My wife has severe allergies and has found that sleeping on an incline helps matters. We have a queen mattress on an Ikea MALM bedframe, and I'm trying to think of a simple way to test this out easily and cheaply.
I'm thinking of cutting pieces of wood to fit and stacking them flush against the headboard, each layer a little shorter length-wise, to create a basic ramp. I'm told that a 15-degree tilt would be enough. A queen mattress is 79.5 x 76".
My questions are:
- Does this seem reasonable, e.g., any gotchas here? Or is there a simpler (and cheaper) way?
- If the answer to the above is 'yes', what type of wood should I go for? Regular lumber? Plywood? And how thick?
- Based on a given thickness, how many pieces would I need, and how long should each be, to make the 15-degree tilt?
Best Answer
"My wife has found that sleeping on an incline helps. I'm trying to test this." To confirm her findings, or that you can sleep on it? --Two cinder-blocks and one brick makes for 20 inches to test it. Confirm this and then proceed. Personally, I'd build it like a deck:
The structure using 2x6's or larger, joist hangers, blocking, and on 16" centers. With 3/4" cabinet grade plywood as the 'deck' and sides, finished with poly. Keep in mind that unless you own a table saw or (even) a very nice circular saw, the angled 'faces' will be hard to cleanly cut. Try to keep the factory edge at the top, where it will show the most. Ripping the angles on the joists isn't going to be fun without one, either.
Kind of like this (not exactly built the way I mentioned), but the pitch makes it angled, it doesn't 'account' for it, like in the picture: