Pedestal Riser

The first thing you will notice is that this Pedestal Riser is made of 2" X 10" lumber rather than pressboard with interlocking plastic corner braces like factory beds.

I used 2" X 10" for convenience, but you could use 2" X 14" or 2" X 8" if you want the bed to be a different height - for the riser only. The frame height must be 10" high because of mattress depth.

Pressboard is also not waterproof. If your floor were to get wet, the pedestal riser could wick up the water and crumble.

I feel the Queen and King size beds require an additional support. This photoshopped image at left shows what a queen would look like.

The camera makes it look like the two cross tees are not exactly 1/3 of the way from top and bottom. They are. It's an aberation caused by a wide angle lens on the camera.

Several people have asked about drawer pedestal risers. I have information here about a possible fix for that. If you build a set, please send me picyures and I will include them here as well as credit for your design.

LUMBER DIMENSIONS - all are 2" X 10"

Be sure your circular saw or table saw is adjusted square. Mine was slightly tilted and the joinery shows it. Use a good quality square to make your cut lines. Measure twice, cut once, as usual.

Support and Support Tees

About 1/3 in from each end of the Support, trace out a cut-out that is the same width as a 2" X 10"

I ended mine exactly halfway across the board.

Use a saw to cut halfway through. I used a jigsaw to square the end of the cuts.

Then use a chisel and hammer to knock out the cutouts.

For queen and king beds, make TWO of these.

For supersingle beds make a cut-out in the center of each support-tee member.

For queen and king beds, make TWO cut-outs in each Support Tee, spacing them the same distance apart.

Queen and king beds have a lot more water and you want to spread that weight better. Make the cut-outs about 1/3rd of the way from the ends. That will give you two supports and two support-tees.

Note the images depicted here are for a supersingle.

The image at left shows how a Support Tee will be lowered into the corresponding cut-out in a Center Support.

Additional

I painted the outside boards with a flat black paint. When the bed is assembled and the waterbed mattress installed you cannot tell the difference between this and factory really, yet this one is much stronger. You can also decide what height you want.

You could also go whole hog and replace this pedestal riser with a custom built set of drawers if you wanted. Keep something close to the size of the frame for dimensions if you that route.

I used 2 L-brackets at each corner. You could use different brackets or just use large screws if you wanted to and screw in from the ends in a simple butt joint. Brackets are out of sight. Just be sure to use enough of whatever you use to keep it strong enough for the weight.

I did not use the packed screws that came with the brackets. They were small and soft. I used good quality wood screws that were 1 1/4" long to replace the free ones that came with the brackets.

Screws

Screws that come with brackets are inadequate in length.