Advice regarding securing furniture to the carpet floor?

Kamran

Dear all,

Hope you're all doing great :j

Having recently gotten married and moved into a flat, my wife and I purchased a wall bed for the spare room, to try and maximise space.

The wallbed has arrived, but the manufacturer says the head piece needs to be secured to the floor or wall. Since the wall is plaster board and there is a skirting board which prevents the headpiece to sit flush to the wall, "floor mounting" seems to be the only option.

Here is a photo that shows what the head piece looks like, in situ

I was hoping for some advice on how to actually do this without ruining the carpet/floor/messing up. Having done some research online I have come up with the following plan and would be most grateful for some feedback!

1. Position the head piece and mark the carpet with a pen where the drill holes will go.
2. Using a sharp stanley knife, cut a plus shape in the carpet and fold the flaps back
3. Assess the floor - if it's concrete then I can drill, if it's wood - I haven't a clue what I should do. I've jumped around on the floor and it definitely is solid, feels like concrete (the flats are less than 10 years old, and my flat is on the 6th floor)
4. Assuming it's concrete, using a 10mm drill bit, drill into the concrete in the centre of the plus, making sure not to catch any carpet by folding the flaps back. Drill in approx 70mm.
5. Gently hammer in a 10mm plastic wall plug (10mmx60mm)
6. Repeat for the 5 other fixation points
7. Reposition the head piece of the wallbed and drill an 8mm coach screw (8x60mm) into each of the fixation points.

- Do you think I've missed anything?
- What to do if I (unlikely as it may be) find a wooden floor? Presumably wall plugs aren't appropriate.
- Is a 10mm drill piece correct for a 10mm wallplug that will be taking an 8mm coach screw? Or does the drill piece need to be wider?

Thanks so much for your advice!

societys_child

Why not locate the studs behind the plaster board and fasten some timber batons (same thickness as the skirting) to the wall, then screw the bed to the batons?

*Avoid any hidden wires.

Kamran

societys_child wrote: »

Why not locate the studs behind the plaster board and fasten some timber batons (same thickness as the skirting) to the wall, then screw the bed to the batons?

*Avoid any hidden wires.

Thanks for this. The trouble is that aren't studs located only at certain points across the wall? The photo I posted above is the way that the frame HAS to be positioned. It can't go even an inch either way, due to the shape of the room. And as you can see from the pic, the fixation points are vertical, not horizontal, so I'd have to be extremely lucky!?

Any ideas about fixing to the floor?

scottishblondie

Kamran wrote: »

Thanks for this. The trouble is that aren't studs located only at certain points across the wall? The photo I posted above is the way that the frame HAS to be positioned. It can't go even an inch either way, due to the shape of the room. And as you can see from the pic, the fixation points are vertical, not horizontal, so I'd have to be extremely lucky!?

Any ideas about fixing to the floor?

Your studs run vertically, so you locate them and fix the timber batons (the same width as your frame and thickness as your skirting) horizontally across them at the right height to fix the frame onto. So the batons are anchored onto the studs, and your frame is fixed onto the batons. As long as you can locate 2 or more studs within the width of the frame this will be much easier than trying to fix into the floor.

Kamran

scottishblondie wrote: »

Your studs run vertically, so you locate them and fix the timber batons (the same width as your frame and thickness as your skirting) horizontally across them at the right height to fix the frame onto. So the batons are anchored onto the studs, and your frame is fixed onto the batons. As long as you can locate 2 or more studs within the width of the frame this will be much easier than trying to fix into the floor.

Oh I see, that's starting to make sesne. One continuous baton of wood to the 2 studs gives makes it secure, and then I have the freedom to anchor the bed frame to wherever is needed onto the wood.

So that changes everything (for the better) but I had a few questions about this new technique

1) - where to buy such a specific piece of wood from? I don't own (and would probably mess up the making of) the appropriate sized wooden baton

2) - locating the stud, I've seen a few youtube videos today that talk about studs being next to power outlets and then being spaced evenly apart, is that likely to be the case in the UK too (the videos were mostly US) - I'd rather not have to purchase a stud locator if I don't have to!

