Brand new mattress is creaky

Mattress Talk General Mattresses Questions
1

I have a very noisy, brand new mattress. Is that normal?

I just purchased an Orthopedic Extra Firm mattress from the Original Mattress Factory. I am a stomach sleeper, and when I lay my head on the mattress (or my pillow), I hear the mattress springs creak with every breath I take. As in, the small movements of my head up and down as I breathe are what cause the springs to creak. I hear both steady, consistent creaking, as if from metal sliding against metal, as well as the occasional pop that echos throughout the mattress. It is impossible to fall asleep while there is constant noise, especially noise that is being caused by my own breathing. It happens all over the entire mattress, too, not just one area. Yes, I’ve laid my head over multiple places to test. And it’s not the bed frame creaking, nor is it the box spring.

Is it normal for springs to be this noisy? Does this mean I have a defective mattress?

Thankfully I can add mattress toppers to eliminate this problem, as I am no longer directly depressing the mattress with my body weight, but it’s a brand new bed and I shouldn’t have to do that. I have a 3" memory foam topper, which is comfortable, but it traps too much heat and I usually wake up sweating from it.

Sadly, this mattress is replacing my previous mattress, an Orthopedic Luxury Firm that I bought nearly a year ago, which also had the creaky spring problem. (I returned that bed mainly because it developed a deep valley smack in the middle of the bed, and I’m only 140 pounds). I thought that maybe that bed was defective, but now I suspect there is a problem with the orthopedic innerspring design in general to cause it to be creaky. “Creaky springs” doesn’t fall under OMF’s warranty, and besides, I can’t return this bed because this is the replacement bed. This is utterly maddening. I just want to sleep :frowning:

2

Hi blue245,

I can’t hear your mattress so I don’t know if what you are hearing is normal or not but I would try the same mattress in the store to see if it’s the same as yours in which case it would be safe to assume that it’s normal for the type of springs in your mattress (and they would be able to tell you if the mattress you were testing was normal as well). Springs that have helical wires that join the coils together shouldn’t have obvious “noise” that someone would hear when they aren’t lying on the mattress but when you are sleeping on it then the metal to metal contact between the helicals and the springs would be more noticeable with larger movements but still shouldn’t be “obvious”. If there is obvious “popping” or “creaking” or squeaking with smaller movements then the springs may be defective or “grabbing” inside the mattress. There certainly shouldn’t be spring noise that comes from your breathing.

The offset springs they use are fairly widespread in the industry and you would find the same type of springs inside many manufacturer’s mattresses.

Phoenix

3

Thanks for the information, Phoenix.

I am now curious as to whether the same mattress in-store also creaks. I might have to check it out, at the very least to sate my own curiosity. I agree that merely breathing shouldn’t cause the mattress springs to creak. Ah, well, my memory gel foam topper is doing the trick for now, and I have a latex one on order.

4

Hi blue245,

I’m curious as well about how the noise level of your mattress compares to the ones in the store.

Phoenix