A clear, frame-by-frame guide to taking apart any bed for moving day. Covers metal, wood, platform, IKEA cam-lock, and storage beds, plus the hardware-bagging trick movers use to make reassembly painless.
Bed frames look simple until moving day. Then the side rails snag in the doorway, the slats slide everywhere, and the screws you swore you'd keep track of vanish into a moving box. The good news: every common bed frame on the market - metal, wood, platform, IKEA cam-lock, storage beds with drawers - comes apart in roughly the same order with the same three tools. This guide walks you through the full sequence, then shows you what changes for each frame type so you don't end up Googling "cam lock won't release" at 11pm in your old bedroom.
Most beds are larger than the door opening they came through. Standard interior doors are 30-32 inches wide; a queen frame is 60 inches across with rails attached. Even if you can muscle a fully-assembled frame down a hallway, you'll trade scuffed walls, a bent rail, or a torn corner of mattress for the few minutes you saved.
Three practical reasons to take it apart:
If your frame is bolted metal, the same fit-through-the-door math applies and you will need to know how to take a metal bed frame apart.
You don't need a workshop. Lay these out before you start so you're not hunting for an Allen key with the bed half-apart:
This is the universal order. Frame-specific notes come in the next section - do those during the matching step.
Remove the duvet, sheets, mattress protector, and pillowcases. Wash anything that's been on the bed for more than a week before you pack it; sealed in plastic on a humid moving day, fabric grows mildew faster than you'd think. Once washed and dried, vacuum-seal or stuff into clean trash bags labeled "BEDDING."
Wrap the mattress in a mattress bag (under $15 at any moving supply store) or two layers of stretch wrap. A bare mattress picks up dirt, snags on door hinges, and absorbs water from a wet truck floor. Lean it against the wall outside the room you're working in - you need clear floor space around the frame.
If you have a box spring, it goes in the same bag style. Box springs are awkward but rigid; they don't disassemble. Mark which side is up so movers don't load it with the dust cover face-down.
Before you touch a single screw, take phone photos of:
These photos are your reassembly manual. The original instructions are almost certainly lost.
Most slats either lift straight out, roll up (if they're connected by fabric webbing), or unscrew at each end. If yours are screwed in, work from the foot of the bed toward the head - that's the order you'll reverse on the way back in. Stack them in the same order, wrap the bundle in painter's tape, and label it "SLATS - head end on top."
This is the big one. Most frames use one of three connection styles:
Keep one hand on the headboard while you release the second rail - frames lose all their lateral stability the moment both rails are off.
If your headboard bolts directly to the frame (rather than to the rails), this is its own step. Unscrew it now. Wrap it in a furniture blanket immediately - headboards are the most-damaged part of every move because people lean other things against them.
This is where moves go wrong. For each step above:
Do not put all the hardware in one bag. One bag per joint, taped to the part it belongs to. You'll save 45 minutes of sorting on the other end.
The seven steps above work for everything. These are the gotchas you hit on specific styles:
Usually the easiest disassembly. Most have hook-and-bracket rail connections - no tools beyond a wrench for the center support. The riser legs often unscrew completely; do that last so the frame stays stable while you remove the rails.
Use only Allen keys or socket wrenches; do not force flatheads into hex sockets, you'll strip them. If a bolt resists, spray a tiny amount of WD-40 and wait two minutes - wood swelling, not rust, is usually the culprit. Remove decorative finials before moving four-posters; they snap easily.
Platform beds combine the slat function and the support function into one big assembly, which means more bolts but the same logic. Look for a center support beam underneath - it almost always comes out as its own unit and is the heaviest single piece of the bed.
Cam locks are designed for one or two reassemblies, not a dozen. Each disassembly slightly enlarges the cam socket; if you've moved the same Malm three times, expect wobble on the next reassembly and budget for replacement dowels (~$8 from IKEA's spare-parts counter or by order). Turn cams a half-turn only - full rotations re-engage them. Keep the original instruction sheet if you have it; IKEA part numbers don't always survive sticker wear.
Remove all drawers first and pack them separately - they ride better full of clothing than empty. For ottoman/gas-lift beds, fully open the lift and prop it with a 2x4 before disconnecting the gas pistons; releasing a piston under load will slam the platform down hard enough to crack the frame. Photograph the piston connections especially carefully; left and right are not always interchangeable.
Not strictly a "frame" - but if you have one, treat it like an appliance. Unplug it, coil the cord, and tape the cord to the underside. Most bases split into a head and foot section connected by a long center bar; consult the manufacturer's site for the latching mechanism. Never lift an adjustable base by the surface - always by the structural frame underneath.
Reversing the process is straightforward if you bagged hardware correctly. Two things go wrong most often:
Once reassembled, sit on each corner of the bed and rock side-to-side. Anything that creaks or moves needs another quarter-turn. A correctly-tightened frame is silent under normal load.
Most full-service movers will disassemble and reassemble bed frames as part of their hourly rate, and they're fast at it - usually 10-15 minutes per bed for a two-person crew. If you're paying for a full-service move, let them; you're already paying for the time.
If you're moving yourself or paying labor-only movers (load and unload only, no disassembly), do it yourself the night before. It frees the movers to handle the heavy carry, and you control how the hardware gets packed. Twenty minutes of prep beats arriving at the new place and discovering the bag of bolts is in a box you can't find.
Moving is also the cheapest possible audit of your bed's condition. If, while taking it apart, you find:
it's worth pricing a replacement before you reassemble. A used frame will live another decade in a sturdy bed; a compromised frame usually develops a creak within months and needs replacement anyway. Better to handle that decision now, with the truck still empty, than after you've slept on a wobbly bed for six weeks.
Do it in this order with these tools and your bed survives the move ready to put you to sleep on night one.
Written by
Banner Mattress EditorialThe Banner Mattress editorial team publishes independent mattress reviews, buying guides, and sleep-health advice. Since 2018 we've tested 1,000+ mattresses and 3,000+ pillows, sheets, and bedding accessories in our review lab - every recommendation is hands-on, never sourced from vendor talking points. Affiliate links may earn us a commission, but never change what we recommend.
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