New member needs mattress advice

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

Hi, I’m a new member and I need some help. I live near zip code 61820 and my wife and I are looking for three mattresses: one King for us and two twins for our boys’ bunk beds.

I’ve been to three different places and laid upon a lot of beds in the last week. My oldest son has fallen in love with a Green Choice Bliss mattress at Denver Mattress Factor, but mom and I haven’t fallen in love with the price. We didn’t like the salesman at Mattress Firm as he was VERY crude, lewd, and rude…We won’t be going back there. When a salesman attempts to insert himself into your sex life because you say you have four children, complain about the poor quality of your current mattress, and mention later that the cross support from your queen frame broke during your move doesn’t mean the salesperson has a right to make comments (even veiled at first) about your sex life! So NOT COOL!!!

So we’re down to four options for our oldest son:

  1. a local store that has the following options:
    a. $99 foam mattresses with a one-year warranty (not memory foam but a high density foam)
    b. $130 Memory foam mattress with a one-year warranty
    c. $150 Bunk bed mattresses that have the box spring built in with a one-year warranty
    d. more expensive mattresses that don’t feel like what my son really wants (only have a 10 year warranty) and cost the same or more than the Green Choice Bliss at Denver Mattress (which has a 15 year warranty)

  2. Buy the Green Choice Bliss that he wants, which does feel really nice, and since he’s 8 years old, he could have this mattress for a good long time. The question then becomes…do we buy ONLY the mattress at this time since he’ll be in a bunk bed for a while, or the mattress set with a shorter foundation? There’s no price break between a full foundation or a short foundation, and the salespeople have told me a I could just buy good finished plywood (which I would wrap in a thick cloth to ensure no warranty issues).

  3. Buy a $150 coil mattress from Denver Mattress with the box built-in, a memory foam pad, or a mattress topper, which would all need zipped into a 15-year warranty waterproof cover to secure the warranty, which in turn probably gets us close to the price of the Green Choice anyway. Or…

  4. Go with an online purchase of a mattress he has never laid on solely based on price and reviews from people who may not want exactly what my son wants.

We think we know what is best in this situation but the price is the only inhibitor. So suggestions and advice are very much welcomed.

My wife and I plan to get our mattress from Denver Mattress though because they have the best mattress prices, warranties, and guarantees of all the stores we have gone to, plus they have the best salespeople, who don’t make you feel like they just want your money. For us, the problem is actually going to be finding the right platform bed to put our new mattress on. She really likes the reclaimed and distressed wood look (as do I) but we don’t like the price of these re-purposed items. IF I were handier, I’d make her a bed, but it would need to be able to disassemble easily for a move to a new house. I know this is a mattress forum, but if anyone has any plans for a bed that they’d be willing to share, I’d be very grateful.

Thanks for your time.

Terrence

2

Hi tmstuber,

The first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choices … and know how and why to avoid the worst ones.

Post #2 here also links to the better forum posts and topics about mattresses and children that include more information and guidelines about buying a mattress for a child.

The better options and possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Champaign area (subject to the guidelines here) are listed in post #2 here.

You can see some comments about the Green Choice mattresses in posts #9 and #13 here. They use lower quality/density memory foam and I would tend to avoid them because of potential durability issues and because I would tend to avoid memory foam for children.

I would also tend to avoid chain stores and the major brands they carry (see the guidelines here).

This is certainly a low price but the quality/durability of the foam will depend on its density (see the foam quality guidelines here). For a lighter child I would tend to look for a minimum of 1.5 lb polyfoam and higher density would be more durable. It could make a reasonable choice if the foam is a suitable quality/density and firmness.

Again I would tend to avoid memory foam for children and at this price you can be assured that it would have very low quality materials.

I’m guessing that the mattress has an innerspring but not a “box spring” built into it and it will still need a good foundation underneath it. Again at this price the mattress you can be sure that it uses very low quality materials but I would need to know the specifics of the materials and components inside it (see this page) to make any more specific or meaningful comments about it.

I would be aware that the warranty on a mattress will have very little to do with the quality/durability or useful life of a mattress or how quickly you will need to buy a new one (see post #174 here). The most reliable way to assess the quality and durability of a mattress is by knowing the specifics of the materials inside it. The Green Choice mattress is very unlikely to have a useful life of 15 years or anything close to it (under 5 years years would probably be closer).

Again I would tend to avoid the Green Choice mattresses and most other memory foam mattresses in such a low budget range (unless you can confirm that they use higher quality materials) and I would tend to avoid memory foam for children anyway. You will likely need a good foundation or bunkie board to go under the mattress for any mattress you purchase.

This could be a good choice depending on the specific mattress you mean but I would keep in mind that the mattress doesn’t have a “box spring” built into it (I don’t know of any of the Denver Mattress models that do) and you will need a suitable foundation under the mattress. Children do better with firmer mattresses so if you do decide to add a topper I would choose a material other than memory foam until they are older and mostly finished growing. A mattress protector (but not necessarily a mattress encasement) would be a good idea for any mattress you purchase. There is more about the pros and cons of the different types of mattress protectors in post #89 here but I would lean towards one of the thinner membrane type protectors in a lower budget range.

What your son wants and what will best serve what he needs may be two different things (children love to make choices in many areas that aren’t the best choice for them). There is also more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (both online and locally) that can help you identify and minimize the risks involved in each of them.

Post #13 here also has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase that can help you make more meaningful comparisons between mattresses.

You are in a very low budget range where most mattresses will use some very low quality materials and you will need to make sure that the quality of the materials in a mattress are as durable as possible.

The foundation post here has a few DIY designs for platform beds that may be of interest (near the end of the post in the platform bed section).

Phoenix