Do Wall Beds Attach To The Wall?
So, you’re interested in a wall bed or Murphy bed? Congratulations! You’re about to enter a world of space-saving and home utilization that you may have only dreamt of before today. The reality is that the biggest waste of space in your home is your bed–especially your guest beds. But once the idea of recapturing that space with a Murphy bed goes from an idea to actually ordering a bed, there are dozens of questions to be answered. Today, let’s tackle one of the most important questions to understand: “Do murphy beds have to attach to the wall?”
Before diving into the answer, let’s see if we can explore the root concern behind this question. Typically, when our customers ask this question they have three main concerns, and odds are, if you’re reading this, you probably fall into one of these buckets as well:
- I rent/lease my home, so i can’t damage the walls
- I want to take our murphy bed with us if we move, is it permanent?
- I just want to understand what I’m getting into before I purchase.
Do you fall into one of those categories? If you don’t, feel free to give Wilding Wallbeds a call at (866) 877-7803 and we can discuss your specific situation. If you do, read on as we address each individual situation.
1: I Rent or Lease My Home, So I Can’t Damage The Walls
Every landlord is different, and some have very strict rules regarding what you can and cannot modify in your home. So, make sure you talk it over with them before purchasing to make sure it’s okay. With that said, at Wilding Wallbeds, we pride ourselves on a simple wall mounting system that requires minimal damage to your walls and no damage to your floors.
In years past, Murphy beds were much more intrusive, sometimes even requiring you to mount them into your floor. So take it easy on your landlord if they are worried about Murphy beds; they’ve probably seen severe scarring left from old-fashioned Murphy beds. Nowadays, thanks to Wilding Wallbeds’ simple wall-mount system, you can mount your Murphy bed securely to your wall while inflicting roughly the same damage as hanging a few pictures or a bookshelf. In fact, a Wilding Wallbed only requires you to screw a handful of small wood screws into three studs in your wall.
While this system is much less harmful to your walls, still make sure that you talk things over with your landlord before getting too far into the purchasing process. Look, we get it, you’re excited to regain all the floor space that has been relegated to collecting cobwebs and moth balls underneath your bed. But no matter how intrusive the mounting, if you don’t own the walls you will be mounting your Murphy bed to, you need to check with your landlord first.
To recap, while they must be mounted to a wall, Wilding Wallbeds require very minimal intrusion or damage to your walls, and they won’t cause any damage to your floors. So, if your landlord has issues with Murphy beds, make sure they understand that a Wilding Wallbed is actually quite kind to the wall it mounts to.
2: I Want To Take Our Murphy Bed WIth Us If We Move, Is It Permanent?
This is a fantastic question. What’s the benefit of the lifetime warranty offered on the spring and piston lifting mechanisms at Wilding Wallbeds if you can’t keep your bed for your lifetime? The reality is that there is no home in the world that wouldn’t benefit in some way from a Murphy bed. So, if you love your Murphy bed in your current home, you’re going to love it in your new home as well.
In the long history of Murphy beds, there was a time period where they had to be mounted to the floor in such a way that they could not be moved. They essentially became a part of the house, and they were not going to accompany you on your move unless you were taking your whole house with you. Today, things are much more flexible. Due to the standard wall-mount system employed by most wall bed manufacturers (including Wilding Wallbeds), you no longer need to mount wall beds to the floor at all. Instead, you just use a few wood screws to attach it to the studs in your wall. And the beauty of a wood screw is that it is as easy to take out as it is to put in. So, if you are moving to a new home, or you just want to move your Murphy bed to a new room in your home, you can simply remove the wood screws that hold your bed in place and commence with the move.
So , in short, no Wilding Wallbed is a permanent fixture. And, while we can’t speak for every Murphy bed manufacturer out there, most Murphy beds nowadays are built to be removed at a later date fairly easily.
3: I Just Want To Understand What I’m Getting Into Before Making A Purchase.
If you’re just looking to understand what you’re getting yourself into, let’s talk a little more about the need to mount your Murphy bed and how you mount your Murphy bed.
Why Do I Need To Mount My Murphy Bed To The Wall?
A Murphy bed is a very unique piece of furniture. While it may look fairly unassuming, disguised as a wardrobe, set of doors, set of drawers, etc. it functions completely differently from any piece of furniture you’ve ever owned. No other piece of furniture needs to store the kind of energy required to pick an entire mattress off of the floor like a Murphy bed. And, in addition to the ability to pick up a mattress, the mechanism needs the strength to hold itself closed once the bed is up and stored (nobody wants their murphy bed drooping open uninvited).
Because of the energy that a Murphy bed stores in its lifting mechanisms, it requires the weight of the mattress plus your strength to pull it open. While this may feel very light and easy as you are operating it, the reality is that there is a lot of hidden energy and force behind this simple maneuver. Much of this force is pulling directly away from the wall, and being that most Murphy beds are designed to be quite thin (most only 16” deep at Wilding Wallbeds) yet quite tall, if you were to pull the bed open without it being mounted, rather than pulling the mattress down, you’d pull the whole wall bed cabinet off of the wall.
Where Does A Wilding Wallbed Mount?
At Wilding Wallbeds, we believe in making the mounting hardware as inconspicuous as possible. After all, if your bed is going to be “disguised” as a normal piece of furniture, let’s make it look like a normal piece of furniture! So, most of our beds use three basic L-brackets that are very small, on top of the cabinet. These L-brackets simply screw into the wall bed cabinet from the top and then into the studs of your wall.
Do I Have To Hit The Studs When Mounting My Wall Bed?
YES. This is absolutely imperative! Remember all of that stored energy we talked about a few paragraphs ago? Drywall alone is not strong enough to withstand that stored energy as the bed is being opened. Therefore, if you don’t hit the studs, your bed WILL fall down when you try to open it.This is the most important part of the entire mounting process. You must hit the studs!
How Do You Mount A Wilding Wallbed?
The best answer here is to watch the installation instruction video. However, once you have your wall bed assembled and standing up against the wall, using a stud finder, locate 3 studs in the wall behind the bed. In the space above your bed, mark where those studs are on the wall. Next, you’ll use the L-brackets and mounting screws provided in the hardware packet to attach the L-brackets to the top of the bed. Next you mount the screws into the studs in the walls. Be sure that you hit three studs. If you don’t feel comfortable with this process, give us a call to see if you’re in our installation zones. If not, any general contractor or handyman would be more than happy to help you ensure that your bed is mounted and is sturdy.
Hopefully in this post we’ve covered all of the information that you had any questions about. Now, if you are renting your home, be sure to discuss things with your landlord before going ahead with your purchase. If they need a little convincing, feel free to have them give us a call so we can explain how wall-friendly our wall beds really are. Also, if you are planning on moving in the near future, don’t let that stop you from going forward with your purchase! Your Wilding Wallbed will last a lifetime, so the sooner you get it, the longer you’ll be able to enjoy it. And you can always rest easy knowing that you can always take your wall bed with you if you end up moving.
If you have any other questions about how or why your Murphy bed needs to be mounted to the wall, feel free to give us a call at (866) 487-3357 and we’ll be happy to go over everything with you on the phone.
Happy Space-Saving!