For years I have scoffed at our noisy box spring, but when we started co-sleeping with our toddler, the noise was too much. Why did I delay replacing it? I didnt want to pay for a new box spring that might have the same problem and I wasnt sure if the Do it yourself options would be compatible or comfortable with my mattress. The lack of information available is astounding, but my final solution was dirt cheap ($30 for a queen) and easy as can be.
Here are your options if you are trying to replace your box spring:
- Buy a new box spring – This can be expensive, may still be squeaky, but has free prime shipping
- Put your mattress on the floor – Easy for bugs to get to you(which I have read is the reason we use frames) and it may cause a mold problem.
- Plywood – Cheaper than a new box spring, but with some concern about mold growth. At the queen size you have to buy 2 sheets and cut to fit.
- Slat of wood – Cheapest, but many different ways of going about it.
Plywood Box Spring Mattress
Our bed is queen size and that requires 2 sheets of plywood to cover the whole area. This concerned me because I didnt want the mattress to sag in certain areas. Our bed frame has center supports but I couldnt figure out an acceptable way to cut the plywood sheets that would be supported properly by the frame.
The other concern with plywood seems to be mold growth. Some people online seem to wonder where the moisture would come from? The most direct would be from the person sleeping in the bed! We lose an incredible amount of moisture through our skin and atleast half of that is directed straight into your mattress. The caveat here is that if you have a waterproof mattress cover you need not worry, because your moisture is directed right back at you. Hence the reason some people can’t stand mattress covers.
The mold growth solution for those of you without mattress covers would be to drill several holes into your sheet’s of plywood. I have no idea how many.
At this point I had discovered I would need to purchase 2 thick, quality sheets of plywood (~80-$100), cut them to fit, then drill several large holes in them. With a background in engineering, that just isnt solid enough for me, and with a background in healthcare, the offgassing of the glue used in the plywood is also a concern to me.
And then I found what I was looking for. . .
Slat’s
Essentially, what I wanted to duplicate was a platform bed. I decided to use 12″ x 2″ non pressure treated wood. The 16 foot version
was roughly $14 at our local Home Depot, and they did all the cuts for me at no charge. I had 6 cuts total, but since I came at a slow time and I was polite, they did not charge me for the 4 cuts they should have(an extra $2 if they had charged me).
When I got home that evening, I dropped the slats right into the frame, lubricated some parts of our metal frame, and tightened a few bolts that had come loose. Standing in the middle of the slats they deflect approximately 1/16″ at the headboard and the footboard portions of the bed where there is no middle support(I weigh ~180 lbs). These boards will almost never support that kind of weight while we sleep. There is no deflection at any point for the slats that contact the center support(the slats that will be supporting the majority of your weight).
I can finally escape from the bed in the morning without waking up the baby(and my back hurts less). It feels as though the bed is an extra inch or two wider because the edges of the bed are more firm and don’t allow you to roll off as easily
Bed Size |
Width |
Length |
# of Slats |
Slat Length |
Planks Needed |
Twin |
39” |
80” |
6 |
39” |
1 – 12”x2”x16’ |
Full |
54” |
75” |
6 |
54” |
2 – 12”x2”x16’ |
Queen |
60” |
80” |
6 |
60” |
2 – 12”x2”x16’ |
King |
76” |
80” |
6 |
76” |
3 – 12”x2”x16’ |
Cal King |
72” |
84” |
6 |
72” |
3 – 12”x2”x12’ |
Step by step
- Find your bed size in the chart above, then MEASURE YOUR OWN FRAME. It should be the size above, but its better to be safe.
- Go to a lumber supply yard and pick up the planks of wood you need. Be sure to spend some time choosing flat, straight boards.
- Have them cut at the store(no way am I fitting 16′ boards in a Corolla) or at your house if you have the tools (Inexpensive Circular Saw).
- Drop the boards into the frame, leaving 1″-3″ spaces between them(the spaces allow water to escape if you don’t use a mattress cover).
- Don’t throw away your old box spring until you’re sure you like the new platform! (Duct Tape might help silence any remaining noises)
- Enjoy your practically new bed (or maybe get a few more years out of an old mattress like ours).
These steps should work with most frames and mattress types and are easily adaptable. I just tried to put all the information about turning your box spring into a platform in one place. Please take a moment to share this page or comment about your personal experience.
38 thoughts on “Build your own Box Spring – Twin, Full, Queen, King Size”
Allen,
Thank you for your most excellent creative idea! I have just purchased a latex hybrid (latex on top high density foam on bottom) and am in the process of finding a foundation for it. These types of mattresses supposedly require a slotted wood type (not solid) and some of them are ridiculously expensive nor have I felt certain that any of them would work with my bed. I don’t really want a box spring look alike either.
Here is my situation:
My existing set up is a pine bed with a head board and foot board that has 13 inches of space between the floor and where the box spring sits. Another words you can easily crawl under the bed! The box springs is 8 inches deep and the mattress is 13 inches deep. I would say that aesthetically the existing set up is too high for the bed,… so I was thinking that I could go this route (ditching existing boxsprings) but would need for the whole set up to be two inches higher than what you’ve described in your project here. The new mattress is 12 inches high and another 4 inches would hit my headboard and footboard perfectly.
