Hi there,
So my wife and I have decided on a new mattress from quality sleep shop here in Chicago. Thanks so much for the info on this website and forum for helping us make an educated decision.
There is only one thing left to decide really, what we want to do about the flame retardant outside cover. They have two options, the first is a layer which has some form of silicate (sand?) and it only has 5% boric acid in it - I don’t remember the exact chemical name for what is essentially sand, but they mentioned that they have the absolute minimum amount of chemicals in the cover that they can in order to still pass the test.
There is also a natural wool option that we can use, which they use instead of the above option. This however adds 20% to the cost and I am really having a hard time justifying this to myself when it seems like the normal cover should be safe enough for two relatively newlyweds in their 20’s.
So the question:
- Is it really worth it for an extra 140 bucks compared to a cover that has the industry minimum?
- would the wool help us sleep cooler in the mattress - realistically?? This isn’t meant to be part of the comfort layers, just a flame retardant so there isn’t much wool, maybe an inch at most when its all fluffed up.
Thanks,
Josh
Hi chicagojosh,
[quote]There is only one thing left to decide really, what we want to do about the flame retardant outside cover. They have two options, the first is a layer which has some form of silicate (sand?) and it only has 5% boric acid in it - I don’t remember the exact chemical name for what is essentially sand, but they mentioned that they have the absolute minimum amount of chemicals in the cover that they can in order to still pass the test.
There is also a natural wool option that we can use, which they use instead of the above option. This however adds 20% to the cost and I am really having a hard time justifying this to myself when it seems like the normal cover should be safe enough for two relatively newlyweds in their 20’s.[/quote]
There is more about fire retardant methods in this article and more detailed information in post #2 here. I would consider all of the options you are looking at to be safe although the wool would also have other benefits including it’s ability to regulate temperature.
If you want all the benefits of wool then it would certainly be worth the additional cost based on the higher cost of a wool quilted cover. If the only thing you are concerned about is safety then both options would be safe enough for most people so it would really depend on the criteria that are most important to you.
Wool is among the best temperature regulators yes and it would certainly make a difference for most people. You can read more about the variables that can affect sleeping temperature in post #2 here and more about wool quilting in post #6 here.
Phoenix