Bed frame w middle support: will it wreck all mattresses?
April 4, 2017 8:43 AM Subscribe
My wife and I have a West Elm wooden bed frame with a center support down the middle of the bed and wooden slats. It is in great shape: no sagging. We have an expensive mattress that, over the past two years, has developed a mountain in the middle and two valleys on the sides. This mattress is killing both of our backs. Did we just get a bum mattress, or, will this frame kill all mattresses in the same way?
Response by poster: Just mattress and frame. I'm pretty sure that is how it is intended. The frame looks like this.
posted by cgs at 8:50 AM on April 4, 2017
posted by cgs at 8:50 AM on April 4, 2017
Some mattresses are meant to go with a box spring or a purpose-built "foundation" from their manufacturer; I think it's especially important for the bigger sizes.
What kind of mattress is it - memory foam, innerspring, some combo?
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:53 AM on April 4, 2017 [3 favorites]
What kind of mattress is it - memory foam, innerspring, some combo?
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:53 AM on April 4, 2017 [3 favorites]
If you drag the mattress onto the floor, do the ridge and valleys remain? Is the mattress collapsing, or is the mattress merely telegraphing deformation of the frame?
posted by jon1270 at 8:54 AM on April 4, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by jon1270 at 8:54 AM on April 4, 2017 [4 favorites]
That happened with my expensive pillow top mattress almost immediately and has not happened in the four years since I switched to a Tempurpedic. I don't think it's the bed frame.
posted by something something at 9:00 AM on April 4, 2017
posted by something something at 9:00 AM on April 4, 2017
How old is your mattress? How often do you flip it? This may just be a sign that your mattress has reached the end of its life.
posted by KathrynT at 9:01 AM on April 4, 2017
posted by KathrynT at 9:01 AM on April 4, 2017
Yeah, is it a pillow top? That same thing happened to my mattress. I very much doubt it has anything to do with your frame.
posted by anderjen at 9:06 AM on April 4, 2017
posted by anderjen at 9:06 AM on April 4, 2017
Best answer: Is your mattress single-sided (pillow top or no-flip) or double-sided? Have you flipped it or rotated it?
This is a potential problem with all single-sided spring mattresses. I went far down the rabbit hole of researching this when we got our new mattress a few years ago, and it turns out that no-flip mattresses came about because new fire safety rules increased manufacturing costs. To keep prices the same, retailers began to sell mattresses that only had one usable side (cutting down manufacturing costs again) and therefore could not be flipped, but began to advertise the mattresses as not needing to be flipped as a benefit. Because most people don't bother flipping their mattresses anyway. Lumps and odd shapes develop because you are sleeping in the same spot without variation. Single-sided mattresses have a much shorter life than double-sided mattresses that are properly rotated.
If you buy a mattress that's double sided (there are expensive brands, but also many ikea mattresses fit the bill) and properly rotate it, it should be fine. Even if lumps begin to develop, you rotate it and use the other side for awhile.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:08 AM on April 4, 2017 [8 favorites]
This is a potential problem with all single-sided spring mattresses. I went far down the rabbit hole of researching this when we got our new mattress a few years ago, and it turns out that no-flip mattresses came about because new fire safety rules increased manufacturing costs. To keep prices the same, retailers began to sell mattresses that only had one usable side (cutting down manufacturing costs again) and therefore could not be flipped, but began to advertise the mattresses as not needing to be flipped as a benefit. Because most people don't bother flipping their mattresses anyway. Lumps and odd shapes develop because you are sleeping in the same spot without variation. Single-sided mattresses have a much shorter life than double-sided mattresses that are properly rotated.
