. The new revised one has been perfect for over a year now. It’s only $10 too.

    Reply

  49. the thing with Ikea bed slats are that they are ikea bed slats on an ikea bed, precision counts…. make sure the bed is perfectly square and that you put in the the struts that lock the frame to center rail. make sure you put in the “buttons” that lock the slats in along the length of the frame a well.

    Reply

  50. The cross bars for stability (and I think this very reason) sometimes don’t come with the bed (I got my HEMNES in the AS-IS section). If you got to parts, they will have them for literally $0.50 a pair.

    If your bed type doesn’t support these cross bars, I would recommend somehow attaching the side walls to the middle support bar that runs the length of the bed.

    Reply

  51. Well, what we had to do was remove all the slats and hardware and just insert a box frame. It was the only thing that worked after trying everything else under the sun to reinforce the slats.

    Reply

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