Use and Maintenance Tips

Being suspended in mid-air can quickly become precarious if you are not using and maintaining your loft bed properly! It is especially important for children’s beds to be monitored and checked out regularly. Make sure that everyone who uses your loft bed, particularly kids, know and follow some basic rules. No jumping, excessive climbing, pushing, bouncing, overloading…in other words, no fun!!! No, seriously…it is important that everyone who uses a loft bed be very careful as serious injury can occur with misuse. Here are some basic (and fairly common sense) rules to follow when using a loft bed:

 

·        No jumping, wrestling or horseplay on the loft bed. It is easy to get knocked off balance, knocked off, or fall, especially if kids are roughhousing on a loft bed.

·        Ask before you stick a visiting child in a loft bed. Make sure you have told his/her parents that there is a loft bed in your home, and ask their permission for the child to sleep there. There could be some legal ramifications if a visiting child were to get hurt while on your property—particularly if it could be shown later that you were neglectful. Don’t let it be that case that an injury would have been prevented if you had only asked for parental approval, because they would have said “no” in the first place! You may not know if a child sleepwalks, has nightmares or many other issues that could make a loft bed very dangerous for them.

·        Do not overload the weight capacity of the loft bed! Make sure that you follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on weight restrictions so that the bed does not fail.

·        Regularly check the loft bed to make sure that the screws and bolts that hold it together are tight and secure. Check that the ladder is securely attached, as well. After use, these pieces can become loosened inadvertently and should be maintained and tightened.

·        Follow all manufacturer’s warnings and maintenance recommendations. They made the bed and likely know more about it than you do! Be sure to follow instructions very, very carefully! Especially if you are putting the bed together yourself.

 

Loft beds can be a great source of fun for children and can be very stylish and practical for adults, too. Use common sense and care when putting them together and deciding how to use your loft bed and you will be pleased with the space and functionality it can provide you for years to come!