Ok ladies,

A couple of weeks ago i posted saying i wanted to build a bed on a platform. Well i finally came to a desision and decided not to make a platform out of wood but to make it out of cinder blocks, i then decided to cover the ugly cement blockies with plush cheap velour-type fabric, stick a huge slab of wood on the top and place my matress on top. Here's where you all come in : I want to know where to get like 20 cinderblocks for my bed and also how much do you think it will cost?

Thanks a mil

PS:Once i get this thing constructed i'll keep all of you posted and i might even post a pic!

For the cinderblocks you'll have to check at building supply stores or garden centres sometimes have them.
One concern though...you'll have to find some way of cementing the blocks together so that they don't shift over time...you know, with uhm, er...body movement and such. Er, you don't want to suddenly find yourself collapsed in a pile of rubble....literally.

Yes be EXTRA careful with cinderblocks. I'm imagining your bed will be very sturdy, but sometimes cinderblocks = bad news.

in my nursery school, they had bookshelves made out of cinderblocks and wood, and one somehow got pushed over and landed on my precious 4 year old toesies. I still think this is the reason my pinky toes look a little smushed.

maybe this isn't really a concern at all and i'm just a neurotic pessimist, but cinderblocks are unbelievably heavy. if your floors are on the creaky, rickety side, i'm wondering if planting 20 of those suckers in the middle of a room isn't an invitation for disaster.

not trying to crush any platform bed dreams,
april

In University I had a cinder block bed and It was NOT A GOOD IDEA for all the above stated reasons and of course the problem of actually carrying cinder blocks back to your house in the first place, those things are heavy!

Heavy and dirty. They're not built for decorative purposes, so when you first get 'em they flake and track dirt and dust around. Before you start working with 'em, you'll want to hose 'em off outside (no hose? buckets of water, then. You want something with pressure to knock off loose bits - sponging doesn't work.) Painting them is a good way to seal them so they don't continue to leave concrete dust everywhere.

Don't know about making a platform bed. If you put the cinderblocks down flat (holes to the ground) that would help stability a lot, but defeat the purpose of having a platform bed. Once you start stacking blocks, all stability is gone.

No one has mentioned this yet but I was thinking there was a chance of a mildew problem depending on where you live. ex. cement slab floor, Florida, etc. I lived in a warehouse with a cement floor and even though my bed was on a raised wooden platform the mattress grew moldy.
Yuck Yuck Yuck.

Donna,
I've always wanted to try that using plastic milk crates. They are really lightweight and wont slip n' slide if you lash them together. Good luck chickie!

i guess that i was just imagining from your original post that it would be one layer of cinder blocks, not stacking them up. if so, i am not sure the sliping/falling concerns would be too much of an issue (the whole "activity" concern would be eliminated because the mattress would be moving on the wood or the wood on a single layer of bricks, not the bricks rocking). also, mdf is a type of thick plywood/particle board/ i'm not really sure what this stuff is, but it's thick and relativly cheap, so if you used that, you would probably need fewer cinder blocks (i would guess 9 - 3 along the top, bottom and middle) by covering them like you planned, you should reduce the dirt/dust problem, too.

i would guess that the concrete/mold issue has more to do with the slab being on the ground in a humid place and therefore absorbing the humidity, rather than the concret itself.

i think that the idea should work, and i would try a lowe's or the like for the bricks. if they don't have it, they can tell you where to go, and they should be pretty cheap. moving them will be a pain, but less that trying to work with power tools in an apartment! (not that i know you are in an apartment, but in my case, i would rather shlep the concret than rent a table saw.)

i'm a little sad, though, beacuse i have been thinking of putting my bed frame on blocks (one under each leg) to add storage space to my tiny little studio, but now it sounds like a bunch of people have had bad experiences. sigh... will have to think on it again.

I put my metal bedframe up on four cinderblocks when I lived in the dorms two years ago, and I didn't have any problems with them slipping off or anything, even with plenty of "activity" in my bed ;-) Lots of people in the dorms did the same thing, even going so far as to put the blocks on the narrow end. Maybe it was a disaster waiting to happen, though. Of course, I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, especially not on my advice, so be careful!

