Can an upholstered bed be repaired?

greensalad

I managed to have a look underneath, it seems there are no staples holding the fabric on. But there is an area of black fabric under the metal ledge for the slats that I could cut. I can also fairly easily remove the metal slat rest, it's held on with several bolts. 

The side pieces are shaped nicely, so ideally I'd find a solution that involves not having to get a whole piece of timber but instead patching something in... I have no idea if that would work at all though. I am thinking if I can deconstruct the bed this weekend then I can take a stanley knife to the black fabric on the back and unpeel the fabric, hopefully give myself a better look at what the break looks like. It's very crunchy, I am not sure what it's made from internally but it's not solid. 

If I was able to access the fractured part, how on earth would I be able to replace this section? Would I need a whole new piece of timber?

At this stage I'm considering buying a whole new bed base and seeing if I can somehow attach the headboard to a new base, so I get the same look. However that would be a last resort. 

twopenny

My guess is it meant be glued on to get that smooth finish.

The fractured break maybe a knot hole causing weakness.


Could you fasten a length of wood across the fracture at the back of the side element? Or the whole length of the side? Would that interfer with the underneath fixings?

greensalad

twopenny said:

My guess is it meant be glued on to get that smooth finish.

The fractured break maybe a knot hole causing weakness.


Could you fasten a length of wood across the fracture at the back of the side element? Or the whole length of the side? Would that interfer with the underneath fixings?

The metal slat-support part is not that deep and sits about halfway down the width of the part, so plenty of room underneath to splint it if needed. Problem is the split is more at the top. It's not a full split, it's more like a fracture on the upper part only (as pictured, looking down on the bed is where you see the problem). So I am not sure a splint at the lower edge would do much, and a splint on the upper part would interfere with the mattress.

Either way I think I need to get access to the break to see what it actually looks like which means I'm going to have to cut the fabric off. OH is going to help deconstruct the bed this weekend, and I'm going to cut through the black fabric on the back to open up the fracture and see what it actually looks like. I feel like it's not solid wood, it must be something else as it has a crunchy feel when you squeeze the break, like different layers have fractured. It's too lightweight anyway to be solid so it must be a hollow box of some sort. Maybe a thin layer of ply with some chipboard inside?

I managed to find the assembly instructions: https://media.made.com/media/assembly/made_ai_BEDROS002BLU-UK.pdf

I am hoping that I can do some remedial repair to stop is breaking completely and then sit tight until Christmas when it is supposed to be delivered to see what happens. And then if nothing (as I suspect) maybe try and get a new piece made. 

As the metal slat support is just screwed on, I could maybe try and get two new sides made in plain wood that I can stain to match. I have no idea where I'd get that from but perhaps I could contact a bespoke bed maker and ask if it's something they could do, just supply side pieces instead of having upholstered edges. I even feel I could make something myself, maybe layered and glued plywood to get it thick enough, and two bolt holes in each end... but I don't know how i'd get the stain to match the dark wood at the base of the bed. 

Eldi_Dos

If you take mattress off and can manoeuvre the split section of part C into alignment and then screw something like bookcase strips above metal slat support to act as splint it would keep the fascia upholstery intact.
The screws in existing metal support bracket will give clue as to what type of material part C is made of under upholstery.