I have sideboards that contain the box springs. These have a lower “lip” on them that run the length of the bed.
These are about 4 1/2 inches deep to the lip, so 4 inches of foundation material I should hope would go unseen.
I do not have any center supports with my current setup,…only a few 1 inch or 3/4 inch boards that are placed in the upper third portion of the mattress.
I hope I’ve done a fairly good job of explaining without photos. My question to you: Since I need for the platform foundation to be 4 inches high for aesthetic reasons, plus I don’t have any center support under the mattress, could I use your plan only include a bunch of 2 by 4’s underneath the 2 inch planks that you’ve described in your project? This would give me the 4 full inch boost in height that I need as well as give me the support that I need since I don’t have the center support down below? This may seem like a dumb question but I am not sure if the 2×4’s would do the trick for support, so I thought I’d ask/ or maybe you might have some other ideas for me!
Thanks in advance!
Mona
Wow! Thank you Mona for being my first non-spam comment. It makes me feel good that this helped someone. Given what you have described, I think 2×4’s would do a perfect job and provide plenty of support. You could always put a 2×4 vertically from the foot of the bed to the head and screw it to your other 2×4’s to provide that extra support in the middle, but those 12×2 planks are pretty strong. I would assemble your 2×4 frame on a level surface that way when you flip it over, it will be level. Let me know if you have any other questions! ~Allen
Thank you so much Allen! I’m a 22 Y/O guy that can’t afford a box spring, and your solution to this works perfect! I am extremely grateful for your help, keep up the awesome sauce 😀
Awesome idea! We were ready to go and buy plywood (which was going to be really expensive) until I read your post. I didn’t know about the moisture thing and I love that the boards are thicker and will be more sturdy. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Allen. I found this site last night while looking for a solution to eliminate the boxspring. My search ended when I found your post. What a great way to solve this problem. I will be heading to Home Depot today to pick up planks for my bedroom and the guest room. Thanks again for your post.
Awesome, thanks for the information on how to make your own box spring! We purchased a bed/mattress for our guest bed, but didn’t want to pay the additional $150+ for the box spring. I’ll definitely be buying the wood today.
Thanks so much for putting this together! We are getting ready to move our two toddlers into “big girl beds” and thought leaving out the box springs would be easier for them to get in and out of. The 2x12s will work great! Thanks again!
Allen,
I’m considering this option for replacing my box spring…thanks for the idea and detailed information! I’m just wondering, since it’s been over a year since your post, how it has held up. Still a fan? Any changes or critiques that you have to offer would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Leah
We still have the slats and they are still in brand new shape with no sagging or squeaking at all!
Thank you for this. I’ve only had my bed for a year and I cringe every time I move on it. I was looking for an easy fix and this seems simple enough. I might wait until I move to try this one. Seems simple enough for a single girl to do especially since I moved the bed in mostly by myself! Question though, does it make the mattress the same height? I love high beds and I want to make mine even higher, but if I’m getting rid of my box spring it won’t be as high as I want it. Any suggestions on that?
It will make your bed a little lower to the ground, but you can buy plastic pieces to put under all of the legs of you bed that will raise it about six inches. They are hard to find, but we have found them at Target before.
Having replaced two queen box springs in less than six months for my girls and my son, I was in no position to purchase the same thing all over again for almost $300. I was looking for a way out of this predicament when I dabbled into your posting. Trust me it was the perfect solution. My son loves it and so do the girls. Thanks for sharing the idea
This worked for us! I replaced a sagging box spring with a makeshift platform, but the way I built it, it was very squeaky. I love your solution. I had to add a few more supports to our wood bed frame, but that was it. The 2″ boards give really good support and we’re now noise-free! Hurrah! I also love that the modular boards can be easily brought up and down stairs. Moving a queen size box spring is a struggle and a half.
Glad it worked for you!
I know this is an old post but thank you Allen, you saved us $200! It worked perfect.
Hi Allen;
Thank you for posting this, we used your recommendation of measuring the frame. One question, six planks that are 2 inches deep are quite heavy. How is your bed frame with all that weight?
Huma
It depends on the size of your bed, but we did this with a queen bed and I would say the total weight is no more than a regular box spring. Thanks for reading!
Allen,
Thank you for this suggestion, I’m heading to Home Depot today to try this out! We just got a new bed for my 13 yr old, and found out that we needed a box spring, part of the reason he liked the bed is how low it was, so this will keep it low profile, (and low cost!) which keeps us all happy.
Bruce
This is such a great idea, I moved into a townhome after I bought a beautiful new bedroom set. Unfortunately, my boxspring would not fit up the stairs, and I’ve had my mattress on the ground. I honestly cant believe I hadn’t thought of this before, but I will be making a trip to Home Depot today to get some boards cut.
Thanks.
Ian
I have a question. Does the wood u used not get mold? How is it different than plywood?
