Home » What Goes Behind a Headboard to Stop Wall Damage?

What Goes Behind a Headboard to Stop Wall Damage?

Update On

That banging noise you hear every time you move in the bed is loud and distracting. It keeps you up at night, disturbs your reading, and bothers your neighbors. The source is the headboard pounding on the wall, causing a loud sound. Today, you can silence a noisy headboard by placing something between it and the wall.

What to put behind a headboard to keep from hitting a wall? Nine nifty ideas are the softest items to place between a headboard and wall. Sometimes, a loose headboard can tighten with help. Also, is a wider gap between a headboard and wall a viable solution?

9 Ideas You Can Put Behind a Headboard to Keep It From Hitting the Wall

Ideas You Can Put Behind a Headboard to Keep It From Hitting the Wall

Furniture Pads

Furniture pads are rubber leg covers protecting hardwood floors from scratches and dents. They are peel-and-stick items with non-slip, soundproof, and anti-vibration features. Attached to the bed, felt pad protectors protect the wall and headboard from touching.

Furniture pads are circular, square, and rectangular in all sizes and colors. Offered as a pack, it is also in a roll-up version, a cylinder version with velcro, and a screw-in metal version.

Rubber Bumpers

This item prevents doors and doorknobs from hitting the wall when opened. On headboards, it stops them from banging against the wall. While hard stoppers fit doors, a bed needs a door stopper with a soft cushion. These clear cushion domes are rubber bumpers.

Rubber bumpers are a pack of peel-and-stick items attached to the back of the headboard. The headboard can touch the wall with the soft door stoppers acting as a noise-free barrier.

Threaded Bed Frames

A metal frame, a soft cushion, adhesive, and anti-shake benefits make up threaded bed frames. The inexpensive items adjust to the gap between the headboard and the wall. The steady device evens uneven areas and keeps headboards quiet during movement. Installation for the frames is in a separate paragraph.

Unusual Choices

If you prefer to use items out of the ordinary, these possessions cushion the wall when a headboard bangs on it. Consider these items a motivator when going DIY on your headboard. Cut vertically or horizontally and glue the piece to the headboard.

  • Mattress toppers
  • Weatherstrip insulators
  • Foam pipe
  • Swimming pool noodle
  • Tennis balls
  • Yoga mats

Bonus Item: Floor Protectors

If the problem with the headboard is the legs, wrap the legs with floor protectors. The rubber covers wrap around furniture legs and reduce noise during movement. The same covers fit headboard legs to move freely without making noise. However, this is a secondary item to pair with something else on the list.

Should My Headboard Touch the Wall?

Should My Headboard Touch the Wall

While a headboard should be near the wall, there are two reasons a headboard should not touch the wall.

  1. Cleaning becomes easier when you can reach dust and debris behind the headboard.
  2. It leaves the breathing room for bulky headboards.

No matter how sturdy, a headboard can still make bumping noises when it touches the wall. Leaving a gap between the headboard and the wall prevents wall damage and reduces noise. Besides, a wall protector like the nine above acts like a barrier between the wall and the headboard.

Feng Shui disagrees; it encourages beds to be near the wall unless the wall the bed is close to has plumbing inside.

A wall-mounted headboard is an exception. The headboard mounts to the wall, so it is immovable. No frame connects the headboard to the bed frame because it is unnecessary. Instead, the bed frame moves close to the headboard for visual appearance.

How Can I Make My Headboard More Secure and Prevent It From Moving?

How Can I Make My Headboard More Secure and Prevent It From Moving

Sometimes, the reason for a headboard bumping against the wall is the headboard is loose. The solution is to tighten the headboard. Attached to the headboard are the screws, nuts, and bolts. Near the bottom of the bed frame, push the bed forward to access it.

The source of the problem is the area where there’s a gap between the headboard and bed frame. That area needs tightening. Using pliers or a wrench, tighten the screws and bolts. An alternative is to unscrew the screws and bolts. Before screwing them back in the hole, apply a thread-locking adhesive.

If the headboard is tight and making noise, drill extra holes in the headboard and the bed frame. Be sure to have screws and bolts lubricated with adhesive to fit in the newly created hole.

Freestanding headboards bump because they stand apart from the bed frame. When you attach a freestanding headboard to a bed frame, it will reduce wall bumping and hitting. To do this, buy modification plates. The plates ensure freestanding headboards and mismatched headboards fit securely on the bedframe.

How Do You Install a Headboard Stopper?

As mentioned earlier, threaded bed frames have metal construction and a cushion end. While they might be peel and stick, they do more than stick and forget. The adjustable ones fit any bed gap. Therefore, practice how to twist the headboard stoppers open and closed before installation.

  1. Move the bed to the desired position.
  2. Get the stopper and peel off the adhesive backing on the round, flat side. 
  3. Stick the sticky side to the back of the headboard. It levels better when two act as bookends, or three act as bookends with the third in the center.
  4. Twist the headboard stopper until it touches the wall securely, and release your hand. If the headboard stopper stops before it touches the wall, bring the bed closer to the wall.

Conclusion

You should be able to sit, sleep, or read without a noisy headboard interrupting your time. With many solutions to reduce or cut noise from your headboard, tolerating sound is no longer an option. So, what to put behind the headboard to keep from hitting a wall? What works for you depends on installation, finances, and maintenance.

What solutions are enticing enough for you to try at home? Did you get a peaceful result? Our readers want to hear from you in the comment box, so share your experience. We hope the solutions channel your creativity in discovering the best stopper.

Leave a Comment