Customizing our mattress

About two-and-a-half years ago we finally had to replace the foam mattress that had served us well for almost 35 years. We spent quite a lot of time shopping and comparing. The mattress that came closest to what we wanted, that we could afford, was one from Sleep Innovations that we bought from Costco. It’s 11" thick, with a base of solid foam 6" thick, a layer of eggcrate foam 3" thick, topped with 2" of memory foam.

Initially, it was good, but not great. Not long ago, when re-arranging the room, we discovered that if we turned the mattress over and slept/layed on the bottom it became great! That solved half of our problem…

Our bedframe is a platform with drawers. It doubles as our bed platform and dresser. It, therefore, can’t be adjusted for height. When it was made, it was sized for the foam mattresses we had just bought, which were 5" thick. The new mattress being about twice as thick, it is difficult getting in and out of bed (and getting more difficult all the time (we’re both in our sixties)).

My question: does anyone have any suggestions for cutting the mattress to make it about half as thick? I’ve already looked in the cover. The layers are glued together and won’t separate without tearing.

Any suggestions ?

Hi passerby,

It normally takes specialized equipment to slit foam horizontally but you could try using an exacto knife or razor blade or very sharp paring knife (or an electric carving knife) to cut very carefully and slowly in between the foam layers where they are glued while you are also “pulling up” on the upper layer to separate the foam layers. You may find that the edges are glued more strongly and that the areas more inside the mattress either don’t have glue (hopefully) or are glued less firmly. I would “expect” some tearing of the foam but if you are very careful and move slowly you can help to minimize rips and tearing.

If you need to cut through a foam layer rather than where two layers are glued together this will be much more difficult without specialized equipment but I would try an electric knife and again go very slowly and carefully so that your cut lines will be as straight as possible although this will be very difficult. You could try a setup such as this and work with just a few inches at a time and then move foam layer up inside the frame each time you have cut a few inches.

You could also take the foam layer (or layers) to a local foam shop or upholstery store that cuts foam that may be able to slit the layer for you which would be much easier and more effective than trying to do it yourself.

Phoenix