Wood bed frame claims to have 1,500 lb weight limit. Really?

May 26, 2024 6:46 AM

I need to buy a new bed frame. I'm a heavier person, and so is my partner. We also occasionally move around in bed, if you know what I mean. I looked up the best bed frames for heavier people and found one (all-wood) bed frame that is highly recommended, but the claims seem pretty wild when I look at the actual structure of it. Is it real? Or BS?

Of the bed frames recommended for heavier people, my favourite so far has been the Helix. It claims to have a weight limit of 1,500 lbs, which is a lot heavier than most other bed frames. However, watching the assembly video I noticed that there are no supports under the central beam. People who understand woodworking and furniture: is this possible? It seems unlikely, but there are plenty of independent websites where this frame is well-reviewed.

My other option is the Thuma. It's the same type of construction but with supports under the central beam. Unfortunately, it's about double the price.

Please note, if you want to recommend other bed frames, I'm not interested in any option that requires a box spring and/or is ugly. I have standards! Also, it needs to ship to Canada.

posted by 100kb to Home & Garden (20 answers total)

Regardless of the frame, I would manufacture my own center supports (plural) with blocks of wood or hardback books or similar, just to remove the stress on too few specific points. Mostly for my own piece of mind.

*FWIW my Helix mattress, bought for similar reasons, is unsatisfying. Do not recommend.
posted by nkknkk at 6:50 AM on May 26 [1 favorite]

Best answer: A large friend of mine bought a Thuma. He is a woodworker and got it particularly because he appreciated the design and construction. It appears to be very sturdy, although I cannot vouch for it holding two people of his size, nor any bed top activities. I helped him assemble it and it was really straightforward and thoughtfully instructed. I myself am not a fan of its aesthetic, but I can see how it would be worth the price to those who are.
posted by Mizu at 7:12 AM on May 26 [1 favorite]

There's a cheaper dupe for the Thuma that gets good reviews.
posted by shadygrove at 7:18 AM on May 26

Best answer: You don't specify what size bed you have, but on that Helix page, under Specs, it does say that King and California King sizes do have a center support leg.

Is such a weight rating possible without a center support leg? Sure, with the right materials, joinery, and construction. Does that bed frame tick all those boxes? I'm not convinced. In the assembly video, there looks to be quite a bit of slop in the joints. "Tool-free assembly" sounds nice, but there is way too much clearance in those corner joints; the pieces just drop in. That's going to lead to wobble and flex, and eventually, failure. Also at about 0:20, when the person is dropping the middle rail in, there's quite a bit of noticeable flex in the rail. If it flexes that much just from dropping the rail in place, what's it going to do when things get a bit more intense? Also, no hardware at all? With the flex demonstrated above, and no hardware locking that center rail in place, I see the whole thing falling apart. The whole thing screams yikes to me.
posted by xedrik at 7:35 AM on May 26 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I would be more concerned by the fact that the slats are made of pine. Regardless of the central beam the common report of constant creaking is very believable.

The 1500 lbs thing sounds close to plausible, but only if the weight was spread out evenly across the entire platform and never shifted at all.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:37 AM on May 26 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: To answer some questions:
I'll be buying a Queen-sized frame. I didn't notice that the King had a centre support! But I can't fit a King into my apartment.
Unfortunately, the Valyou frame doesn't seem to ship to Canada.
posted by 100kb at 7:56 AM on May 26

Best answer: Hmm... reading the reviews on the helix, I see a lot of the reviews, even some of the positive ones, mention how noisy the bed frame is. My inclination is that noise means movement in the joints, which makes me suspicious of the claims.
posted by CleverClover at 8:41 AM on May 26

Best answer: We've owned a king Thuma for 3 years and loved every minute of it. This year we bought a queen Thuma for our guest room. Both sizes have a center support. We use a foam mattress on both beds. Guests rave about our guest bed.

A+ would buy again and again.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 8:43 AM on May 26 [2 favorites]

Just as an outside the box suggestion, you can also buy whatever bed frame you like, and add a steel center support to the frame. We (also two larger people who enjoy moving around) did this a few years ago for a beautiful antique bed I adore, and it is completely solid and I'm never concerned about anything breaking or shifting. It was a lot cheaper than buying a "load rated" bed.
posted by anastasiav at 8:53 AM on May 26

I just took delivery of my new Big Fig bed, a bed designed for heavier sleepers. It's incredibly solid. The friends who set it up for me said the frame is the sturdiest they've ever seen, and that the mattress, a twin, is as heavy as their king-size because its build to hold so much. You can feel the solidity of this bed the moment you sit on it. It's incredibly comfortable for sleeping, firm without being rock-hard. I think some people might find it too firm, but it's perfect for me. I have a disability, and the firm mattress makes it easy to shift myself as it gives me something to push back against.

On sale right now for Memorial Day.

