How To: Silence Your Obnoxiously Squeaky Bed with 4 Easy MacGyver Style Fixes

Any living creature will die if deprived of sleep for long enough. The longest documented occurrence of a person not fully sleeping and surviving is only 11 days. There is a rare disease where deep sleep is never achieved, affecting roughly 100 people worldwide. Patients usually only survive between 6 to 18 months after the onset of chronic insomnia, and only 3 to 9 months in a parasomnia state without any real REM sleep.

Even if you're not suffering from chronic insomnia, minor sleep deprivation affects your weight, mood, mental health, and even your genes. It's tough to avoid the occasional sleepless night due to stress, not feeling well, or noisy neighbors, but one thing that should never keep you up is a squeaky bed.

Annoying and potentially embarrassing.

Here are a few quick and simple fixes using stuff you probably have around the house so you can sleep in peace, and help your neighbors sleep, if that's the case.

Tighten the Joints

Sometimes, fixing a squeaky bed is as simple as tightening a few screws and bolts. Check out all the joints on your bed frame and take a wrench or screwdriver to any that are loose.

You can also try adding washers to the screws (if they don't already have them) to get a tighter fit. Plastic or rubber ones work particularly well.

Socks

Redditor agent_sora silenced his wooden IKEA bed frame with old socks. Just remove the mattress and line the middle bar of the frame with socks or other scrap material (e.g. old tee-shirt).

This keeps the mattress from making direct contact with the frame, which should take care of the sound. Plus, it gives you something to do with all those mismatched socks.

Wax

Just like sticky dresser drawers, wax is great for squeaky beds, too. Once you figure out which joint the sound is coming from, rub a candlestick or a bar of paraffin or beeswax all over the contact surfaces of the joint.

Depending on what type of bed frame you have, you may need to take the joint apart. You may need to apply several coats to get rid of the friction causing the sound.

Oil

For metal frames, oiling the joints or springs can get rid of squeaking. A few drops of vegetable oil or a spray of WD-40 will lubricate the joints and keep them from making noise.

Know of another tip that's not on the list? Let us know in the comments below.

• Follow WonderHowTo on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Flipboard