Essential Bunk Bed

Screw the 41" end rails across pairs of legs with 2-1/2" screws — two rungs per bunk level. Building the standard-height version, leave 8" of clearance under the bottom rung.

Read the plan's warning twice: an assembled bunk does not fit through a doorway. If you're building in the garage, these are among the screws you'll remove later — so drive them clean and USE NO GLUE.

Screw the 75" side rails to the end panels, driving at a slight angle into the legs — angled screws bite across more grain and hold better than straight ones in this joint. Keep the same clearances as the end panels.

Screw the 18" rungs between two ladder sides — rungs spaced 14" apart on the standard height, which also gets a third rung. Ease every rung edge; this gets climbed barefoot at 6 a.m.

Attach the seventh 2x4 to the back of the ladder on the side that won't meet a bed leg. The ladder ends up with doubled structure on both sides — deliberate over-building for the hardest-used part of the bed.

Screw the ladder to the bed from the inside. Then measure the remaining opening between ladder and end leg — around 55", but measure YOURS — cut the last 2x6 to fit, and screw it to both.

Screw the 2x2 cleats flush to the bottom edges of the side rails — at least six screws per side, both bunks. Every pound of kid and mattress rides these cleats; this is not the place to economize on screws.

If the bed was built outside the bedroom: remove the end-panel screws, carry the flat panels and rails in, and rebuild in place. This is the payoff of the no-glue rule.

Lay ten slats per bunk across the cleats and screw down with the 1-5/8" screws, two per end — the doubled screws stiffen the whole platform.

Then the non-negotiable: fit a guardrail to the top bunk's open sides before anyone sleeps up there. The upper side rails give you solid wood to bolt one to.