Is foundation/bunky board needed for latex mattress?

Hi,

I just encountered this forum and I’m grateful there’s a resource to ask about mattresses!

I just ordered the Heavenly mattress from tranquilitymattress.com. The main question I have is if I really need to buy bunky boards to support it? I have a bed frame with slats that are about 2" wide and about 3.5-4" apart (from Kasala if it matters). When I chatted with Tranquility they said foundation/bunky boards is not required but they still recommended it. What is your opinion?

Aside from this main question I was wondering if this mattress is a good choice overall. I’m returning a Tempur-Pedic Contour Signature that didn’t work out for me, primarily because of sleeping hot. I wanted to try a good latex mattress and found PlushBeds site first but then stumbled upon Tranquility. The fact that I really liked about Tranquility is free shipping both ways so at least if the mattress doesn’t work for me I’m not out some money which is the case with Tempur-Pedic.

The last concern I wanted to ask about is warranty. All these companies offer 20 years warranties but have been around just 5 years or so. Do you think they’ll be around to address warranty claims if they arise?

Thank you for any answers or suggestions!

Hi Yoksel,

With an all latex mattress you will need a surface that has even rigid support and the gaps between the slats should be no more than 3" apart to prevent the very elastic latex from bending into the gaps over time and potentially reducing the long term durability of the latex. As long as you have this then you wouldn’t need a foundation or a bunkie board.

In the case of your bed … the slats are a little too far apart than I would be comfortable with so I would either add some slats to make the gaps smaller (it’s a good idea for the gaps to be about the same size as the thickness of the slats), use a bunkie board with more closely spaced slats (see here), or use something like the bed rug here in between the slats and the mattress.

Tranquility mattress uses high quality materials in their latex mattresses but they are not particularly good value compared to many other online manufacturers who use the same materials, have a better selection, better exchange options, and sell for significantly lower prices. Some of the members here who sell online and carry a wide variety of latex mattresses with better value are listed in post #21 here. There is more about Tranquility and some of their sister companies in post #2 here and some of the links it also contains.

While nobody can predict for certain how long any business will be in business … mattress warranties themselves are mostly meaningless because they don’t cover the loss of comfort or support that is the real reason that people normally need to replace a mattress. It’s much more effective to pay more attention to the quality of the materials in your mattress which will tell you much more about how durable a mattress will be than the warranty. Warranties only cover defects which will generally show up very early in the life of a mattress. You can read more about warranties in post #174 here.

Phoenix

Hi Phoenix,

First of all, thank you very much for the quick reply!!

It sound like I’ll have to do bunky boards then - doesn’t make sense to save on that part and risk ruining the mattress. I checked the bed rug but not sure I like it (visually). Do you have any suggestions about the best places to get the boards? Worst case scenario I could keep those I bought with Tempur-Pedic mattress - they’re expensive at $300 for a pair to cover king size but from what they said their bunky boards are made from higher quality furniture wood, not the plywood.

It’s good to hear that Tranquility is at least good quality! I checked all the links from the post #21 and most of comparable mattresses are in the same ballpark. Rocky Mountain stands out at about $200 cheaper but the return policy is not as generous. Tranquility unfortunately doesn’t offer any firmness options so I can just hope it will just right.

And one more question if you don’t mind. I’ll definitely need a good mattress cover - do you have any recommendations for a high quality durable one which doesn’t negatively affect how the mattress feels?

Thank you very much again! I’m so glad I found this forum as it turns out so difficult to pick the right mattress and get honest answers anywhere.

Hi Yoksel,

That must be a fairly big ballpark :slight_smile: Some of the options you have are significantly less. Keep in mind that Tranquility also doesn’t have a wool quilted cover (which is significantly more costly) so this needs to be taken into account when you are comparing mattresses (compare mattresses that have a similar cover) and they also offer many less options in terms of mattress choices and layer exchange options than some of the manufacturers listed. They are certainly better than some online sources but are also not in the 'best value" range either.

No I haven’t done much research on bunkie boards specifically but I would look for one that has a slatted surface such as one of these. A solid surface bunkie board will provide less ventilation and while this may be acceptable as well, it also carries a higher risk of trapped humidity in the mattress which can increase the risk of mold, mildew, and dust mites in some environments.

I’m guessing you mean a mattress protector rather than a mattress cover? Post #89 here has more information about the different types and the tradeoffs involved with the different types of protector and some links to each one (although with the membrane type or even the others an online search would probably be worthwhile to check prices).

Hope this helps.

Phoenix