If you buy a mattress that's double sided (there are expensive brands, but also many ikea mattresses fit the bill) and properly rotate it, it should be fine. Even if lumps begin to develop, you rotate it and use the other side for awhile.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:08 AM on April 4, 2017 [8 favorites]
If you don't want to have a box spring, you could try a bunkie board. It ought to help protect your mattress from the slats.
posted by velvet_n_purrs at 9:09 AM on April 4, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by velvet_n_purrs at 9:09 AM on April 4, 2017 [2 favorites]
I also have a West Elm frame with a center support and wooden slats, and a spring mattress; I've had the combination for 6+ years at this point. I have no mountain/valley problems with my mattress.
posted by Tomorrowful at 9:21 AM on April 4, 2017
posted by Tomorrowful at 9:21 AM on April 4, 2017
You need a bunkie board for that kind of frame.
posted by joan_holloway at 9:34 AM on April 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by joan_holloway at 9:34 AM on April 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm gonna second the bunkie board. My current bed frame has slats that are just a little bit too wide for how soft and flexible our mattress is. The bunkie board completely solved that problem without having to bulk all the way up to a box spring.
posted by tobascodagama at 9:34 AM on April 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by tobascodagama at 9:34 AM on April 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
Unless the slats are obviously softer and more flexible than the center support, it's the mattress. Almost every mattress, no matter how expensive, puts foam on top of the springs. The springs almost never wear out. The foam does. Sometimes (often) they use cheap poly foam in the pillow portion of the mattress. That foam wears out quickly, and most people either live with it or buy a new mattress.
Google "Mattress Surgery" for more on the materials used in mattresses and what some people do to address that issue.
posted by cnc at 9:59 AM on April 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
Google "Mattress Surgery" for more on the materials used in mattresses and what some people do to address that issue.
posted by cnc at 9:59 AM on April 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
On the bunkie board suggestion, the guy at our mattress store also suggested that you can go to Home Depot and ask them to cut you plywood to size for way cheaper, if cost is an issue.
posted by rainbowbrite at 10:22 AM on April 4, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by rainbowbrite at 10:22 AM on April 4, 2017 [5 favorites]
We had the same issue with an Ikea memory foam mattress (and it wasn't a cheap one). After exchanging it and having the problem recur with the new mattress after just a few months, we got rid of it and bought a good pocket-spring mattress instead. Springs have much better 'memory' than any memory foam.
It's nothing to do with the bed frame - those slats will provide perfectly good support for a mattress, and can't possibly be causing the mountain/valley issue, which is caused by having humans lying on it. Your mattress just isn't very good, expensive or not.
posted by pipeski at 10:27 AM on April 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
It's nothing to do with the bed frame - those slats will provide perfectly good support for a mattress, and can't possibly be causing the mountain/valley issue, which is caused by having humans lying on it. Your mattress just isn't very good, expensive or not.
posted by pipeski at 10:27 AM on April 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Our mattress is no-flip. We bought it at SLEEPYs, and we got a weird vibe off the whole sales experience.
Regarding the bunkie board: does it defeat the purpose of the slats? In that it removes the natural give of the wood slats? Or is that unimportant?
posted by cgs at 10:45 AM on April 4, 2017
Regarding the bunkie board: does it defeat the purpose of the slats? In that it removes the natural give of the wood slats? Or is that unimportant?
posted by cgs at 10:45 AM on April 4, 2017
Natural give in a bed frame (with traditional mattresses, at least) is a bad thing, not a good thing. You want the mattress to have as solid of a foundation as possible. If it's too hard with a solid foundation, the solution is a softer mattress (or maybe a topper), not a frame that has its own give.
posted by primethyme at 10:54 AM on April 4, 2017
posted by primethyme at 10:54 AM on April 4, 2017
Response by poster: Ah, I didn't know that. I thought the slats were meant to provide a little give (vs having it made out of solid wood)
posted by cgs at 11:01 AM on April 4, 2017
posted by cgs at 11:01 AM on April 4, 2017
FWIW, I had a nice Sealy flippable mattress, flipped it and turned it on a regular basis. Ten years later no problems. A relative bought a nice pillow top, no flip. Well, in two years it had developed nests where they slept. I gave them mine and they've had it two more years no problem. Sounds like you just have a crappy mattress.