The bed has three parts: the platform, a foundation, and the mattress. The foundations rolls out with many many slats. Strong velcro holds them in place. A cover is included so it looks more of less like a box spring, except that the mattress is thicker than the foundation, so it doesn't have the same proportions as an old-fashioned bed.

I can't speak to the long-term, but I am so impressed with it. I feel like it really holds me up and supports me.

Per the website: We currently do not ship to ALL of Canada, but we ship where we can! If you want to confirm if we ship to your postal code, please reach out to our customer service team at 1.888.344.6547. All orders to Canada incur a shipping and imports fees.

posted by Well I never at 10:26 AM on May 26 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I watched the Helix assembly video and when the average sized guy fell onto it at the end, the side supports visibly deformed. The only way I'd trust that bed would be to put additional leg supports along the middle of each side, and another support in the middle.

The Big Fig foundation + frame looks sturdy and reliable, though.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:44 PM on May 26

Not necessarily recommending this bed, since it’s significantly more expensive, but thought it might be useful as a point of comparison on what might be reasonable for supports. The queen-size bludot Woodrow bed is nice quality wood and has two support feet, even in queen size. And with one average-ish and one large-ish person, it nearly lost one foot at one point, and the slats probably would have collapsed if that second foot hadn’t been there. No problems since replacing that foot, so it may have been defective originally, but I can’t imagine a similarly structured frame without any center support being very sturdy.
posted by duien at 1:06 PM on May 26

I would suggest getting whatever frame fits your aesthetic, and putting a Zinus frame or something similar inside it to support your mattress. It will be virtually invisible once the mattress is on it, and it worked great for me when I was very heavy.

Also just a tip - if you are looking into mattresses for heavy people, do NOT get a Titan. It would have been super comfortable, except the top of the mattress is a layer of fabric with basically zero friction. All my bedclothes and me and my cat slipped and slid all night, every night, until I gave up and replaced it (within return window, thankfully).
posted by invincible summer at 1:38 PM on May 26

Best answer: Shocked to hear the positive reviews. I've never had that bed but I'm a serious woodworker and the corner joinery is bullshit. To be a real joint, the tenons would need short, wider extensions to “house” everything. I don’t see what would keep it from loosening. My current (homemade) platform frame uses bed bolt hardware, which is what I'd recommend. It can be tightened from time to time, which is important for seasonal wood movement or nightly human movement.
posted by brachiopod at 3:14 PM on May 26

Response by poster: Seems like the consensus so far is that the Helix is not good!

I'm interested to hear from any woodworkers who want to comment on the Thuma video for comparison. The pieces look much thicker, and the joints are definitely tighter; they have to be pushed together, not just dropped in place. There's only one support foot on the central beam, but I could add some of those aftermarket support feet for extra sturdiness. Thuma also gets great reviews — is the woodworking actually good?

Unfortunately, the Big Fig is the type of bed I'm looking to stay away from (ugly metal frame + box spring/foundation). I know those types of frames are very sturdy, but I'm really hoping for a modern-looking wooden bed. The Avocado City Bed is another one that I've considered.
posted by 100kb at 5:39 PM on May 26

Best answer: Thuma looks better. The beams are wider, which will help a little. (Height is the critical dimension for a vertical load, though.) The centre support post will help a lot. The slats are thicker, also. If you can get (or make) additional support posts for the side beams, I'd say go for it.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:25 PM on May 26

The Avocado City bed looks well made. It uses traditional bed hangar connections which do not come loose. The sides look pretty tall for managing the load. But without a centre support post I would not rate it better than the Thuma.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:29 PM on May 26

Best answer: Via the aforementioned large friend:

“ chunky woodworker who bought the thuma because of its weight support and craftsmanship: it is as advertised. haven’t stress tested it, but the joinery is basic and sturdy, the center support is placed correctly, and the slats do the job they’re intended to. the manufacturing tolerances are reasonable - if you experience creaking in the corner joints you can shim them with some paper until they’re very tight, but the center span’s bolts should tighten things appropriately unless your activities are sufficiently vigorous to threaten anything but a welded steel frame.”
posted by Mizu at 6:36 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

Same bullshit. It's not going to hold up long term. You see how there's a “U” cut out of the tenon for the other to drop into? It's WAY deeper than it should be.Try to imagine how little force would be required to crack that end bit off. There's a spline in there at another angle to give resilience enough to hopefully outlast the warranty but that's all it's going to do.This bed has the same issue as the other one, in that there's doesn’t seem to be any way to tighten the joint. Seriously, all these social media advertised beds with their vaguely Japanese-ish construction and the deliberate, measured manner of the person assembling it….all bullshit.

Bed frame construction is a solved problem. Bed bolts can be tightened in a way that puts positive reinforcement on the joint.
posted by brachiopod at 6:38 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

This was probably mentioned already but you can buy extra, support “legs” on Amazon. I bought a set to make an older frame feel more “sturdy” and they work like a charm. I used them exclusively as center supports and the bed is rock solid. Very pleased with the purchase.
posted by pearlybob at 2:56 AM on May 27