Thank you. I had a low profile box spring on my son’s bed that we converted to a full and it was way to high. Additionally the mattress would slide. I have been looking for bed slates but saw bad reviews and have to wait to ship. Thanks for the advice, will let you know how it turns out.
What a time saver. I was going to use 12-2×4’s with about 3″ between them, but I love the idea of planks. Will be building tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to put this on the net.
Thank you so much for this. This will work great with the bed frames we just bought for our two children. I didn’t want to spend all the extra money on a box springs for both of their beds, and this is the perfect solution for the slight sagging their beds have between the frames. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!
Awesome solution. My wife and I just bought a house and we were moving things in and discovered that our spare beds boxspring doesn’t fit up the stairwell, great solution to our problem thanks.
Hi Allen,
I have a king size mattress on the floor and a bed frame still in the box.
I’m confused do I need the 6 slats AND the 3 planks for a king size bed or just the 6 slats?
Thank you and thank you for posting this!
Ana
3 planks cut in half to make 6 slats.
Thank you…. I love my bed frame and thought of doing this, but struggled on how to do this.
I do have a question for you… Would I need to add more support to the planks because my bed is a king size.
If I do, what would you recommend? My husband and myself are bigger people and we have two young kids who love to
bounce on bed to get us up on weekends… I was thinking of using either a PVC piping (cheap) frame work or
actual plumbers pipe frame work (much more expensive).
King size should probably have some sort of support in the middle provided by the frame, but 2 x 12’s are incredibly strong. Anything made in the manner above will be stronger than store bought!
Allen, thanks so much for the “Duh” moment. I was headed down the plywood Road until I read your great solution. We currently find ourselves with two queen size fairly new memory foam/gel mattresses. You see recently I had a knee replacement and my son who is a wheelchair user needs the guest room downstairs for his bedroom. The only other choice was the pull out couch in our formal living room. Quite a sight as you step into our home. The 3 inch piece of old cheap foam on the pullout wasn’t going to work for six weeks so we decided to invest in a new memory foam/gel mattress. Now that I’m healed we thought we would just stack the new mattress on top of the old one upstairs in our bedroom. Well, that puts the bed at about 4 1/2 feet high. The solution, lose the box spring. Tomorrow I planned to head over to Lowe’s/Home Depot for the plywood fix when I came across your solution. So tomorrow we put in the slats… stack the to pricey foam mattresses and give that a shot for a couple of months. We agreed to keep the box spring in another guest bedroom just in case the solution isn’t comfortable. Will report back in a couple of months as to how comfortable about 3 feet of memory foam/gel mattresses really are. My wife wants to put a “pea” under her side to see if she’s a princess!
I LOVE the idea of the planks. I have a mattress pad, not sure if it’s waterproof. I am wondering if a bedskirt is used if there would be any issues with mold or anything else?
I was worried about mold as well. In the years that we owned the plank setup we did not have any problems with mold but we also have a waterproof mattress pad (kids . . . and sweat in mattresses is gross). In my research I came across the idea to drill holes into the planks to aid the transfer of moisture, but because you will have some space between the planks, I would not think it would be a problem. If moisture and mold are a problem in your home, I would check often to be sure there was no growth just to be sure. Thanks for visiting!!! I can’t believe I’ve made such an impact with this article.
I am so happy I found your article! We have a king bed and need to lower it asap. Only thing I’m worried about is lack of center support for a king mattress. We have a panel bed frame so only 4 thin wood pieces currently hold our box spring up. Do you thing it will be okay without additional center supports? If not, how should I make these?
HI there! Thank you so much for your article! We are going to try it tonight. My husband wanted me to ask if using treatwed 2X12’s would be okay. We have a neighbor who has some we can use, if so. Thanks again!
Thanks Allen, I am going to give this a try. I just bought a 3/4 wood frame at estate sale and there was no mattress or box spring. I’m trying to be cost effective with this project. Hopefully it will go as easily for me as it did you!! Thanks for sharing. Chris
Like many others, my conundrum of being able to fit a new boxspring up our very small stairway ended when I found this post! When we first moved, we had to break the wall to get the boxspring up our stairs, and now we are getting a new bed for our guest roo. and needed some way to get a new bed up without breaking anything. Your very helpful tutorial made the decision so easy! Not even worrying about a boxspring now. Going to home depot ASAP!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
I read this DIY project, then went out and bought the wood today! Just like you I got the cuts made for free at Home Depot, the slats fit perfectly (I measured the width on my queen bed at 61″ before I left) and it’s totally strong and secure. SO easy, and I love it! The only thing I didn’t love was when I got to the cash and it was $76 for the wood, yikes! Didn’t get pressure treated, this was the only lumber I saw that was 12″ x 2″ x 16′. But that’s ok, I expect this set-up to last me many years. Thank you!
This is such a good idea!!! Just went to home depot and did this myself. Cost 80 bucks and some change with taxes. I’m in Canada and the prices for a box spring are stupid prices, this saved me 100 bucks. Highly recommend this!
Thank you so much for your ideas! You saved me mucho money! I had a sofa mattress which sagged in the middle. I layered several folded towels and sheets, and it’s great! Saved part of a pine tree too (for slats).