Building the upper bed assembly

Our son in law Justin is a woodworker and construction guy, so he has all the necessary skills and tools to do this job. It's actually not a difficult job, and I could have done the whole thing myself. But what would take me a few hours, would probably take him thirty minutes!

And, most of his tools are in his van or at his current jobsite. So we managed to corner him on a Sunday to get this done!

Justin, putting the pieces together!

While he did all the cutting and assembly, I got the space ready for installation. There had been years of moisture problems up there, and so I wiped everything down with bleach before doing the installation.

Ready to install the frame.

The frame set in place. I used expanding foam insulation both as added support and to eliminate any chance of it moving.

Having that one window removed made the job soooo much easier. The frame and all of the pieces easily slid in and out. After the expanding foam had set up and cured, I slid the plywood pieces in and got them screwed to the frame.

Notice the two pieces of oak. They are not attached. The top part of the rear section of the frame actually slides back (towards where I was standing to take this photo) to make the bed longer. 

The finished product with the rear frame extended.

Between the plywood and the mattress we will install a ventilated underlay. They do make them specifically for this purpose. Max had one right from the factory, and I'm surprised it isn't standard equipment, but they are not nearly as popular in North America. It allows the space under the mattress to breath and removes any chance of condensation or mold.

The purposely made ones cost about $240 CAD ($175 USD) which is really expensive for what you get. Instead, I am using interlocking drainage tiles. For less than half the cost.

Drainage Tiles - USA

Drainage Tiles - Canada

Then, we have to cut our brand new mattress. The width is perfect, but it is a little too long, and because of the sliding frame we have to cut it in two sections, remove the small piece that makes it too long, and sew it back up again. Then the smaller piece will go up on the larger piece when the rear frame is slid back into place.

So doing the mattress will be the next job, although we won't start using it for a while yet. We still need to redo the windows and put curtains up there.

Speaking of which, all the parts for rebuilding the windows have been ordered and are on the way here from California. Not cheap... $340 CAD ($249 USD) for a bunch of strips of rubber. But, far cheaper than buying new windows!