I’m filing this under the “Techie” category, simply because I’m so proud of myself for making it work! 🙂

Use toothpicks to fill stripped wood screw holes!

Four of the boys sleep on bunkbeds, and the eldest has his own futon. One of the bunkbeds has a metal frame, and the other is wood. I’ve noticed in recent weeks that the wood bed was getting wobbly, so I decided to investigate this weekend. I tried tightening the bolts (2 on each corner, so 8 total), and 6 out of the 8 were stripped!!

That was really scary, and I said an earnest thank-you prayer that the bed didn’t fall apart with someone (or two someones!) on it. The bolts are about 4″ long, so they would have had to wiggle a lot to work their way out, but still … something had to be done immediately.

I Googled “how to fix stripped wood screw” and was directed to a page with some great DIY tips. I decided to try the toothpick trick, and it worked!

Reinsert the bolt and torque it down; the toothpicks work as shims to fill in the stripped hole.

In essence, you insert 2-3 toothpicks into the stripped hole, then reinsert the bolt and torque it down till it’s good and snug. I did go ahead and disassemble the bunkbed and made it into two twin beds, because the boys were getting tired of the bunkbed, anyway, and I figured there would be less pressure on the bolts this way.

P.S. Super huge thanks to my almost-13yo who helped me separate the top & bottom bunks! It was certainly not a one-person job, and with my gimp knee, I was doing good just to get up off the floor from working on the bolts! 🙂

Ta-da! Nice & snug bolt!