Advice Needed - Sleeping Duck King Bed Frame

AmorPax on 26/04/2024 - 22:25

Hi Ozbargainers,

I always love this forum because the people here are nice and don't mind sharing. - thank you -

I have a question that I'd like to ask in case some people here can offer me a bit of advice.

I'm planning to buy a Sleeping Duck Mattress in King Size; however, I'm having a bit of an issue finding a suitable bed frame that complies with the 10-year Warranty requirements, which specify two supported beams with four legs.
Based on my research, unless I spend at least 2k for the bed frame from SD, I'm not sure where to find a suitable bed frame for this. I don't want to forfeit the warranty.

If you have had a similar experience, could you share where I can buy a suitable bed frame (two supported beams with four legs)? My budget is around $500-700 for the bed frame.

Side note: You may ask why I paid so much for a mattress, as SD is very expensive. I believe good and comfortable sleep is important, as we spend around 8 hours sleeping in bed :) I had SD Queen previously and I love it.

Thank you for your assistance.

• 

  Karl from ausbeds on 26/04/2024 - 23:33

  +9

  I have a mattress factory and am setting up my first bed frame production line due to the horrible quality of bed bases on the Australian market.

  I can offer some help.

  The Sleeping Ducks warranty, in my opinion, confirms how terrible most bed frames are. They won't honour a warranty unless the bed base is properly supported because putting your mattress on a bad foundation will wreck the mattress and your back. It can make the mattress "hammock" into the bed slats.

  So they have these rules for slat gaps, supporting beams and amount of legs.

  To me the answer is pretty simple, get an ensemble bed base, it's cheap, solid, a king ensemble meets all of those requirements.

  It will be more solid than any assembled bed frame as it's prefabricated in one piece, (or two pieces for a king)

  I sell a king ensemble base for 680, I'm not trying to say buy from me, I'm saying ring around and ask for around that price, If I can do that price others can too. Probably more independent places will have these prices. Harvey norman style places are you going to be upwards of $1000 last time I checked.

  Any bed frame in a box that you assemble (in your price range) will not meet that criteria. Any bed frame with any flexible slats at all should not be used at all ever. It's a major contributing factor to probably 70% of peoples mattress problems I encounter, and I literally do exactly this all day everyday for 13 years.

  This is probably a good time to educate people a bit deeper about the number one thing to avoid when buying a bed base, seems like the right spot for it.

  Every time a customer rings me and tells me that my mattress is dipping, I ask them to move the mattress over and send me a photo of the slats. It's always these flexible slats.

  I had a lady ring me the other day, and she was quite upset. she said, I bought your mattress 3 years ago, and now it's sagged and there is a firm spot going down the centre of the mattress. I have to sleep on the centre of the bed where it's comfy, and my husband has to sleep on the lounge".

  Immediately I knew what the problem was.

  Then she said "I'm really upset, your mattress is dipping, I can't sleep, why can't I buy any mattress that lasts more than 3 years."

  She was quite upset. I said to her, "I can answer our question about why the mattress is dipping on the sides, and the middle is firm if you like."

  She agreed, so I said

  "move the mattress of your base, now, pick a bed slat, move your hand 25% of the way along the slat from the outside of the bed frames side rail, and push down, now, is it flexing down?"

  she said

  "yes it's flexing down"

  Then I said

  "Move your hand 50% along the slat, to the middle of the mattress, and push down, is it flexing down?"

  She said,

  "no, it's not moving, there's no flex"

  I said

  "Can you see why the mattress is firm in the middle and soft where you lay now?"

  she agreed that it makes sense.

  I said, "If you put your mattress on the floor, you will have even support, and you and your husband can at least sleep properly tonight while you figure out how to get a proper foundation."

  I see the flexible bed slat problem play out in many ways, but it's always the same problem. The source of the issue is companies importing bed frames from overseas. They may be a large importer of bed frames, and some larger importers may order 40-foot containers of slats. The thinner the slat, the more you can get in a container. If you make them flexible you can fit waaaayyy more in a container. It's a profit thing. And honestly I see this problem getting worse over the years. 

  The best option is rigid pine slats and hardwood siderails, head and foot. Quokka do excellant bed frames, I'm going to use them for my inspiration for building my bed frames. In my opinion they have the best price to value ratio of any bed frames in Australia. I don't know these people but I gotta give credit where it's due. They cost alot more than $600, but if you want a long term, sturdy bed frame that you don't ever need to worry about again, that would be the one I would get.

  If you are reading this and thinking, I wonder if my bed frame has fleixble slats, then I think you know what you need to do. You only find out when it's too late, get ahead of this problem.

  You can put some 4mm hardwood ply along the middle third under hte hips, this is a good solution until a proper support can be found. We carry these in our delivery vehicles. We install them for free when we see these flexible slats, then we tell people that we have slowed down the damage that is going to occur, but hey do need to buy a new base with solid slats.

  That was a bit more info than I expected to write, but I think it's helpful info

  • 

    AustriaBargain on 27/04/2024 - 01:19

    +1

    You make and sell bed frames and mattresses? Why haven't you been hooking us up with good deals.

    • 

      Karl from ausbeds on 28/04/2024 - 15:10

      I think discounting has to make sense for both parties to work. Many companies can just order more stock, I have to make it which is extremely difficult and time consuming. So If I had an influx of orders at a sale price, I would be working so much harder and not making any more money. Potentially losing money.

