My experience was very similar to many others. Shipping was quick despite the 100# weight. Previous reviewers were right on the money warning me about getting the #H piece upside down, so I "dodged that bullet." I did get another of the bottom cross bars upside down, but that was quickly obvious as soon as I tried to mount the additional two feet on the bottom cross bars. Assembly took me about 2-1/2 hrs. I was mostly slowed by having to lock in the 44 cross "slats". I guess my fingers aren't as strong as others, as I had to use various methods to insert the locking tabs (to hold down the slats). I tried hammering, but broke several of the locking tabs. I then did a lot of them using wood (to protect the bed from marring) with vise grips. That was slow. Finally, the best method I found was to fully engage one side of the tab, then to push the opposite end (with a piece of wood), slightly bowing the tab before it snapped in. Since you end up having to put in 88 of these tabs, getting a fairly quick means of doing these tabs would have saved me some time. I finally figured out the latter method at the halfway point, after which the remaining tab locking went fairly quickly.
Overall, I am very happy with the product. Looks good, is quite sturdy, and seems to be well designed. My 7 yo daughter and 5 yo son love it!
Great experience given assembly caveats
My experience was very similar to many others. Shipping was quick despite the 100# weight. Previous reviewers were right on the money warning me about getting the #H piece upside down, so I "dodged that bullet." I did get another of the bottom cross bars upside down, but that was quickly obvious as soon as I tried to mount the additional two feet on the bottom cross bars. Assembly took me about 2-1/2 hrs. I was mostly slowed by having to lock in the 44 cross "slats". I guess my fingers aren't as strong as others, as I had to use various methods to insert the locking tabs (to hold down the slats). I tried hammering, but broke several of the locking tabs. I then did a lot of them using wood (to protect the bed from marring) with vise grips. That was slow. Finally, the best method I found was to fully engage one side of the tab, then to push the opposite end (with a piece of wood), slightly bowing the tab before it snapped in. Since you end up having to put in 88 of these tabs, getting a fairly quick means of doing these tabs would have saved me some time. I finally figured out the latter method at the halfway point, after which the remaining tab locking went fairly quickly. Overall, I am very happy with the product. Looks good, is quite sturdy, and seems to be well designed. My 7 yo daughter and 5 yo son love it!