A bunk bed is often found in any room that is shared by more than one person, such a kids bedrooms, dorm rooms, even prison rooms. I will focus in this post on bunk beds for kids, but only on a specific part: the bunk bed ladder. As I said before, the ladder is very important to be in perfect condition in order to prevent any bunk bed accidents. Kids tend to break things when they play, even a ladder; and I want to show you how to easily build a new one, in case something happens to the one you already have.
Bunk bed ladder – so easy to make
These are the materials that you are going to need in order to build bunk bed ladders:
– a drill
– a saw (circular or any other type)
– a tape measure
– nails and a hammer
– varnish and stain
– 1/4 inch carriage bolts
– 5 10 foot 2×4 pieces of lumber (I build this type of ladder following this plan for wooden bunk beds, that’s why I use lumber)
– and a sandpaper
1. The first thing you need to do after you gathered all of your materials is measure the distance between the top of the base of the upper bunk and the floor. Double measure, in order to make sure you have the right distance. This will be the length of the ladder and what you have to do is saw two 2×4 pieces of lumber to this length.
2. From the third 2×4 piece of lumber cut five pieces with a length of 1-1/2 foot that will be the rungs of the ladder.
3. Your next step is to bold the rungs to the two pieces you have cut in the first step. The space between the rungs should be about 10 inches.
4. Now check to see if the ladder that you are building has the right length; place it next to the bunk bed and see if it reaches the floor. If it turns out to be too long, cut some of the sides; if it’s too short, well, sorry to tell you, but you have to go back to the first step.
5. Step number five is roughening the edges of the top sides and using the sandpaper, polishing the entire ladder in order to make it smooth and with no wood chips.
6. Once you finished with step number 5, stain and vanish the entire ladder and let it out to dry.
7. For the finale, you have to nail the top side of the ladder to the top bunk bed. Make sure it is stable and that is touching the floor. Do not let the children use it before you have doubled checked it that it’s safe!
You can find on the Internet many other bunk bed ladder plans, but I am telling from experience that this is by far one of the easiest to do. Also, there are a lot of bunk ladders for sale if you do not wish to build it yourself.
Also, you can add to the top side of the bunk bed ladder these hooks. This means that you don’t have to nail the ladder to the top bunk, you simply attach it in a secure way using the hooks. That also makes your ladder removable! So, if you would like to add this feature to the ladder, check out HERE these bunk bed ladder hooks, that are only $7,49!
Bunk bed hooks at $7,49
There you have it! In seven simple, easy steps, you have managed to make yourself a brand new bunk bed ladder. You can also find bunk bed ladders in stores, but, from my experience, is difficult to find the exact length that you need or a ladder that matches the bed frame. But it’s OK to buy the hooks because they are pretty difficult to make them yourself.
