http://jayscustomcreations.com/2013/03/14/full-size-loft-bed/ How to build a loft bed. This is for a full size bed. Everything you need to build it as well as the SketchUp file for you to modify as needed is here. The footboard side is a full ladder. All slats are 2×4s with a small rabbit to fit in a sub rail. The headboard side has 3 shelves below with a plywood back to add lateral support. The frame is mounted at 5' off the ground. I still have to sand everything and round some corners but the build is essentially done. I used a lot of scraps for this but total cost should be around $120 depending on location. A shopping list, all diagrams, the SketchUp file, and 6 videos covering the build.
Like and Subscribe if you like what you see! Twitter @jaybates86 facebook.com/jayscustomcreations youtube.com/jayscustomcreations Project plans: https://jayscustomcreations.com/plans/
Alright, real quick I want to mention a couple things.
I got carried away with the pocket hole screws and I put four in each one of these 2x8s.
And as you can see this top one goes off into space.
So I drilled an extra couple holes.
It's not going to matter.
It's going to be on the bottom so it won't be noticeable.
But, you know, I just didn't take that into consideration that it's not going to be
the same height as the, or same depth as the sides.
And just got a little carried away.
Not a big, big deal.
But got away from the plan a little bit.
And I've got my top two shelves mounted in place and my bottom shelf mounted.
Now I'm going to flip the whole unit.
Ooh, if I don't fall.
Flip the whole unit upside down on its back.
And I'm going to take my router.
All these spaces are flush on the bottom side.
And I'm going to take my router and make a half inch this way by a quarter inch deep
rabbet all the way across.
And I'm going to set that back panel in place.
Flip it back over and put the remaining two shelves in.
Now the whole point of that back panel is to give it some strength this way.
I think it'll look a little bit better.
And also the way it's spaced out is that the half inch distance here
and the half inch distance in here on that one from side to side height is,
the height of this is 48 inches.
So the panel will be sitting in place and all I have to do is cut 58 inches off of it.
So I'm only going to make one cut on a sheet of quarter inch plywood.
So that's beneficial for me.
And then I can start assembling the entire bed.
To make the rabbet on the back side, I don't have a half inch rabbeting bit on my router.
Which I thought I did, but I don't.
So what I have here is a three quarter inch bit.
And I have the depth set to about five sixteenths.
A little bit more than a quarter of an inch.
And I have it offset from this little fence that I clamped to it.
So that on a two by material, it's going to remove about nine sixteenths.
A little bit more than half an inch.
I'm going to very, very carefully flip this upside down.
And do my best to route out all the way around this intersection.
Alright, real quick before I get carried away here.
This edge guide, I clamped to the router.
It worked out well.
However, this router is an absolute piece of junk.
And my bit dropped about another quarter of an inch while I was routing.
So basically, I've got a half inch by half inch rabbet on the back of this.
Thanks to my awesome, junky, skill router.
Anyway, it doesn't really affect much.
However, when I made the decision to use two by eights for the bottom three shelves.
I was just going to make a quarter inch rabbet here.
And slide the next shelves up to it.
And then screw it in place.
The front of the shelf would stick out a quarter inch more.
On the second and third shelves.
Than it would on the very bottom one.
And everything was going to be rounded over.
So you really couldn't tell about that.
However, with this increased rabbet.
I think you really will be able to tell.
So I'm going to rip these down.
The next two shelves down on the table saw.
To match the depth of these.
An unnecessary step due to my router slipping.
But it is what it is.
And also my little edge guide.
Like I said it worked great.
But I couldn't get into the corners on the shelving sides.
On the leg side I could get all the way up to the corner.
But due to that fence being in the way.
It just stopped.
So I've got to chisel these out in a couple spots.
Space is really starting to tighten up here in the shop.
I've got my quarter inch piece of plywood on my bench.
And table saw with my gap in between.
Which is where my circular saw blade is going to run.
I've just got this straight edge guide I made a long time ago.
It's an eight foot piece.
So I've got some of it sticking in that closet.
And some sticking out here.
I'm probably just going to jump on top of this thing.
And cut it kneeling down.
I can only clamp this side.
Because of the way the bench is.
I can't put a clamp over there.
And I can't slide the whole thing this way.
Because it'll hit the saw.
So I'm going to jump up there.
And I guess use my body weight to hopefully make a safe cut.
With the back set in place.
I can go ahead and start fastening it down.
I'm going to use inch and a quarter drywall screws.
The black has a high contrast on this pine.
But it's going to be on the back side.
So no one's going to see it.
It's going to be up against the wall.
I'm using my number 10 countersink bit.
And it's got two different steps on here.
I'm going to go through until about an eighth of an inch deep on this first step.
And what that will do is allow a little bit more leeway for the head.
It still gives enough bite for the head to hold.
But the shaft right below the head is smaller than this first step.
So that will allow about a sixteenth of an inch on either side.
For every single hole.
For expansion and contraction.
This pine plywood shouldn't expand and contract as much as these actual two by structural members.
So I still want to leave enough.
That way if it does expand and contract nothing's going to bind.
I don't think it will.
But just be safe than sorry on this.
So that's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to go all the way around.
To locate shelf number two and three inside this box.
What I've done is I've taken my interior measurement of this back panel.
Subtracted three inches because that's how much that two of these shelves are going to take.
And then divided by three even spaces.
And my distance is fourteen and five-eighths of an inch.
So I'm just going to mark fourteen and five-eighths from the bottom.
Fourteen and five-eighths from the top.
And I'm going to use my square to set these in place right on my mark.
And I'll have perfectly spaced out shelves.
The headboard assembly is complete.
The footboard assembly is standing up right there.
And the frame is down the hallway.
Slats are in the kitchen.
So now I've got to stack everything in one corner.
Completely clean out the shop.
Sweep up everything nice and neat.
Break down all my tools.
Get this space wide open.
And then I can assemble the entire bed and see what we got.
