How to stop a bed from creaking?

[nathan640]

Recently bought a wooden bedframe 2nd hand. Put it together and after a few weeks the screws have come slightly loose in one corner of the bed causing it to creak and budge slightly. Ive screwed it tight again  but it’s surely going to come loose again in the next few weeks. What would be the easiest and most efficient solution? Preferably don’t want to have to do any rethreading. Thanks in advance.

[EricL]

Hello @nathan640 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us and thanks for sharing your question about your wooden bed frame.

I propose using several products to lubricate the bedframe. For timber-to-timber contact, I suggest wiping the surface with Gilly's 200 ml Food Safe Wax using a clean rag. The wax spread does not have to be very thick but must be evenly spread out on both sides. For metal-to-metal contact I suggest spraying the surface with WD-40 300g Specialist High Performance Silicone. Please do not use the all-purpose one as a lubricant is what you are after. 

Please note not to spray the screw heads or screw threads of the bed, only the metal parts that are coming into contact with each other. Once you've reassembled the bed the squeaking and creaking noise should dissipate.

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1, @Nailbag and @Noyade for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[Dave-1]

Good Evening @nathan640 

I was thinking of using hard soap between the sections that are creaking at first, Then I wa sthinking of the screws becoming loose and was going down the path of using something like plumbers tape (only a tiny bit) to help keep the screws tight that you say are coming out.

The last thought I had was "Whne you put the bed together after moving, did you tighten the screws across the bed diagonally? I am thinking that if you went around the bed from corner to corner screwing them tight then you could have finished the last section with the bed under stress which may cause it to creak (as in pulling two sections together when they dont want to) If you had all the screws in place but not tight and then went diagonally across at the points it may help creak wise and also less strain on the screws.

Dave

[Nailbag]

Hi @nathan640 

I repaired exactly the same type of bed fastening system just a few weeks ago. Though your scenario maybe slightly different, your best bet is remove those gal (silver) button head screws as they are doing nothing. Drill out the bracket hoes with a 5mm drill bit. Then drive 35mm wood screws through the holes. These will be a thicker and longer gauge than the original resulting in a tight fit.

Nailbag