Has anyone else had a bad experience with the Ikea Sultan Heggedal mattress due to bad smell?
I’ve been sleeping on various Ikea mattresses for years, and I’ve always considered them as reliably offering very good quality for the price. Two months ago my wife and I bought a new king-size bed, and we chose the Ikea Sultan Heggedal mattress to go with it. (We tried it out in the store and liked it, and we also trusted it would turn out great based on these previous good experiences with Ikea and the fact that it’s advertised as their premium product.) However, when we unpacked it, we were struck by the awful smell unlike anything I’d ever encountered with their products – it felt heavy and vaguely rotten, almost like a heap of garbage or maybe rotting hay. At first we thought that it just needed to be aired out for a while as the instructions said, but to our subsequent consternation, the stench was still strong ever after weeks of airing out and regular vacuuming.
Needless to say, this caused a lot of stress and hassle, with us having to sleep in the guest room all this time and the logistical nightmare of hauling back a king-size mattress for return. (In fairness, they did give us the money back without any trouble, except they annoyed us royally by giving misleading information about the return location.) I’ve always liked Ikea and my house is full of their stuff, principally because I’d always trusted that they would provide a predictable level of quality and a hassle-free experience. (I’m a very busy man.) This however has shaken my confidence in them to the point that I’m unlikely to shop there again in the future.
I’m really curious if anyone has heard or experienced anything similar with this type of mattress, or Ikea mattresses in general.
I haven’t seen any feedback about the smell of the Heggedal on the forum but your mattress contains an 85%/15% natural/synthetic latex blend and there are a few people that have purchased the Morgongava which uses the same latex blend and mentioned that it had a strong smell (see posts #14, 18, 21, and 22 in this topic). There is also a comment here about the smell of the Edsele (which was very similar to the Morgongava and contained the same type of latex) and a comment here about the smell of another Ikea mattress (they don’t say which one) that also contained their 85% natural/15% synthetic blend and a comment here about the smell of their latex topper which also uses the same type and blend of latex. There is also a comment here about the smell of the Ikea Myrbacka which contains synthetic latex. The smell doesn’t seem to be consistent from mattress to mattress and only seems to affect some people and while it can take some time … the smell will normally diminish to the point that most people don’t notice it as the mattress airs out over time and the smell of latex isn’t harmful (their latex has been tested and certified for harmful substances and VOC’s).
The cover in your mattress (and all the mattresses that were mentioned in the previous links) also contains wool which can also be the source of some strong initial odors on occasion which also tends to diminish over time as well once it has had a chance to air out (see post #1 here for an example).
I’ve been airing out the IKEA Tromsdalen Latex topper for the past two weeks which uses the a similar Latex blend as the Sultan Heggedal (85% Natural and 15% Synthetic) and the smell is extremely bearable now, I may even consider keeping it too and get a mattress pad over it to create a bit more softness.
The Tromsdalen Latex topper has a zipper cover which can be fully unzipped to air out the horse hay smell of the Latex more quickly and effectively but the same is not true for the Sultan Heggedal mattress which may take a bit more time to properly air out the smell.
Hi,
I have experienced exactly what you have mentioned here and would like to know what your experience has been since this post. Please let me know. This is what our experience has been: we purchased the mattress in November 2015. .I purchased this mattress because it was supposed to be mostly made of natural materials. Unlike other comments, I believe that this smell comes from horse hair that has been used in this mattress. This is the smell of a stable and it took us a long time to determine that. For a while we thought that an outside smell affected it. But after we tried everything, from airing it to exposing to sun, to using baking soda and vinegar…we realized that there is nothing that we can do with it. The room is small and if you put bedding on it, the bedding smells. I just wrote to ikea asking to return it. I am not sure what is going to happen now since it’s past their 3 month return policy, but this mattress has a warranty so there has to be a way to address this problem. I am really determined to return it as it is outrageous that they haven’t acknowledged this. Please let me know. what happened in your situation. I cannot possibly keep this any longer in our house. And now I suspect that this is the main reason why this mattress is no longer available.
