Need some type of barcket to secure bunk beds.... What is best?

rosie383

Sorry, that should read 'bracket' and I can't edit the title!!!
I have just finished assembling some really solid pine bunk beds which we bought privately. The only concern I have, is that the top bunk is just slotted onto dowels coming up from the bottom head and foot boards. There are holes about 4" apart between the top and bottom bunk, and looks as if they should maybe have some type of metal bracket between the two so that the top bunk is very secure.
What type of bracket could I get, or even something like a metal 'dowel' with holes at each end which I could screw into, IYKWIM.
The original instructions say there should be a wooden dowel between top and bottom, and then screw in just medium screws. That doesn't really sound very secure to me.
The people we bought them from had just the dowels, and the bunks feel pretty solid if you 'wobble' them.
If anyone has an idea how to help, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

tony6403

I made some very substantial bunk beds for my daughters.
The top bunk was located on four 10mm dowels and never moved over a period of more than ten years ( there is not a vast amount of lateral force ).
You may be able to increase the diameter of the dowels on your bed.
In this case, as it seems that holes have already been drilled into the corner posts, you would need to consider how you are going to enlarge them to accommodate larger dowels. Spade and Forstner bits are no good for this job unless you first glue the existing dowels into place and then drill ( this gives the pilot end of the drill something to dig into and ensure a concentric hole).
If you are not happy to rely on dowels you could easily add some metal jointing plates ( Screwfix sell them ) if you don't mind the appearance.

rosie383

Thank you for that. There are holes in the corner posts except for one of the top ones. So, out of the eight posts, 7 have holes, which seems a bit odd. I will have a look in screwfix catalogue and see if they have something that would do it. I'd just be worried about one of the kids trying to be a monkey, and the top bunk coming away.
There are already pre-drilled holes that would be perfect for brackets, but your idea of putting larger dowels is actually a really good idea. Thanks for the tip about using the dowel to give the drill bit a solid surface to work on. TBH, my dh wouldn't have done that, and would probably would have made a right mess of them! The kids slept in them last night, and they are still solid as a rock today, so maybe they will be okay. Thanks once again for your help.