WWYD? A king bed won't fit up the stairs of our newly built home!!

[justlearning]

AARRGGHH!! We just had our new king-bed delivered and it won't fit up the stairs of our brand new home, which is where all of the bedrooms are (including the master bedroom). Actually, we have a California king bed which is even 4" narrower than a regular king bed but it still won't fit.

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that we now live in a large, expensive home built by a respected semi-custom home builder but can only have a queen-size bed in our gigantic master bedroom. I'm sure that problem would also greatly reduce our resale value.

The problem is that a part of the ceiling from upstairs hangs down too low over the staircase so the bed won't fit going up the stairs. I think it's possible that they could fix the problem but my guess is that it would be a huge job--one that would make our home a fiflthy construction zone and require that we not live here while they're doing the work. It's also possible that for structural support reasons, that they can't even fix the problem.

I've already left a message for and paged our customer care manager but haven't heard back yet. Right now our bed's sitting in the dining room. I'm furious right now at them and would appreciate any insight that you all can offer. (BTW, I've been offline for a few weeks now with the move and have missed these boards!) Would any of you happen to know if there's anywhere in the building codes that would address needing to build a new home in which a king-sized bed could fit into the master bedroom? (I doubt it would be worded that way but it may still address the issue.) Have any of you had this same problem with a newly built home? Are any of you a lawyer who could advise me of what I could do? (FWIW, our home was a spec home and is one of their many floorplans that they offer so we had no impact on the design of that area.) We had to sign some clause in our contract about going to arbitration rather than suing but I don't know how that would affect this whole mess.

Oh, in addition to not being able to get a king-sized bed upstairs, we also can't have a side-by-side refrigerator because of the way they designed the space--the refrigerator side door wouldn't open more than 90 degrees (thus can't get into those drawers). Again, I can't believe they'd design a home that costs as much as this one does in such a way that you can't have a SBS refrigerator. At least in that case, we were OK with ordering a bottom freezer instead. WE are NOT OK with having to sleep on a queen bed (especially considering my husband's 6'9"--thus, the need for the longer CA King bed).

Well, this is my first post ever in the bitching forum but with all of the problems we've been encountering with our new home, it may not be my last! :)

Thanks for letting me vent and for any feedback that you can provide.

Edited to add...in case anyone thinks there may be an alternative way to get the bed into the master bedroom, there's not. The widows are not large enough to accommodate a bed, nor are there any doors leading to a master bedroom balcony or something like that.

[mom2kandj]

What part of the bed won't fit? If it is the boxspring, our Cal King boxspring came in two pieces.

I thought to ask about french doors, but just read the bit at the bottom...

Sorry I couldn't come up with anything better...



Rose
mom 2 Katie 12/02/00
& Jack 04/16/02

[justlearning]

It's the mattress that's the problem. The box springs are bascially two twin sized box springs, so they won't be a problem at all. It's too high from the stairs to the part of the ceiling that hangs over the stairs to be able to fit the mattress through that area (it gets stuck about 5 steps up from the bottom of the stairway). If that part didn't hang over, it would be fine the rest of the way. The way the staircase is designed, there's no other way to put the mattress on a diagonal or something like that (it's a narrow staircase). The guys delivering the mattress did say that we could probably get it upstairs if we tried to bend the mattress but that they're not allowed to do that because it's not good for the mattress. We could go this route but it wouldn't work for someone wanting to get a king-sized mattress (4" wider than ours) up there because you wouldn't be able to bend the mattress enough to get it through that space. (It's even questionable if it would work with ours). Thus, my concern is for getting our own bed up there without bending it but more so for the resale value of our home because most people have a regular king-sized bed rather than a California king.

Yeah, I did insert that note on the bottom about not having french doors because I thought some might propose that solution. Even if we did have a balcony, it sure wouldn't be fun to get that way either, considering that our master bedroom is 3 floors up from ground level (we have a walk-out basement). Someone sure wasn't thinking when they designed that stairway or else someone made a mistake when they were building it!

Thanks for your quick response, though! :)

[Marisa6826]

I know for a fact that they do sell kings that fold in half. My tempurpedic does.

Maybe that's your solution?

And as far as the SBS fridge goes, you could technically pull it out from the wall a little to allow the doors to open all the way. It wouldn't be as sleek as a flushmount, but it would work.

-m

[crl]

I'm so sorry this has happened to you. I don't have any ideas as far as recourse against the builder or construction-type fixes. You could use two extra-long twin mattresses pushed together--this is the size of a king. My parents do this anyway because Dad is much heavier than Mom and it helps prevent the middle of the bed sag. Probably not a great solution, but I wanted to offer it just in case it is of some help.

[Momof3Labs]

I don't think that it is that uncommon to have weird things like this in new homes. My parents built a custom home several years ago, and they made the refrigerator space so small that only an apartment size fridge would fit! They got the builder to do something to fix it (I don't remember what), though.

I bought a model home several years ago, and I can't imagine what kind of (legal) recourse you would have with the builder. If you couldn't get *any* bed up the stairs, then you probably would, but you can get something up there, just not what you want (which I know doesn't help you).

Don't worry about resale, though - IMO a prospective buyer is unlikely to notice this flaw unless you point it out to them.

[papal]

Sorry this happened to you!
I don't have a solution but just wanted to say that sometimes these home-designers are total dimwits (or they are just slyly looking to save money). I sometimes wonder if houses would be better designed (especially kitchens) if they were designed by women more than men.. nothing against men but seems like women are more in the know about small details like this. Other examples:
1. Fixed faucets in bathrooms..umm... don't you think we need to give our babies a quick bath in the sink sometimes.. and don't you think it would be easier if the darn faucet was not poking them.
2. Stainless steel fridges are nice, but finding magnets that stick on them is a PITA and what about the fingerprints! eeks!

i could go on and on...but this would be intruding on your post too much. Just wanted to commiserate with you. Hope you find a solution... in any case, i would write the builder and complain about it.. maybe they will rectify the problem for future homes.

[westchicagomom]

We live in an old house w/ small doorways and are always worried about things not fitting through them. Sometimes I wish we lived in a newer home to not have those worries, but I guess that wouldn't necessarily solve the problem!

It sounds like just a completely stupid thing that was overlooked by your architect. Personally, I would complain up a storm and see what they said. Can you talk to other people in the same model as yours and see what they have done?

If the builders are offering you no solutions, I would probably just return the mattress (I am assuming that this is the problem, not the frame/headboard/etc.) and buy one of those air beds. I have slept on those and they are very comfortable. They are expensive, so maybe that is the part where your builders can step in - paying for the difference in price. I know it's a compromise, but if it were me, I would hate to have my new house torn apart.

We are about to buy a king size bed too - I better go measure the doorways!

Good Luck!

[workaholic]

When we moved into our new house 2 years ago, we had the exact same problem.

Our solution: fold the top mattress in half as much as possible. It's still a tight squeeze but it worked. We had a double pillow top and it still folded.

It did mar our walls a little but that was all repaired with a little puddy and new paint. Hopefully that won't happen to you. I does take at least 3 strong men to get it up.

Good luck! Try to relax, it takes a good 6 months to really feel settled...It'll be here before you know it.

Aimee Larsen
Momma to Cooper
Owner: Ella-Bags

[jesseandgrace]

I anticipated this in my 100 year old house, so when we go with a king we will use a tempurpedic mattress or one of those air types with partial foam. There are now many types that are really comfortable that will fold. You can check out the tempurpedic at brookstone if you live near one, or Relax the Back.