The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Bed wood?

I am considering using a composit wood (Timber Tech) in my bed. Has anyone done this before, and any comments on this idea?

Never heard of it being done but I think it's an idea that which's time has come. I'd be real interested in knowing how it works out ...

Rayman,
I addressed this same question back in August ( Plastic Bed Wood )

I did some research on this idea a few years back. Contacted all of the manufacturers and got data sheets, etc. The only problem with using plastic lumber is that it tends to sag if the space between supports is too large. Using 3/4" lumber (which would match the thickness of the original bedwood) you need supports on a maximum of 16" O.C. (12" O.C. recommended by some manufacturers). The space between the bed sill supports is much greater than this. If you don't have adequate supports, your bed boards will sag between the supports. If you could work out some system of additional support on the underside, I think plastic lumber would make a dandy bed.

The problem with those products is when water penetrates. If you can keep all edges properly sealed it should give a very hard and wearable surface. Could paint it black for the original look.

Tony,
Timber Tech is one of the new breed of plastic composites, used quite extensively for decks and outside furniture. There is little to no water absorbtion by these products. I think you might be thinking of the wood composites (e.g. "particle board") that will have the water absorbtion problem.

Another thing you should think about is that the decking size planks of most of the synthetic material is what we call "5 quarter" and is clost to 1" thick. You need access to a thickness planer as well as a table saw (or router) to machine the rabbets in the sides. Lastly the width sizes in the stuff I've seen is limited. It's worth thinking about because of the movement associated in using wood in an outside environment is a real pain.

John Atherton
Wichita Forest Woodworks

Oh I see, plastic. Does it come in black?

As John stated, most of the manufacturers only produce 5/4" decking. A few do produce dimensional lumber, but even those manufacturers appear to only have one or a couple of nominal 1" (3/4" actual) sizes. One manufacturer, Plastic Lumber Products , sells 1" x 6" but no other sizes.

In answer to Tony's question, yep, it comes in black. Here's a link showing colors and sizes of the dimensional lumber from Plastic Lumber, Colors & Sizes

Do a Google search on "plastic lumber" to get lots of manufacturers and distributors.

On last point, if you do use it for bedwood, make sure you have the stock, under-bed heat shield installed. Otherwise you will probably melt a nice hole through the bed.

For perspective...Last year I re-did my deck at the NJ Shore with composite decking, it looked (and still looks)terrific, but I put it on 16" centers and it did sag(even without anybody walking on it). Secondly, even though it's plastic...it is still quite pourous and it gets dirty and...it takes a power washer to really clean it. It is also quite heavy(much heavier than comparable sized lumber) and difficult to drill.
I would think that if you wanted to do something beautiful, different and long lasting consider Mahogany (actually less expensive than some composites).
Good luck