Quote:
Originally Posted by kpfn1216
I'm very interested in how you set up the bunk bed ladder. I don't have a great solution figured out for our bunks yet. We've also got a 17B (that we also got in April, and we're also near Seattle, in Issaquah) and are using it with our two kids. Would you mind posting some more pictures of the structure and supports for the boards for the top bunk? How are you keeping the board that the ladder is connected to in place, for example?
|
That's a fun coincidence you got your 17B the same month as us and live nearby. Sure, happy to explain in a bit more detail.
The two boards are secured with four L brackets each. I attached two pictures that show the L brackets fairly well. I'll try to explain what we did, and please let me know if you have any questions.
Originally, we were trying to make the L brackets not show from the top bunk, so we bought shorter brackets. We used those on the bigger guard rail board that is also supported by the bathroom wall, and the angle was just right along the wall. We first attached the brackets to the bottom inside of the guard rail board, and then we attached them to the bottom of that long filler board.
For the ladder support board, we decided we should buy heavier duty L brackets to make it more secure. Like the guard rail, we first attached the L brackets to the bottom inside of the ladder support board. However, when we went to attach the brackets to the long filler board, we noticed the angle of the ladder support board did not match the guard rail board. So we ended up adding some washers underneath the L brackets to change the angle. The screws went through the bracket and washers, and then into the filler board. So because we had brackets sticking up out of the filler board some, we decided to pad them so that kids didn't bump their heads on them. We covered them first with corner protector foam (same kind we used above the door to prevent head banging), then with the dish foam, and finally with our matching custom fabric.
To make sure the ladder doesn't slide around, we installed screws with spacers on the top of each side of the ladder support board.
If we did it over again, I think we would use the same L brackets for both boards to keep them at the same angle. Though you would just want to make sure the angle works correctly with the bathroom wall too.
We have been camping with the kids twice now plus they have crawled up and down the ladder in the trailer a bunch at home, and it has been working great. We have used the ladder ourselves a few times too, and it's been totally fine. The weight on the ladder seems mostly to go into the ground and it also pushes into the support board some, which is fine. The board isn't pulled down or pulled back with the ladder usage.
The ladder does get in the way of being able to open the wardrobe. We can open the wardrobe some with the ladder there, but if we want to fully open it, we have to move the ladder to the side (which is easy to do). The steeper you cut the ladder angle, the more you can open the wardrobe.