3) wooden baton to wall studs - what's the appropriate method of fixing this? My guess would be wall plugs into the wall, and then a large coach screw to go through both the baton and the plug?

4) Then finally the bed onto the baton, i'm guessing you can just screw directly into the wood, without the need for wall plugs?

Thanks again! Glad I asked before I attempted to cut the carpet!:T

Norman_Castle

Here is a photo that shows what the head piece looks like, in situ

If thats exactly where it needs to go you cannot put a baton across because of the plug sockets. Try banging a nail into the floor to find out if its wood or concrete. Do the instructions say it needs to be fixed to just wall or floor or both?.

Kamran

Norman_Castle wrote: »

If thats exactly where it needs to go you cannot put a baton across because of the plug sockets. Try banging a nail into the floor to find out if its wood or concrete. Do the instructions say it needs to be fixed to just wall or floor or both?.

Great point. The three holes you can see going vertically on each side are the holes to drill into. I wondering if I can get away with just mounting on the middle and bottom holes.

Otherwise, can't I attached 3 pieces of timber together? make sort of a frame?

Kamran

Is B&Q a good place to buy timber?
http://www.diy.com/departments/building-supplies/timber-woodwork/DIY763398.cat

scottishblondie

I have to admit I didn't actually look at the photograph, those wall sockets change things somewhat. if the floor is wooden (trying to knock a thin nail through the carpet into it should tell you, as per Norman's suggestion) then it may be easiest just to fix to it.

Mind you, if you don't want to use those sockets (since you were planning to incarcerate them behind the bed anyway) you could remove the face plates, make the wires safe and stuff them into the wall box, then put the baton over the top of them. However (and please don't take this the wrong way) for safety's sake I think it might be best to get an electrician or at least someone more competent in DIY than yourself into make the wires safe if you do this. They would need to be terminated properly to make sure they are not a fire risk.

To answer your other questions (for information's sake if nothing else):

Kamran wrote: »

1) - where to buy such a specific piece of wood from? I don't own (and would probably mess up the making of) the appropriate sized wooden baton
You would buy from a timber yard or even B&Q. If you have the measurements most places will cut the wood to the right length for you, possibly for a small charge. Not all B&Qs offer a cutting service, so check ahead of time.

2) - locating the stud, I've seen a few youtube videos today that talk about studs being next to power outlets and then being spaced evenly apart, is that likely to be the case in the UK too (the videos were mostly US) - I'd rather not have to purchase a stud locator if I don't have to!
They will be evenly spaced, probably with 400mm or 600mm between their centres, and the sockets will be between 2 of them. Try tapping on the wall - where the stud is will sound more solid. Drill a small hole or push something thin through to check if you have the right spot. You may also be able to see where the screws are fixing the plasterboard on if you look carefully.

3) wooden baton to wall studs - what's the appropriate method of fixing this? My guess would be wall plugs into the wall, and then a large coach screw to go through both the baton and the plug?
No wall plugs - you would be going through wood and plasterboard into the wooden stud, so use wood screws of an appropriate length.

4) Then finally the bed onto the baton, i'm guessing you can just screw directly into the wood, without the need for wall plugs?
Yes

Kamran

scottishblondie wrote: »

I have to admit I didn't actually look at the photograph, those wall sockets change things somewhat. if the floor is wooden (trying to knock a thin nail through the carpet into it should tell you, as per Norman's suggestion) then it may be easiest just to fix to it.

Mind you, if you don't want to use those sockets (since you were planning to incarcerate them behind the bed anyway) you could remove the face plates, make the wires safe and stuff them into the wall box, then put the baton over the top of them. However (and please don't take this the wrong way) for safety's sake I think it might be best to get an electrician or at least someone more competent in DIY than yourself into make the wires safe if you do this. They would need to be terminated properly to make sure they are not a fire risk.

To answer your other questions (for information's sake if nothing else):

Thanks for this. Very helpful. Have been doing some thinking - is it not possible for me to get the Timber Yard or B&Q to cut me a piece of wood in the shape shown in the following photo? Wouldn't that solve the problem?

Owain_Moneysaver

Are you sure your walls are plasterboard over stud? They might be plasterboard dot-and-dab over masonry, in which case you can just go through the plasterboard and into masonry.