posted by PJMoore at 11:15 AM on April 4, 2017
posted by PJMoore at 11:15 AM on April 4, 2017
Response by poster: Thanks for the advice, all! I feel good about this next mattress purchase :-)
posted by cgs at 12:01 PM on April 4, 2017
posted by cgs at 12:01 PM on April 4, 2017
Even if the slats shouldn't provide give, I think you want them to provide airflow, and it looks like a bunkie board wouldn't. I expect this matters more or less depending on climate, sleep metabolism, mattress design, etc. but condensation in your mattress can happen and is ew.
After a couple of tries, my other half built a slat base of 1x2's on their *edges*, which is quite rigid but provides a lot of airflow. We call it the Hesperus, as in "wreck of the", because it's so overbuilt. (Also cut it in half at the waist to be less of a nightmare to move.)
posted by clew at 12:24 PM on April 4, 2017
After a couple of tries, my other half built a slat base of 1x2's on their *edges*, which is quite rigid but provides a lot of airflow. We call it the Hesperus, as in "wreck of the", because it's so overbuilt. (Also cut it in half at the waist to be less of a nightmare to move.)
posted by clew at 12:24 PM on April 4, 2017
(On research, we were actually thinking of The Raft of the Medusa.) /apologeticpedant
posted by clew at 12:27 PM on April 4, 2017
posted by clew at 12:27 PM on April 4, 2017
IMO the frame is fine you just have a duff mattress. I'm extremely heavy (370lbs) and have had the same mattress on frame like that for about 10 years, I've occassionally rotated it (it has a pillowtop so can't be flipped).
Yes the slats are supposed to give, that's one of the points of them, that's why they're curved. Unless they're curving the wrong way when you're in the bed, the problem is not the frame (check anyway, if they're massively concave when one of you is in the bed then ok, its the frame) - the slats should flex but still be supportive.
If you put the mattress on the floor does it still have the problem?
posted by missmagenta at 5:07 AM on April 5, 2017
Yes the slats are supposed to give, that's one of the points of them, that's why they're curved. Unless they're curving the wrong way when you're in the bed, the problem is not the frame (check anyway, if they're massively concave when one of you is in the bed then ok, its the frame) - the slats should flex but still be supportive.
If you put the mattress on the floor does it still have the problem?
posted by missmagenta at 5:07 AM on April 5, 2017
Response by poster: Our slats don't curve in either direction: just flat.
Mattress on the floor: same problem (hills + valleys)
posted by cgs at 12:15 PM on April 6, 2017
Mattress on the floor: same problem (hills + valleys)
posted by cgs at 12:15 PM on April 6, 2017
Response by poster: An update:
- our bed frame did contribute to the problem: the gaps between the slats are greater than 4" (going 4.25 or 4.5")
- CB2 (the maker) still makes their frames this way and says their mattresses are firmer and can handle this slat : gap ratio
- Casper, Tuft + Needle and Lisa all say the gaps must be more narrows than this.
- due to the above, we bought a bunkie board before we put our new mattress on the bed.
Here are some pix of the process. You can see how our old mattress was smooshing through the wider gaps in our platform.
posted by cgs at 10:43 AM on April 24, 2017
- our bed frame did contribute to the problem: the gaps between the slats are greater than 4" (going 4.25 or 4.5")
- CB2 (the maker) still makes their frames this way and says their mattresses are firmer and can handle this slat : gap ratio
- Casper, Tuft + Needle and Lisa all say the gaps must be more narrows than this.
- due to the above, we bought a bunkie board before we put our new mattress on the bed.
Here are some pix of the process. You can see how our old mattress was smooshing through the wider gaps in our platform.
posted by cgs at 10:43 AM on April 24, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by easily confused at 8:46 AM on April 4, 2017 [2 favorites]