Well, I kinda knew what I was getting into with this bed. There are so many variations of this bed on so many different sites that it was pretty obvious this was going to be a China product that would have the normal Chinese furniture product issues.
First off, OVERALL, this is exactly what is advertised. Everything is sturdy now that its assembled and despite some of the issues Ill list, the little one this was purchased for absolutely LOVES it. Its been up for about 3 days and I think that slide has been used 100x times already!
The issues are minor in the scope of things, but they are worth noting so that you know what youre getting into when buying:
1) The instructions are *overall* sufficient, but there are a few times where some clarifications would help keep you from having to disassemble/reassemble when you found that you put a piece on with a hole on the wrong side, or you grab the wrong numbered piece because the numbers are SO small in the instructions. I had to remove and flip two of the main supports AFTER the bed was halfway assembled because I had them turned the opposite way when I put them on, and it wasnt obvious which way they needed attached when I first put it together.
2) Mislabeled parts. Some of the parts are EXTREMELY similar, and maybe have one hole different between the two, and are large enough that they can be confused easily. Add in that I had a few pieces that were misnumbered, and the frustration increases exponentially. The main ones that were switched were two of the 4 main supports. One should have been on the side with the ladder, but had the number that was on the other side, and the hole for the side with the ladder wasnt there after 85% of the build was complete. At that point I was NOT taking out two completely opposite supports and swapping them. Thankfully that particular hole was not load bearing, it was just for one of the decorative pieces, so it didnt really affect anything.
3) 2 holes didnt line up properly. This didnt end up being too big of an issue, I was able to loosen some bolts and force them to line up, but it seems like they were about 1/16th to 3/16th of an inch off, which made those two bolts challenging
4) 2 holes were completely missing. These were completely decorative pieces that had enough support from other bolts so this didnt bother me at all
5) One of the connecting threads for one of the crossmembers apparently had burrs in it or wasnt completely threaded, as when I was putting one of the main support bolts in, it got stuck, and with the quality of the bolts that come with it, I stripped the head of the bolt by trying to use the allen wrench to get it to go further in. Thankfully, that particular bolt is covered by the steps that came with this, but how in the world I was able to get the bolt stuck and then strip it with using a manual allen wrench is beyond me.
6) The process to put the mattress rods in was probably the most annoying aspect of the whole build. Of course, I was building this by myself, so maybe with a second person it wouldnt have been so bad, but keeping everything lined up with 9 rods that dont connect to anything on either side was a bit much.
So, if you read through that whole thing, it may sound like it was a nightmare, it wasnt. But, there is a chance that one of those holes that they forget to drill might be a major support bolt, or one of those stripped out bolts that wont go all the way in might be where a kid needs to sit down to go down the slide, or the misnumbered parts may cause bigger issues.... Thankfully for me I was able to get through all of the issues without causing issues with the sturdiness, so Im happy with the purchase.
Overall, a good purchase, but could be improved.
Well, I kinda knew what I was getting into with this bed. There are so many variations of this bed on so many different sites that it was pretty obvious this was going to be a China product that would have the normal Chinese furniture product issues. First off, OVERALL, this is exactly what is advertised. Everything is sturdy now that its assembled and despite some of the issues Ill list, the little one this was purchased for absolutely LOVES it. Its been up for about 3 days and I think that slide has been used 100x times already! The issues are minor in the scope of things, but they are worth noting so that you know what youre getting into when buying: 1) The instructions are *overall* sufficient, but there are a few times where some clarifications would help keep you from having to disassemble/reassemble when you found that you put a piece on with a hole on the wrong side, or you grab the wrong numbered piece because the numbers are SO small in the instructions. I had to remove and flip two of the main supports AFTER the bed was halfway assembled because I had them turned the opposite way when I put them on, and it wasnt obvious which way they needed attached when I first put it together. 2) Mislabeled parts. Some of the parts are EXTREMELY similar, and maybe have one hole different between the two, and are large enough that they can be confused easily. Add in that I had a few pieces that were misnumbered, and the frustration increases exponentially. The main ones that were switched were two of the 4 main supports. One should have been on the side with the ladder, but had the number that was on the other side, and the hole for the side with the ladder wasnt there after 85% of the build was complete. At that point I was NOT taking out two completely opposite supports and swapping them. Thankfully that particular hole was not load bearing, it was just for one of the decorative pieces, so it didnt really affect anything. 3) 2 holes didnt line up properly. This didnt end up being too big of an issue, I was able to loosen some bolts and force them to line up, but it seems like they were about 1/16th to 3/16th of an inch off, which made those two bolts challenging 4) 2 holes were completely missing. These were completely decorative pieces that had enough support from other bolts so this didnt bother me at all 5) One of the connecting threads for one of the crossmembers apparently had burrs in it or wasnt completely threaded, as when I was putting one of the main support bolts in, it got stuck, and with the quality of the bolts that come with it, I stripped the head of the bolt by trying to use the allen wrench to get it to go further in. Thankfully, that particular bolt is covered by the steps that came with this, but how in the world I was able to get the bolt stuck and then strip it with using a manual allen wrench is beyond me. 6) The process to put the mattress rods in was probably the most annoying aspect of the whole build. Of course, I was building this by myself, so maybe with a second person it wouldnt have been so bad, but keeping everything lined up with 9 rods that dont connect to anything on either side was a bit much. So, if you read through that whole thing, it may sound like it was a nightmare, it wasnt. But, there is a chance that one of those holes that they forget to drill might be a major support bolt, or one of those stripped out bolts that wont go all the way in might be where a kid needs to sit down to go down the slide, or the misnumbered parts may cause bigger issues.... Thankfully for me I was able to get through all of the issues without causing issues with the sturdiness, so Im happy with the purchase.