Poor design of this headboard allows a lot of flex back and forth. The board on the left is already cracked. What is a good and practical way to stiffen this setup?

What's afoot is a design flaw = a weak moment connection +
anything cracked needs to be replaced ... in this case with something twice its width.

I like the screw to wall idea above IF you can first put up a nailer screwed into studs or be lucky enough to find studs aligned with your bedposts.

How to reinforce a moment connection illustrated

An eye bolt screwed directly into a stud behind the headboard makes for a much more secure connection point.

Attaching it to the wall is a non-starter. Need to be able to move the bed for various reasons.

As to the inevitable "headboard banging" comments, that's not the issue , this time LOL. It's in a guest bedroom that only gets used once in a while.

Piece of angle iron screwed/bolted into the existing supports and then higher up on the headboard should do the trick. If you have room to pull the frame off the wall you can run the angle behind the supports, if you need to keep it close you can run the angle inside the supports, just have to add a few more screws into the sides of the supports due to the weak material.

StockHorseAg said:

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How would you know? You don't know what happens in that room when your in-laws are over...

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LOL! Well, our bedroom is directly above that one so I am fairly confident we would hear any headboard banging that was going on.

tgivaughn said:

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What's afoot is a design flaw = a weak moment connection +
anything cracked needs to be replaced ... in this case with something twice its width.

I like the screw to wall idea above IF you can first put up a nailer screwed into studs or be lucky enough to find studs aligned with your bedposts.

How to reinforce a moment connection illustrated

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Okay , I didn't really understand what was going on here with these diagrams.

Here's what I ended up doing. I cut down a 2x4 to 1 inch thick to match the existing vertical support boards. Then I screwed those on to stiffen the supports. Added the cross brace as per my wife's suggestion but it didn't really add much. The additional vertical boards made a night and day difference though, so it's much better now.

Congrats on the sex, OP.

TexAg1987 said:

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Steve Austin's headboard: a piece of furniture barely alive
Gentlemen we can rebuild it
We have the technology
We have the capability to make the worlds first bionic man a better headboard
Steve Austin will be that man
Better than it was before
Better, Stronger, Faster

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LOL, good stuff!

dudeabides said:

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Reminds me of this great thread: Headboard banging against the wall

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Since you brought it up, I will insert my comment from that thread over here:

Quote:

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Reminds me of the early days of our marriage. We lived in a one-bedroom apartment next door to some very noisy neighbors. It seemed like when both were home they were either fighting or f*&king and were very loud regardless of which activity was going on. He was a big ole dude named Frank and we could hear them in bed with her grunting and groaning like she was receiving a telephone pole. In the heat of passion she would yell out "Oh Frank, you're the king! The king!". One time we heard him yelling "put that knife down b*tch or I am going to take it and shove it up your a**!". They were visited by the popo several times while we were there.

Well, we had a baby on the way so we moved to a two-bedroom apartment in the same complex. One night, we had just shut off the TV and were about to go to bed. I heard some yelling out in the courtyard and we looked out just in time to see him slug her right in the middle of her face. She bounced down the stairs and got up pretty bloody. He ended up leaving in handcuffs and they split up shortly after that.

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