      Maybe in the future if I have a bigger production facility and they are easier to make, but at the moment we already spend all of our time making.

  • 

    freefall101 on 27/04/2024 - 01:29

    Just curious, what's your opinion on box springs as an alternative?

    I think my 15 year old box spring probably isn't doing me any favours (it's way older than the mattress), but slats never seemed particularly better. I guess I should be looking for a good slatted bed or should I go another box spring?

    • 

      Karl from ausbeds on 28/04/2024 - 15:12

      +1

      I'm not a fan of springs in a base. I like to say a dead flat concrete slab would make the best bed base. Emulate that as best you can in your bed base and you'll decrease the chance of trouble. You want a bed base that doesn't move. That's why rigid, thick pine slats work so well.

  • 

    X2Jason on 27/04/2024 - 03:25

    Thanks for all that info!
    I sort of agree with AustriaBargain - I have no idea what profit margins are like for you, but if possible, you should do some sort of a temporary deal for OzBargainers, you'd have them flying off the shelves given how popular bed discussions are on here!

    • 

      Karl from ausbeds on 28/04/2024 - 15:25

      I replied to someone already about this, but basically the reason is "I have to make them which is extremely difficult and time consuming. So If I had an influx of orders at a sale price, I would be working so much harder and not making any more money. Potentially losing money."

      • 

        X2Jason on 02/05/2024 - 23:34

        Ahh gotcha. Apologies for my ignorance, not too familiar with how it would all work. Might hit you guys up one day soon though!

  • 

    EightImmortals on 27/04/2024 - 07:26

    Thanks for all that, just wondering why your bed bases are only available with a mattress purchase? What if I have a good mattress already and just want a better base?

    • 

      Karl from ausbeds on 28/04/2024 - 15:23

      +1

      To be hones, it's not worth it.

      My business is making mattresses that are adapted to the bodyweight of the person. We spend all of our time doing exactly that. We do the sales, the manufacturing, the logistics. It's actually quite a difficult thing for us to accomplish on a day by day basis.

      We used to make the bed bases buyable by themselves but it takes us far too long to deliver out just a base by itself and it was slowing down our mattress deliveries too much. It's horrible trying to tell a mattress customer that there delivery will be late because someone an hour away wants a bed base.

      I wouldn't sell bases at all if I could, as I love to solve the mattress problem for people. I stopped selling bed bases completely at one point but there was backlash.

      I will say this though, I think that glued screwed factory produced bed bases are better than assembled bed frames, however they still aren't perfect. The glue can come undone sometimes and they can start to squeak.

      This is why I'll build my own high quality ones soon.

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  bbinc on 27/04/2024 - 08:29

  I mostly agree with Karl from ausbeds and like OP found most offerings didn’t cut it. But check out Sleep Republic bases. More slats than most, and solid timber not flexible. Only one centre support though, and well in your price range. Key for me was a completely flat top, no lip around the sides, as the SD mattress is very heavy to lift and tuck the sheets under. The SD base has a lip.
  I have an SD Queen on a Sleep Republic base, solid as a rock, no flex, and very easy to assemble.
  https://sleeprepublic.com.au/product/accessories/bed-base/?a…

  • 

    Karl from ausbeds on 28/04/2024 - 11:31

    "Key for me was a completely flat top, no lip around the sides"

    Yes, this is key, why that put that lip on bed bases I'll never know. It makes making the bed twice as hard, madness.

    The sleep republic base doesn't look bad. It's basically an ensemble bed base that you assemble yourself. There's only one difference between what I'm talking about and what you are talking about.

    The base i"m talking about has been finished in a factory, that is, you don't screw it together yourself, it's been permanently fixed together using wood glue and large fixings.

    The base you are talking about is held together with screws and no glue.

    In my experience, glueing and screwing wood together is a much stronger method of joinery, than just screwing wood together.

    Here is a list of things I believe a perfectly functioning base should have

    • no lip
    • legs set in from the so you don't kick them
    • rounded corners so you don't bash your shins on the corner
    • pine slats, and multiple pine center rails, they are string but light, you don't to use hardwood as you don't want the base too heavy
    • hardwood foot, head and sides - tasmanian oak
    • all corners joined using mortice and tenon joins with glue.
    • slats permanently fixed and glued

    The more that is permanent the better. These corners always give out on bases and that's where the squeak comes from.

    This is how I will build a bed base. I bought all the machinery and wood, but there's been too much going on to actually take the next steps, ah well, hopefully later this year.

    To me structurally, the bed base should be as close to a concrete slab as possible.

    • 

      bbinc on 28/04/2024 - 20:13

      Again, agree. The Sleep Republic has been fine for three+ years now. The corners use a solid dovetail system with large push down tapered dowels (plastic - but large) holding the dovetail together. No movement, no squeaks.

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  soggyandugly on 27/04/2024 - 21:14

  I know its not within budget at all, but I have a king size Koala paddington bedbase, which has solid flat pieces of "slatting" and 4 additional centre support legs. It is extremely sturdy. They do occasionally have sales - we got ours for around $1.1k, and there are two other bed base styles from Koala which are a little cheaper

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  omguleh on 27/04/2024 - 23:11

  We got one with pine slats and 2 additional beams for our king mattress. This was around 9 years ago and paid $1000 during a sale.