Bed Raising Light Wood

Bed Raising "How-To"

The "light wood" beds pictured below can be found in select first year housing spaces. Other spaces may have dark wood beds, and you can find instructions on raising dark wood beds here. 

TIPS: This process is best carried out in pairs.

For this reason, your RA has been supplied with two ratchets that are available for check out.

At its fastest, this process will take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

1. First, remove the mattress from the bed, and remove the three planks of plywood.
2. In some instances the middle piece of plywood may be screwed into place. If this is the case, the board will need to stay in place during this process; this is not preferable, but it does not make it impossible to raise the bed. Also, if a piece of plywood support, or any part along the way, is missing please call the Housing and Residence Life office.

   Pic 1	Pic 2
   Pic 3

3. Begin to loosen both bolts at the ends of one side rail. Leaving one side rail intact while raising the other is recommended over disassembling the bed all together. This way, the bed will retain its structure as you work on one side at a time. This makes the process much easier when reattaching the side rails.
4. Once the bolt seems very loose, or is spinning freely, remove it from the headboard. On the bottom side of the rail, gravity will cause the small cylindrical fitting to fall out. On the top side, the cylinder will be able to be left in place. Note the orientation of the cylinder on top. The groove in the cylinder must be in line with the side rail.

   Pic 4

5. With both bolts removed, simply lift the side rail to the next set of holes in the headboard, and reattach the bolts. Make sure that the cylinder is lined up exactly as it was in STEP 3. Adjustments to the direction of the cylinder can be made using a flat head screwdriver or, in some cases, a fingernail. The bolt will spin freely if the cylinder is not in line. Many people become frustrated at this step. If things are not going together correctly, pause and take a deep breath. If the problem persists and appears to be unsolvable, please do not hesitate to contact the Housing and Residence Life office. PLEASE NOTE: It is critical that the bolts and washers both be reattached completely. They will fit flush in the headboard if reinstalled correctly. An extreme amount of force is not required to insure the stability of the frame (usually hand tightening is satisfactory). However, all three parts must be used. Do not proceed if any parts are missing without contacting the Housing and Residence Life office.
6. A finished side rail should look like this:
7. Repeat steps 2 to 4 on the other side rail

   Pic 5

8. Replace all three plywood panels
9. Replace the mattress
10. You're done!

Note: This is the only approved method of raising beds. To ensure safety, please follow these directly carefully when attempting to raise your bed.

Please contact the Housing and Residence Life Office, your RA, or your RD if you should run into any issues. We are willing, ready, and able to help.