I came across the following video which shows a piece of latex foam quickly igniting and rapidly burning when a flame was put to it:
I hadn’t considered the safety implications of latex mattresses/toppers. From some reading, my limited understanding is that
regular foam is also highly flammable, but fire retardant chemicals are added;
latex foam has no such chemicals (which is one of its attractive qualities for many);
in order to meet fire safety laws, a mattress cover must provide a barrier and pass a flame test;
the above cover typically uses wool as the fire resistant material;
online sites that sell individual layers for diy mattresses often sell these covers;
individual toppers often come with (or one can be purchased) a thin cotton or bamboo cover.
question: aren’t individual toppers or layers without a proper fire resistant cover a safety hazard? If someone were to knock over a candle, smoke… i don’t but someone might, use a heating pad, curling iron… So, should a fire safe cover always be recommended?
Any thoughts? Am I missing anything with my understandings?
While polyfoam is available in fire retardant versions … they are mostly used in furniture not in mattresses or toppers and most mattresses use a a sock or fire retardant material in the quilting that surrounds the flammable fuel in a mattress to pass the fire regulations.
Wool can certainly be used successfully as a fire barrier but it’s not very common to see this outside of some latex mattresses and other type of fire retardant barriers are much more common in the industry.
They can certainly burn in the right circumstances and depending on the specifics of the topper and cover wouldn’t be much different from many other flammable materials in the home (including sheets and bedding). A curling iron or heating pad wouldn’t ignite a topper and even a candle may extinguish before it ignites it (and it would need to ignite the sheets and mattress protector first).
In any case … this would be something that each person would probably prefer to choose for themselves based on all the tradeoffs involved and what they were most comfortable with. I personally wouldn’t choose fire retardant materials in a topper but some people may have different preferences or a different “risk assessment” than me or someone else.
While I would choose wool over chemicals any day, I also like the DIY budget approach. For those who want flame retardants but don’t want to have to pay for them and don’t want to use wool, you can make a liquid fire retardant for your own purposes. People use it for costumes, paper, vendor booths, etc.
As far as toxicity, Boric Acid works as an insecticide by attacking the exoskeleton, not by interfering with the insect’s chemistry. It’s LD50 (the Dose which is Lethal to 50% of the test subjects) is 2,660 milligrams per kilogram of body weight (I believe this was a test in rats). For reference, aspirin has an LD50 of 1,000 and table salt has an LD50 of 3,000. There’s a fact sheet at Active Ingredient Fact Sheets. You be the judge whether its worth sleeping on.
2.5 oz Borax
2 T. Boric Acid
2 c. very hot water
Combine all in a spray bottle, shake and spray liberally on clothing. Don’t rinse, allow to Air Dry. Alternatively, dip your fabric.
