How long should a mattress last?

[murphymom]

We have a kingsize pillowtop mattress that is probably at least 8 or 9 years old (can't remember exactly when we got it). We try and turn it periodically, but it's getting indentations where we sleep. My husband is thinking we may want to replace it. Do we need to replace the box springs too? Does anyone have any recommendations on brands or things I should look for?

[NMDemDist2]

1. we love our Sleep Comfort bed. we had a 6 year old Simmons it

replaced over 10 years ago and it's still fine.

Innerspring Beds will wear out usually by 10 years if it's a quality mattress, much faster if it's a cheaper unit

[Carla in Ca]

9. Amen, AZ!

We have had ours for over 5 years and it is the best sleep we have ever had. Dual control is the key. Yes, it is more expensive, but well worth it in the long run. No turning the mattress ever again and a great warranty. I do, however, recommend it be on a platform, not a metal frame. Trust me, you won't regret it.

[politicat]

2. Pillowtops do compact.

Nature of the beast, unfortunately. I am pretty much never having another one. The Pillow top is literally nothing more than some extra fluffy filling inside a second top.

My rule of thumb is that a daily use mattress effectively lasts about half of the warranty period. So a ten year mattress lasts five, a twenty, ten, etc. Then it can become a guest bed, because it will still be serviceable if it is not used daily. When it hits the end of the warranty period, it needs to go entirely. BUT... I'm picky about mattresses and require a pretty significant level of correctness in order to sleep effectively.

The bigger question is this: are the indentations just in the pillowtop or are they down to the springs? Do the springs handle people moving aorund without squeaking? If the springs are not expanding when you remove pressure from them, it's time to get rid of it.

Is the bed still comfortable? Do you sleep well upon it? (Do you both still sleep well upon it?) Do you have aches and pains upon waking? If there's a no in that series of questions, then it's time for a new one.

You probably do want to buy the box that goes with the new one, in part because they're generally designed to work together, and because boxes can be a bit more delicate and prone to damage than a plain mattress. A twisted box can do damage to both sleepers and mattress, and they all twist eventually. (They're wood and exposed to stress.)

We have a platform bed that has a box in it right now, but won't always. (Next bed is a tempurpedic, so we got the platform that will work with it when we replaced our bedroom furniture.) The platform means that we don't strictly need a box spring, though we have one. The mattress is a Denver Mattress, one of the higher end ones. I don't not recommend them; they're a decent value and the one we got was comfortable.

When you go shopping, take the whole day, and wear comfortable clothes and shoes you can slip off and on. Lay on the prospective beds in the postures you normally sleep in, and don't worry about how you look. DH's rule is this: If he goes into a mattress shop, lays on the mattress and starts to doze within 10 minutes, it's a keeper. (He has the military trick of being able to fall asleep easily.)

[Longhorn]

3. You might consider a temperpedic mattress topper.

It's the same foam as the mattresses. A king-sized topper is about $200 but it has made a big difference on our mattress. We got ours at Bed Bath and Beyond.

[TygrBright]

4. That's what we did and we sleep heavenly...

...we bought a medium high-end innerspring (NON-pillowtop) to put on our platform bed (no box spring, just the mattress,) and put a tempurpedic topper on it.

We dream sweet. But the mattress is wearing out, it's nearly 8 years old, and we're talking about investing in a tempurpedic mattress. Problem is, a king is PRICEY!

conflictedly,
Bright

[politicat]

7. Yeah, they're pricey.

We have to have a Cal King, since DH is 6'14" (Not really - 6'3.75" - he refuses to be 6'4") and would otherwise sleep at an angle on the bed, squeezing me into a corner.

But damn... they're really nice. I figure I spent 1500 on the last bed, and it will last 8-10 years, so it amortizes out to about $0.50 a night. Not bad. The Tempurpedic really does last for the 20 year warranty, and the price is the same, the cost will still be about $0.50 a night. My grandparents had one of the early tempurpedics, and when it started breaking down at 11 years, Tempurpedic replaced it with an entirely new system. Their warranty is really that good.

Now that I think about it, I should have bought the TP, but DH was skeptical, thinking it would be soft and squishy like his ex-wife's featherbed was (which he hated to the point of sleeping in another bed at times.)

[yy4me]

5. Ditto on the Memory Foam topper, we have had ours for years,

bought it on line from a company that sold toppers made by the "Carpenter Company". There are grades, buy the best. Look for Isotonic Visco Memory foam. You do not really need more than a 2 inch topper because your body will not mold into more than 2 inches of the product, however I understand they sell lots of the 3" too. Go to several web sites and compare their info. We have had several types and have found the Carpenter product to be better. It did not get "hot" as did one of the other ones we bought I called that manufacturer and told them I was unhappy and they took it back.

I have a bad back and the topper has made my life a lot easier. And just to let you know, a box spring, now more commonly called "foundation" is nothing more than a frame upon which you place your mattress. If you don't like the way it looks and want to cover it, buy a nice fitted sheet. No-one will ever know. A word on pillow top mattresses, given to me by a friend who was in the furniture business. The material used to make the"pillow" will tend to flatten after a few years. It will also make channels where you sleep. I would not want to cope with that. I'd buy a new flat top conventional mattress and a topper. I also gave one to my daughter as a gift. She would never be without it.

You could try the topper on top of your current mattress and see if it would even out the ridges. If not, buy a new mattress and you already have the topper.

[murphymom]

6. Thanks for the responses

What brought this on is we have an income property that we let as a vacation rental and the beds need replacing - they came with some other furniture when we bought the place and they are really tired. When I brought it up with my husband he started thinking about our bed at home and wants to replace that first. Personally, I think the mattress is still OK and we could go a while longer with it. We picked up a memory foam pad from Costco that we have been using on top and I'm thinking that if we do get a new mattress I would probably go with a non-pillowtop with either the foam topper or a featherbed. Can't really recycle the king bed to the rental as the bedrooms are a little too small.

A couple of weeks ago we were down in the Bay Area and treated ourselves to a stay at the Sainte Claire hotel in downtown San Jose. Wonderful bed with a featherbed, and fluffy duvet. If I could have gotten that bed in my suitcase I would have snuck it home. Checked their website and found out that they actually sell their beds and bedding. http://www.larkspur.hotelsathome.com/ The king is listed for $1350. I haven't shopped for mattresses yet and don't really know what they are going for these days.

Does anyone use a featherbed? We had one years ago with a previous mattress and while it was nice at first, after a while it started feeling like it was stuffed with whole ducks - we kept getting prickled with feather ends. I think it may have been an inexpensive one. I'd be tempted to try a synthetic fill one.

[politicat]

8. My husband's ex had one....

She and I were friends before the massive swap happened (it's a really long story - in very short, she fell in love with my ex, and he with her, and then they had a HUGE falling out that destroyed both partnerships because she didn't want her husband talking to me (we were also very good friends at the time) and my ex didn't want me talking to him. When the shit came off the fan, DH and I went back to being friends, and eventually became lovers, then got married, well after the divorces were settled.) I spent the night a few times with her, when DH (then her husband) was out of town, and we just shared the bed (easier, and they really didn't have extra space back then.)

I didn't like it. I'm a cool sleeper, and I don't really like the soft, squishy feeling of a featherbed. Down is much better than feather, apparently, since down doesn't have the quills that feathers do. But down is REALLY expensive.

A synthetic fill is really no different than a squishy comforter, and those are really cheap.

[roguevalley]

10. we have the ten inch tempurpedics. HEAVEN. go for the ten, not

the eight if you can afford it. the difference is dynamic.