I’m sorry to hear about your experience with the smell of your mattress.
Hopefully vuchko will see your post and share an update with their experience as well.
The Heggedal doesn’t contain any horsehair but it does contain wool and if the smell is like a “stable” rather than the smell of latex then it’s very possible that it could be coming from the wool.
If you aren’t able to return the mattress then some of the suggestions in post #3 here may be helpful.
I returned the mattress after about two months, which was still within the 3 months return policy, so I had no trouble getting them to accept the return.
We tried to air it out for several weeks, vacuuming it repeatedly and keeping it in a room with open windows. However, after two months it would still make the room smell awful as soon as we closed the windows. The “stable” smell describes it pretty well, so it was probably the same problem.
I’m sorry to hear that your mattress didn’t turn out as well as you hoped for but it good to hear that you had no trouble returning the mattress for a refund.
Hi, the Sultan Heggedal does indeed contain horse hair, I checked the tag on bottom and horse hairs are listed right there. I too, want to return these, barny smelling mattresses…So I flipped the mattress over to see tag. If I could figure out how to upload a photo, I would show you. I hope IKEA does something for me…I have to submit photos of mattresses (two twins), and copy of receipt, to get ball rolling. But what then? Morgongava? I read that they smell too…arrgh!
Thanks for letting us know that there is horsehair in the Heggedal. Their description doesn’t mention it but the law tag would be a more reliable source of information about the materials they use in the mattress.
While the smell doesn’t seem to bother most people and it would generally diminish over time as it airs out … it seems that some people are more sensitive to it and it’s also possible that some of their mattresses have a stronger smell than others. Either way … I’m sorry to hear that your mattress didn’t work out for you.
There are some instructions for attaching a photo to your post in the help section here. You may need to resize the photo but if you have any difficulties then you can email the pictures to me at the contact email at the top right of the page and I’ll resize it and attach it to your post for you.
As far as “what’s next” … Ikea has an exchange only policy for their mattresses which would restrict you to exchanging for one of their mattresses but I have seen them make the occasional exception as well so it would depend on whether you are able to return the mattress for a refund and buy any other mattress you are interested in or only exchange it for another one of their mattresses.
Once again most people don’t seem to have an issue with the smell of the Morgongava but there are a few people that do so it may be worthwhile going to the store and “sticking your nose” into the mattress to see whether the smell bothers you.
I can’t speak to whether the Morgongava (or any mattress) would be a good “match” for you in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) because the only way to know this would be based on your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial) or your own personal experience … it does use good quality and durable materials and there are no lower quality materials or weak links that would compromise the durability or useful life of the mattress.
Wow! Thank you for the quick reply! I thought the thread was so old that nobody would bother Thanks for the information…I am in process of emailing IkEA photos and receipts now. I should tell you, that our mattresses are almost 1 and a half years old. The smell has not dissipated…in fact it is worse, now that it is summer and humid. My girls are teens, so there is little likelihood of spills or other sources causing door. Everyone can smell it, not just ‘some’. Thanks again!
While some people can be more sensitive to the smell of wool (or horsehair) than others and a smell that would be fine for some can certainly bother others … based on the feedback that I’ve read it also seems that some of their mattresses have a stronger, more obvious, and more persistent smell than others of the same model.
It’s unfortunate that you didn’t try and exchange or return your mattress earlier while you were still inside their trial period (which is one year for in store purchases and 90 days for online purchases) because the exchange/return process would probably be easier but hopefully they will make an exception and treat it as a warranty issue and allow you to at least exchange your mattresses.
I’m looking forward to any additional updates you have the chance to share.
Thanks for the information…I am in process of emailing IkEA photos and receipts now. I should tell you, that our mattresses are almost 1 and a half years old. The smell has not dissipated…in fact it is worse, now that it is summer and humid. My girls are teens, so there is little likelihood of spills or other sources causing door. Everyone can smell it, not just ‘some’. Thanks again!