Roberts suggestion will is an excellent idea, especially if you won’t be frequently setting up your OP Loftbed bed and taking it back apart again every few months (as many college students do). Even if you do set-up and tear-down frequently this can still be a good idea, you’ll just need to have a proper wrench on hand to facilitate tightening or loosening the bolts.

Thanks for sharing, Robert!

If you have build an OP Loftbed loft bed or bunk bed and have assembly or fabrication tips you would like us to share on our web site, send them in an email to info@oploftbed.com.

Lumber

A twin extra long size loft bed requires ten 2″x6″x8′ pine boards, 13 2″x4″x8′ pine boards, and one piece of 3/4″x8′ plywood. We use pine here in North Carolina because it’s abundant in our area. In other areas you may use different types of wood. Generally speaking, whatever type of wood is used to build homes in your neck of the woods should be fine for building your OP Loftbed. If you are unsure, just ask the professionals at your local lumber yard or home improvement center.

Anyway, the two-by-fours were $2.47 each; the two-by-sixes were $4.26 each,; and the plywood was $22.38. This comes to a grand total of $102.46.

Fasteners

All of our tall and medium height loft beds require the same hardware:  sixty 3/8-16 x 3-3/4″ hex head cap screws (bolts), two 3/8-16 x 2″ hex head cap screws (bolts); sixty-two 3/8-16 wing nuts; one-hundred-twenty-four 3/8″ flat washers; sixty-two 3/8″ lock washers; fourty-two #10 x 3-1/2″ flat head phillips wood screws; and twenty-four #10 x 2″ flat head phillips wood screws. They didn’t have the 3-3/34″ bolts, so I priced 3-1/2″ bolts which are a little shorter, but can still work OK. They didn’t have the wing nuts in stock, so I priced regular hex-head nuts. Some of the items are sold in bags or boxes of specific quantities.

The total amount on needed fasteners came to $81.11. But this included some items that were less than desirable like shorter bolts, different nuts, and box quantities that contained more than I would need.

If you purchased a complete hardware kit directly from us, the cost of the hardware kit would be only $34.99 plus $10.00 for shipping, for a total of $44.99. That’s a savings of $36.12! Hardware kits are shipped US Postal Service Priority Mail (2-3 day deliver) the day after payment is received–so by the time you have all your wood cut, drilled, and sanded, your hardward kit has usually arrived and you’re ready to assemble your bed.

Total

If I bought everything today at Lowe’s, I would have spent a grand total of $183.57. If I bought the lumber today at Lowes and ordered a hardware kit from OP Loftbed, the total would have been only $147.45. That’s not bad at all for a loft bed that is as sturdy and solid as an OP Loftbed. So, the grand total for a twin extra long size OP Loftbed loft bed comes to less than $150! What a deal!