Trundle bed collapses on woman

[meremac]

This is clearly shoddy installation work, which leaves me with a gazillion questions. Like someone else said, what else did this contractor install? I would think that ANYTHING they installed would have to be checked now, particularly the wall-mounted TVs and the Murphy Beds. And how in the world did this pass inspections? What else did inspections miss? Hopefully this was just a one-off and it doesn't snowball. But man, I would be SUPER worried if I was in charge right now.

 

[mshanson3121]

That pic doesn't look like they anchored it to the wall at all, b/c I don't see the holes where it would have ripped away...I see 2 tiny screws sticking out one side...and that's it...

When you zoom in, there are 4 holes in the wall, but they're hard to see. DH's guess is that they completely missed the studs.

 

[sponica]

This is clearly shoddy installation work, which leaves me with a gazillion questions. Like someone else said, what else did this contractor install? I would think that ANYTHING they installed would have to be checked now, particularly the wall-mounted TVs and the Murphy Beds. And how in the world did this pass inspections? What else did inspections miss? Hopefully this was just a one-off and it doesn't snowball. But man, I would be SUPER worried if I was in charge right now.

How many people will now be packing their own stud finders in their luggage?

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

When you zoom in, there are 4 holes in the wall, but they're hard to see. DH's guess is that they completely missed the studs.

Is 4 small screws, even into the studs, enough for something like this that needs to stand the test of time? I get mounting a 50 pound tv into the studs. But mounting a several hundred pounds (with person) bed into the studs using 4 screws? I'm not a contractor but that doesn't seem to me like it would stand the test of time...

 

[Ensusieasm]

That pic doesn't look like they anchored it to the wall at all, b/c I don't see the holes where it would have ripped away...I see 2 tiny screws sticking out one side...and that's it...

Yup, that’s all I see. Just two sets of short screws and the small screw holes they left behind. If there were lag anchors there would be more than just pristine screw holes left in the wall. Larger chucks of wall would have ripped out. They attached this heavy bed to the wall as if it were a small framed picture.
Any handyman would know this would not work, and would end in a catastrophic failure!

 

[Ensusieasm]

.

 

[Orionreplay]

When you zoom in, there are 4 holes in the wall, but they're hard to see. DH's guess is that they completely missed the studs.

I totally agree as well. Missed studs. Yet when you miss a stud, you know it. The screws go in just a little too easily and never truly grab. An experienced contractor should have really known that feeling in a heartbeat.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Yup, that’s all I see. Just two sets of short screws and the small screw holes they left behind. If there were lag anchors there would be more than just pristine screw holes left in the wall. Larger chucks of wall would have ripped out. They attached this heavy bed to the wall as if it were a small framed picture.
Any handyman would know this would not work, and would end in a catastrophic failure!

Yeah, that's what I meant...I can't imagine the screws would hold, even with a stud, for how guests would use these beds...I mean, people will flop on them, roll around, toss luggage on them, etc. And 4 little screws, 2 on each side, even in studs, was supposed to withstand all that...and do it for years? They didn't put in supports/brackets/etc? I mean, my little boys broke a metal bed frame in my own home in 6 months with more support than that...

 

[NoTime42]

Is 4 small screws, even into the studs, enough for something like this that needs to stand the test of time? I get mounting a 50 pound tv into the studs. But mounting a several hundred pounds (with person) bed into the studs using 4 screws? I'm not a contractor but that doesn't seem to me like it would stand the test of time...

In the DVC thread, I mentioned that the finished pictures make it seem more like the brackets and screws were supposed to just be anti-tip screws (like most bookshelves now have).
The furniture should have been self-supporting but the open bed is now a cantilever without legs under it (like most Disney Murphy beds). I wonder if the furniture maker messed up?

 

[BrianL]

In the DVC thread, I mentioned that the finished pictures make it seem more like the brackets and screws were supposed to just be anti-tip screws (like most bookshelves now have).
The furniture should have been self-supporting but the open bed is now a cantilever without legs under it (like most Disney Murphy beds). I wonder if the furniture maker messed up?

Yeah, I would think the beds should have support legs underneath that fold down - then it wouldn't have to be as strongly attached to the wall. It seems weird that they do not.

 

[krayzie]

I wonder how many fast passes they gave the lady. Maybe even VIP access to ROTR!