WOAH!!! i totally expected my post to be sent to the bottom of the board and have virtural tumbleweeds floating around it but you girlies shocked my socks off. many thankies to you all

To *tina_sparkle*: hmmm you have planted another idea in my head, i love the milk crate idea, but one thing where in sam's hill would i find some, i swear i haven seen a plastic milk crate since i was in fourth grade...do they even still make them?

Hotgluemama: Darling what do you mean when you say that when you start stacking them they lose stability? im confused, arent cinder blocks stacked when used to build things like houses and such? in the words of craig david, can you fill me in??

thankies

I had a friend who did the milk crate trick. I think it was two (maybe three) milk crates high. He had it like that for ages and I don't remember him having any problems.

I got plastic milk crates at Target just recently. They were cheap, like a dollar or two a piece. I know they sell them at office supply stores, home stores like Linens N Things, and college bookstores sometimes have them if you frequent those. (I think Target-type stores would be cheapest, though.) They might be a great idea, because they are made to stack pretty firmly on their own, and if you added something to tie them together, they should be even more stable. The only concern might be how heavy the plastic is, if it could support enough weight. I think the ones I have would work, but I'm not sure. (They do have metal ones I think, although I have no idea where you could get those.)

Good luck!
Jenny

you can also get milk crates for *free* behind grocery stores and the like.

yup :) my mom jacked a bunch of them once and they were what held her bed up for years. i believe she kept winter sweaters in them.

If you live in the St. Paul/ Minneapolis area I can give you a bunch for free....

Stacking: cinder blocks when stacked too high will move around as you walk around... I made a book case out of one... you have to be careful how you stagger them, or you have a huge collaspe..that might cause alot of damage ( especially on hardwood floors.. or on toes)... but if you are making a bed... you should be alright with one layer of blocks..

To valagator: I totally live in the st.paul/minneapolis area!!! Tell me where to get the crates and i will totally get back to you my email is Missdonna@prodigy.net

To tina: You and me both girl!!! hopefully me and valagator will get together and I will have some crates and she can have someting neat in return!!!

Toodles

I think what everyone means is that cinderblocks are meant to be cemented together--that's how they are used for buildings and such--and if they aren't cemented they aren't as stable. Without being secured to each other, they will eventually shift out of place and fall.

-caroslime

P.S. This does NOT mean I recommend cementing cinderblocks together in your home. Bad idea.

P.P.S. Also, be careful with cheap plastic crates. They are made to hold--at best--a bunch of books, not a bunch of people. They will bend. Get the good ones that are made for industrial use behind your local grocery store. Stealthily, of course.

tina sparkle, I have to say I LOVE your name! After seeing strictly ballroom a million times I started calling my friend tina sparkle.

Random post. Sorry!

Jen

So much feedback making me dizzy! (and yet warm and fuzzy on the inside).
Donna, I've decided to get off my ass and actually make a milk crate bed frame this coming weekend. Will report back with embarassing screw-ups or success.
Creatively borrow (steal) the crates from outside supermarkets.

"liberate" is the word you are looking for. :)


tell me how it goes, i really like the idea.

Um, I'm feeling kind of stupid, but would like to try the milk crate action. Are you guys putting the open side on the floor? That's seems like the only stable way, but someone mentioned storing sweaters in them. And how many would you need, the same area as the bed? Sorry, if this is a stupid question....

Jessica

In a piss-poor pathetic attempt to bump my post back to the top, i have a question for all of you,
What are the dimentions of your basic, cheepo cinder block?

sees ya

Blocks come in a bunch of different sizes, but usually they're in the neighborhood of 12" tall, 6-8" wide, 4-6" deep. There are some wider, some thinner, "half-size" and entirely different (I have shelves propped up with decorative cinder blocks with a flower-lookin' thing in the midde that are 13" square and 4" thick.) Technically, cinder block refers to what the block's made out of (cheap concrete thinned with ash.)