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| queen-size foam packed for shipping |
Buying Foam
This is the third post in a series of six that chronicle the building of our home-made polyurethane and latex foam bed (see links right). Earlier posts detailed why we decided to build a foam bed (#1) and post #2 is about the types of foam that were available for this project. Future posts will show how the bed's foundation, support and comfort layers were put together.
This post is about where we bought our polyurethane and latex foam pieces and how they were shipped to us.
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| 60"x80"x3" polyurethane foam slab |
How Foam Was Shipped
We purchased queen-size (60"x80") pieces of polyurethane and latex foam in 2", 3" and 4" thick "slabs" from two different online retailers. Both retailers packed the pieces for shipping by folding them in half longways, rolling them up as you would a sleeping bag, then compressing this "bedroll" further by removing some of the air under vacuum. The compressed roll is then wrapped tightly in plastic wrap (see the blue roll in the photo above which opens into the slab pictured right when the wraps are removed). The compressed rolls were boxed (see photo above) and shipped via UPS.
Where We Purchased Foam
We had both good and bad experiences purchasing foam online. While we have a local supplier we felt that we could save a few dollars by ordering online, plus there was a better selection of foam quality and firmness from online suppliers.
The downside of shopping online, of course, is that if something goes wrong it can be difficult to get a satisfactory resolution. We found, for example, that one retailer (Foam Online (foamonline.com)) used very confusing/misleading terminology in their ordering process. We ordered a relatively firm polyurethane foam based on industry-standard (IFL) terminology but received a much softer foam that the retailer claimed was equivalent. Worse, their customer service was not helpful when this problem was brought to their attention. In the end we used this softer foam but had to "bury" it under a firmer piece of urethane. I definitely would not order from Foam Online (foamonline.com) again.
Another retailer, Foam Factory (www.foambymail.com), on the other hand, delivered exactly what we ordered and the overall quality was superior. The bottom line - if you have no experience with an online retailer order only a single piece of foam at a time! That way if things go bad you'll only have a single piece to replace or re-purpose.
If you have questions or comments please contact us through our website LivingWithBugs or leave a comment below.
