Saturday, February 18, 2017

Recycling Mattress Foam

When we decided to build our own foam mattress (see the Steps we followed in the links in the right sidebar) we first needed to figure out what to do with our old innerspring mattress and boxspring. We also realized that we'd need to someday dispose of the foam from the new bed when it needed to be replaced.

Every foam mattress, of every design, will eventually wear out and need to be replaced. I estimate that our DIY polyurethane and latex foam bed will last 10-15 years if individual foam layers are turned (flipped) every 5 years or so. But, the new all foam mattresses like the Casper and Leesa that are completely encased in non-removable covers, and therefore can't be turned, might last only 5-10 years before sagging in the foam makes them uncomfortable. So ...

What To Do With Your Old Mattress?


The best solution is to contact a recycling facility in your area. This keeps the material out of the landfill and puts the old material to good use. ByeByeMattress has a recycling facility locator to help. Just enter your zip code and contact the facilities near you for their details.Then, find a friend with a pickup to help you haul the mattress to the recycling facility!


Saturday, February 11, 2017

5 Yrs Later - What Would I Change Now?

Our latex and polyurethane bed is now almost 5 years old (see the Steps we followed building our mattress - right sidebar). We have no real complaints, the bed is still very comfortable - certainly an order of magnitude more comfortable than our old innerspring mattress! We've found that rotating the comfort layers 180 degrees every few months helps to keep the surface flat. We have also recently turned (flipped) all the foam layers as they have started to sag after 5 years.

If we started over now I might substitute a high quality HR foam for the latex layers only because latex is heavy and harder to move around. As we get older the prospect of wrestling with the latex layers several times a year becomes more of an issue all the time!

I'd probably also go with thinner foam layers. We used 2", 3" and even 4" thick layers. I think this was unnecessary and added greatly to the overall weight of the bed. One inch thick pieces for the comfort layers might have been enough and additional "toppers" could be added if needed. 

I would like to try a memory foam topper as the top layer some time as well. My guess is I won't like it (might be too soft and "grabby") but I'd still like to give one a fair try. One issue with trying out different topper pieces, however, is what to do with the ones that you don't want to keep.


What About The New All Foam Beds


You may have seen ads for several different all foam beds that are now available online. These beds are very similar in design to our DIY bed. Two of the more widely advertised all foam beds are the Casper and Leesa. If you look at their websites (google "Casper mattress" or "Leesa mattress") cutaway diagrams show how the layers are stacked. Both are available for under $1000 (queen size).

If we were just starting our project now I might get one of these mattresses and place it on a single 4" layer of our foundation (blue) foam instead of building the entire bed from scratch. This would have added some cost but would have saved a lot of time. One thing I really like about these new mattresses are the covers that hold all the pieces together. However, one important disadvantage is that since the covers can't be removed the foam layers can't be turned (flipped). All foam will eventually sag and need to be turned or replaced. I suspect that our DIY bed will last many years longer since we can, and have already, turned the foam layers. Please note that I have no connection to these companies and am not specifically recommending any commercial mattress.

Hope this has been useful. Don't hesitate to build your own mattress, I can't imagine ever going back to an innerspring mattress, no matter how much it costs!



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Bed Bugs - Can A Foam Mattress Help?

bed bug ~ 1/5"
Five years ago we built our own foam mattress from materials available online (see the Steps we followed building our mattress - right sidebar). One question that I occasionally get through my 'Bugs site is "can a foam mattress help prevent bed bugs?".

Bed bugs (left) hide during the day and venture out at night in search of a meal (blood). Bed bugs need a protected, dark hiding place in which to digest the blood meal and lay eggs. Hiding places generally acquire dark greasy stains from bug feces. A conventional mattress with many deep creases and sewn seams (bottom photo, left) is the perfect environment for these blood-feeding insects to hide undetected.

Red arrows in the photo below show where bed bugs hide during the day. Dark-colored fecal stains also indicate the presence of feeding bed bugs.

Our foam mattress has no sewn seams or creases and is encased in a smooth, white cover. This lack of good hiding places and the easy detection of fecal stains against the white background makes it virtually impossible that bed bugs would gain a foothold before being seen.
hiding places & bites

Bed bugs are relatively easy to control if detected in the early phase of an infestation. A foam mattress will facilitate the early detection of these blood-feeders before the infestation gets out-of-hand. See our bed bug articles for details regarding identification and control of bed bugs.

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