Why won't this bed's feet touch the floor?

Question

My wife and I just got a hand-me-down Queen-size bed after our old one broke. It was disassembled and brought to us by people unfamiliar with its previous assembled state.

You might be able to tell that neither the two wheels on the feet nearest the headboard nor the two feet in the middle are actually touching the ground. That's my problem.

Here's a close-up of the feet at the head and the connection between the frame and the headboard.

The metal plates on the headboard looks like they were made to accept several different kinds of frames — the ones with hooks, for example. But of all the holes in the metal plate, the only ones drilled through the headboard are the ones these bolts go through.

The three pieces of wood also came with the bed. None of them is thick enough for the currently-hovering feet to rest on. You can slide them under the hovering feet easily without lifting the frame. One of them has a screw sticking out of the end, so it doesn't seem like they were supporting the box springs.

Is there any chance that this bed was assembled properly at its original location? Did we do something wrong? Is it safe (for the bed) for us to sleep in it with only the headboard and the wheels at the foot of the bed holding up the frame? That doesn't seem like it's going to be enough support, and a similar problem caused the demise of our previous bed.

Answer 1

It is a possibility that when the previous owner set it up originally they set it up that way for medical problems, like excess stomach acid. I've been told by doctors to raise the head of my bed before, but I never did. He just told me to put wood underneath the feet or wheels at the head of the bed.

If any of the screw holes match up where all the feet rest then try that. If the wood is not drilled out behind the holes you choose then pre-drill them.

Answer 2

I had purchased a used bed before and had a similar issue. It turned out that the previous owner had used a different bed frame with the headboard. He kept the nicer one and sold the older more beat up frame with the headboard. The pieces of wood looks like they are slats to support he box springs, but with the cross piece already built into the frame, the slats are not necessary. I am guessing the slats are for a different frame that was originally used with this headboard.