# How much strength does a corner brace add?



## jonasrsschnur

I have a day bed frame put together with L brackets at the corners. It says the max capacity is 400 lbs, since it may be used to sit on by more than two people I'd like to up the max weight and was thinking the easiest way would be to add some corner braces and I was wondering how much more weight (approximately) it would hold with a brace in each corner. Or would that not work (I'm pretty inexperienced with furniture making)? and if not any other ways to simply bulk it up would be much appreciated.
Thanks for the help.


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## jerryminer

Can you post a pic or a sketch? It's not clear (at least to me) what you are contemplating


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## jonasrsschnur

Sorry my first post wasn't very clear. Here's a quick sketch. The sketch the left is how the corners are currently assembled the one on the right shows how I want to brace it. Thanks in advance for the help


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## Nubsnstubs

If you're concerned about the metal brackets, toss them. Make yourself some corner strips and with glue and screws, you shouldn't have any worries…..Instead of putting a long square glue block into the length of the corner, I set up my saw at 45°, and rip the pieces I need. To clean up the sharp edges, I put the 90° against the fence, set the blade, and remove about 1/16 off each edge. My finished piece looks like a diamond gem stone. Good glue and screws and you're done…........ Jerry (in Tucson0


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## 000

This should do it.


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## Dark_Lightning

Bracing the corners increases their strength, but you can still get bending or sagging in the middle. You need to put supports in the middle to avoid that.


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## Finn

Your brace in your sketch or a solid gusset would be very strong.


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## Kazooman

It is still not clear just how this frame is assembled and how the load is placed on it. That would have a huge impact on how to design any braces to reinforce the joints. You need to think through how the load is bearing on the joints. The actual load restriction may not have anything to do with the strength of the corners. You can certainly beef them up, but it might not have any impact on the acceptable load.

It is very important to know how the frame is supported from below and how the load bearing on the top is distributed. I think that Jim's suggestion of a solid gusset in the corners might be the best option to give them strength and stiffness, but if the dimensions of the pieces of wood in the frame are insufficient to support a load over 400 pounds, beefing up the corners will not help out at all.

Why do you think the corners are the weak link?


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