 

[Orionreplay]

I wonder how many fast passes they gave the lady. Maybe even VIP access to ROTR!

And twice in a row!

 

[Boski]

In the DVC thread, I mentioned that the finished pictures make it seem more like the brackets and screws were supposed to just be anti-tip screws (like most bookshelves now have).
The furniture should have been self-supporting but the open bed is now a cantilever without legs under it (like most Disney Murphy beds). I wonder if the furniture maker messed up?

As someone who's in the furniture business this isn't shocking. It's all about the aesthetics. If you have legs (which makes total sense) you've got to find a way to either hide them or make them attractive. The designers probably just decided to fix that problem by not having to worry about it, hence no legs.

 

[lugnut33]

When I read the article in the original post in this thread there was a comment from another reader that said the same thing happened to them in the DVC rooms at the Poly about a year ago. Said they even wrote Disney about it asking for the issue to be taken care of.

 

[OhMickeyUrSoFine]

For the life of me, I can not believe this unit was merely screwed into the wall (which looks to be drywall). It has no feet! Screws of any sort is not going to cut it in drywall. A few screws, especially the size of the photo, will not hold a load of a 200lb adult in drywall. I don't want to argue with anyone regarding how half-a$$ed this work looks, it's just what I see. And what I see is frankly appalling. Disney should hold the ultimate responsibility in ensuring these were safe (and safe enough for kids to jump on them/as kids often do as well). As I know personally that Disney typically takes the lowest bid on projects, which is typical in construction in FL, I think the supervision by Disney's engineering management is severely lacking. Do I have insider knowledge about this? Yes, but it would take too long to write (and probably Disers wouldn't even believe because they'd be shocked). To me, this is grave endangerment of guests for sake of cost cutting corners.

 

[DisneyKrayzie2]

As an Architect I wonder if the Architect/structural engineers called out for blocking between the studs and the workers didn’t do it, or if it wasn’t detailed at all and left to them to figure it out.

 

[VAtink]

As a structural engineer, just wanted to note....A "few screws" could absolutely support the weight of this unit. A quick calc based on assumed dimensions and persons weight, each screw would be in about 100lbs in tension. These aren't basic household screws, most screws used in the building industry can support far more than that, many over 1000lbs. The issue here looks like either they were only installed into the drywall, or as a previous poster mentioned installed into the voids in the studs.

 

[jlwhitney]

As someone who's in the furniture business this isn't shocking. It's all about the aesthetics. If you have legs (which makes total sense) you've got to find a way to either hide them or make them attractive. The designers probably just decided to fix that problem by not having to worry about it, hence no legs.

the ones in poly don’t have feet. So that isn’t the issue. It simply comes down to poor install. I suspect most were fine seeing that it was opening night many of them would have been opened and probable sat on and only one 1 incident report.

Yes they all need inspected now.

 

[mshanson3121]

I suspect most were fine seeing that it was opening night many of them would have been opened and probable sat on and only one 1 incident report.

Most probably are fine. But, honestly what you mentioned here means nothing, it is in no way an assurance that they are okay. There's a big difference between merely opening the bed to look at it, sitting on it for a few minutes, and having full adult weight distributed on the bed for a long period of time. It's pretty safe to assume that not every room had 5 adults in it. Some/many of these beds will go unused for awhile.

Even if every single bed was improperly installed (which is very possible), it doesn't mean they're all going to collapse at the same time. Some might collapse right away (like this one), some might be fine for a few weeks, a few months etc... The timeline of failure is going to have a huge variance depending on many different factors.

 

[jlwhitney]

Most probably are fine. But, honestly what you mentioned here means nothing, it is in no way an assurance that they are okay. There's a big difference between merely opening the bed to look at it, sitting on it for a few minutes, and having full adult weight distributed on the bed for a long period of time. It's pretty safe to assume that not every room had 5 adults in it. Some/many of these beds will go unused for awhile.

Even if every single bed was improperly installed (which is very possible), it doesn't mean they're all going to collapse at the same time. Some might collapse right away (like this one), some might be fine for a few weeks, a few months etc... The timeline of failure is going to have a huge variance depending on many different factors.

I guess the bigger point is they have installed these kind of beds for years, its a not a new concept. The one that collapsed wouldn't have held much wait at all from the looks of the pics.