Make It Stop! (How to fix a squeaky bed)

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. - Psalm 121:3 (KJV)

photo credit: Thomas Hawk (creative commons)

Today I'm doing something a little different. Instead of my Friday's Fare recipe post, today's post is Fix-It Friday! 

I love to sleep. Before having my son and his unexplainable requirement of waking up at 6am or earlier, I would happily sleep in until 10am every day. I mean, I didn’t actually get to do that every day, but the good Lord knows that I would have if I could have.

So, instead of quantity sleep, I have to rely on quality sleep. I know that you moms out there are chuckling, “Quality sleep? What’s that?” Well, it’s not what we may actually acquire, but we all aim for. You know, sleep with as few interruptions as possible.

Enter the villain – squeaky box springs.  So now, every time my husband rolls over or I sneak to the restroom in the middle of the night, someone’s sleep is being disturbed. Our mattress set is still very comfortable and we really liked it other than that annoying squeak. The last thing we wanted to do is shell out a bunch of money on a new box spring or mattress set.

Guess what? Squeaky box springs CAN be fixed, and even better, it’s EASY! The most time consuming part was removing and putting back the mattress and keeping my bed skirt straight. (Safety pin your bed skirt down!) Here’s how you do it:

Items Needed:

1 can spray lubricant such as 3M all-purpose spray lubricant, or WD-40

Scissors or box cutter

Staple gun (optional)

Remove your bedding and mattress. Flip your box springs over and carefully cut around three sides of the thin bottom covering. Cut the fabric as close to the edge and as neatly as possible. On our mattress it was a very thin black fabric of some sort.

Please make sure that you cut the thin fabric on the bottom (underneath) of your box springs and NOT the prettier (thicker) top!

The bottom of my box springs. (sitting on the metal bed rail)

Leave the fabric attached along one side for easy replacement. Fold the fabric back to reveal the insides of your box springs.

Spray every joint where metal touches and the springs inside the box spring with the lubricant. There are about a million joints to spray – don’t miss any, including the ones along the very edges of the wooden frame.

(If you used WD-40 or a similar lubricant, the smell will dissipate in an hour or two. My husband didn’t even notice it when he came home from work!)

This step is optional, but makes your box springs pretty again. Fold the fabric back over the box spring, pull tight, and staple fabric back to the wooden framing using a staple gun.

Put your bed back together and viola – no more squeaks! You’ll be sleeping better tonight.

Linking up with these glorious blogs!