What Is the Best Wood for Bed Slats? (With Pictures)

If you are building your own mattress, it’s essentail not to overlook about mattress slats. Mattress slats assistance the mattress over so that the bed is relaxed and suited for your backbone.

Choosing the right wooden for bed slats is crucial. If the wood is too delicate, it will warp in excess of time, creating it adjust its form. Certain wooden sorts are more powerful than other folks, and the value tag varies. Due to the fact of these information, the job is harder than you may possibly suppose.

Underneath, we will learn about the 8 most popular wooden kinds for mattress slats. These wooden sorts are usually utilised as mattress slats. It’s up to you to determine which wooden suits your spending budget and preferences greatest.

The 8 Best Woods for Bed Slats

1. Douglas Fir

Wood Type: Softwood
Best For: Budget beds with reliable framing

Douglas Fir is considered one of the most common wooden sorts for mattress slats. It has a vertical grain and large resistance to warping. This helps make Douglas Fir wood extremely durable and robust, which clarifies why it is used as mattress slats regularly.

Better yet, Douglas Fir is rather inexpensive also. You should not have any trouble affording or finding Douglas Fir wood at a lumber garden near you.

Pros
  • Resistant to warping
  • Durable
  • Affordable
Cons
  • Not overly durable

2. Oak

What Is the Best Wood for Bed Slats? (With Pictures)
Image Credit: Gorlov-KV, Shutterstock
Wood Type: Hardwood
Best For: Heavy-duty beds

Oak is a single of the most popular supplies to make bed slats from. Equally red or white Oak works properly. Oak is extremely durable, stiff, and sturdy to standard wear and tear. Bed slats created from Oak will final a lengthy time.

The only downside to Oak is that it is a bit more expensive than the other woods on this listing, especially Douglas Fir. At least you ought to be in a position to purchase Oak rather effortlessly at any carpentry or hardware store.

Pros
  • Heavy duty
  • Produces long lasting beds
  • Easy to find at stores
Cons
  • Expensive

3. Hickory

Wood Type: Hardwood
Best For: Bearing heavy weight

Hickory is considerably like Oak. It is quite durable and benefits in weighty-responsibility mattress slats. It is lightweight at the very same time, creating it easier to take care of and cut. This helps make it a preferred for sturdy queen- and king-sized beds exclusively.

The draw back of Hickory wood is that it is much more pricey than most other wooden sorts, and it isn’t as straightforward to locate as Oak.

Pros
  • Heavy duty
  • Produces long lasting beds
  • Relatively lightweight
Cons
  • Expensive
  • Not as easy to find as Oak

4. Yellow Pine

Wood Type: Softwood
Best For: Bearing heavy weight

Yellow Pine is normally the mattress slat material of option for king-sized beds. It has a firm grain, enabling it to bear a great deal of fat. Even however it is a softwood, it is a lot much more equivalent to hardwoods in terms of grain and sturdiness.

The only trouble with purchasing Yellow Pine is that it’s vital to select Yellow Pine, as opposed to an additional pine assortment. Other pine types are not heading to be ideal like the Yellow Pine. This can make it challenging to discover the appropriate content relying on the place you reside.

Pros
  • Very strong
  • Great for bearing heavy loads
Cons
  • Cannot be replaced with other pine varieties
  • Can be difficult to find at stores

5. Spruce

Wood Type: Softwood
Best For: Budget beds

Spruce is a softwood that is straightforward to use and manipulate. It is typically decided on simply because of its affordability and availability, but Spruce is not the most reliable material. It is critical that Spruce slats are very thick since they can dent and crack a lot more simply.

Pros
  • Affordable
  • Easy to find
  • Easy to work with
Cons
  • Not very strong
  • Easily dented

6. Birch

Wood Type: Hardwood
Best For: Light but strong beds

Birch is a hugely common material to make mattress slats from. It is light-weight but nonetheless sturdy, that means it is known for bearing a whole lot of weight in excess of several many years. It can be high-priced, but it might be really worth it.

If you decide to select Birch, it’s essential that you decide on hardwood Birch slats because they can also come in various kinds.

Pros
  • Strong
  • Lightweight
  • Can carry a heavy load
Cons
  • Expensive
  • Must select hardwood birch

7. Ash

Wood Type: Hardwood
Best For: Easy to work with

Ash is regarded as a extremely adaptable wooden. It is a preferred between carpenters due to the fact it is straightforward to work with. Its attractive shade also makes it aesthetically pleasing. For bed slat functions, it is not the most well-known would, but it certainly isn’t a negative decision.

It can be a little bit high-priced for bed slats, specifically thinking about that it is not as resilient as Oak and some of the other equally priced woods.

Pros
  • Versatile
  • Easy to use
  • Attractive
Cons
  • Expensive

8. Beech

Wood Type: Hardwood
Best For: Luxury, high-end beds

The very last wood kind on our record is Beech. Beech is frequently selected for luxury mattress slats since they are highly resilient, powerful, and dense. In comparison to other hardwoods, Beech is the most reliable.

Part of the cause why Beech is only used for large-finish beds is that they adapt to weight better. Specifically if you choose slightly curved slats, Beech beds can last a prolonged time, but they are extremely high-priced.

Pros
  • Produces the best beds
  • Adapts to weight
Cons
  • Highly expensive

How Many Bed Slats Does My Bed Need?

The amount of bed slats you want is dependent entirely on your mattress and its dimension. The least difficult way to determine how several slats you require is dependent on common bed dimensions.

Bed Classification Standard Size Number of Bed Slats
King 76 x 80 in 20 slats
Queen 60 x 80 in 20 slats
Twin 75 inches long, variety of widths 16–18 slats

You will very likely want to think about other variables as nicely, this kind of as no matter whether you want reliable or sprung slats, if you want extra centre help, and how a lot of men and women will be sleeping in the bed at once.

Related Read through: fifteen Cost-free Do-it-yourself Bed Frame Strategies [All Dimensions]

Conclusion

Anytime you are choosing the greatest wood for your bed slats, you want the wood to be durable and really worth the money. At the same time, you want it to fit into your spending budget so that you are not paying a fortune just on the bed slats.

If you are on a budget, we advocate making use of Douglas Fir, but Oak is the much better option if you have a small little bit of money to commit. If you really don't want either of these wooden sorts, the six other wood choices shown in this article are fantastic as nicely.


Featured Picture Credit: Alexandr Serebrynnikov, Shutterstock

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