I bought an inexpensive PU foam futon floor mat to have as a backup in case my air mattress ever has an unexpected accident, and to possibly serve as a mattress to tide me over until I get a long-term mattress that works for me.
After experiencing back pain on my main mattress, I tried sleeping on the Futon (a foam futon from D&D Futon). To my surprise, it was quite comfortable. I slept on it several hours (with sleep aided by an antihistomine that I used to address an allergic episode) with no back pain afterwards.
However, I ended up with significant nasal allergies and headaches that I am convinced were reactions to chemicals in the mattress. I of course had to stop using the mattress. This was disappointing given the back comfort I’d experienced.
I’m posting to ask whether anyone else has experienced this and whether the chemical smell, outgassing, and allergic reactions thereto dissipated with time. I asked this question on Amazon, and my question was promptly removed, which tends to suggest that the vendor controls the question and answer section. The futon is currently being aired out in my garage, but I don’t know if this means the mattress will be safe one week, a month, or never.
I’d of course appreciate any input on this point.
Good hearing from you and thanks for your question .
I’ve been lurking in the background, waiting for some consumer response to your post, voyager39 and thought I’d give a point of view in the meantime. For some individuals, there are allergy issues with various chemicals and offgassing of certain materials; the quality control of different foam manufacturing methods that are used can have both short and long-term gradual consequences. I did some searching on D&D Futon’s site and see that products carry the CertiPUR-US certification, indicating their polyurethane foam has been tested for harmful substances and VOC’s, you can read more on CertiPUR-US testing criteria here. A product certification however is no guarantee that someone would not have a specific allergic reaction to a particular synthetic material. Sorry to hear that the Amazon reseller you purchased from removed your question, one of the reasons I tend not to trust Amazon “reviews” as being a reliable source of information.
Airing your futon out in the garage during summertime will certainly speed up the chemical-smell dissipation process but be mindful of what other odors it may be absorbing there in the meantime. Hope this helps and looking forward to hearing the final offgassing outcome…
I thought I’d update this since a month has passed. The three mat cushions have been aired out for a month now in my garage. I also have been through one full cycle of depositing baking soda on the cushions and later vacuuming it off again. The chemical smell is certainly lower than I recall it being a month ago, but if I sniff it up close the odor is still there. I haven’t yet attempted to sleep on it again. Will update this page when I do so.
Since I last posted, I have tried bringing one of the three cushions into my bedroom to test it for allergic reactions. For more objectivity, I placed an air quality monitor right above one of the cushions for a few minutes.
A few hours after bringing the cushion into my room, I developed an allergic reaction. Upon noticing that, I placed an air quality monitor (AQM) on top of one of the cushions. A few minutes later, the AQM signalled that the air qualify was “poor”, and that the formaldehyde reading was the culprit.
I wish I could report, after being in the garage for a month, that the futon cushions were now available to use as a backup bed, or even as a main bed. Alas, such is not the case. Hence, my search (in other threads) for a mattress of comparable firmness that uses a different, and non-allergenic material.
Your reaction of congestion is not as uncommon as you might think. Mucous builds in the body when the body needs protection from something, think of your stomach lining, for example. If your stomach wasn’t lined with mucous, the bile would digest the stomach itself.
I have myself experienced such a reaction to a poly filled pillow (before I started my company). I returned it. I have had customers tell me their infant’s congestion went away when they switched the crib mattress to a natural one. I know someone who blacked out because of her body’s inability to tolerate her new mattress.
I say, good for you for listening to your body. Now what do you want to do about it?
DIY: Thank you for your reply. One data point that would help is getting some idea of the correlation between the “D” number used to denote hardness on your DIY site and the ILD number used on other sites. I can’t tell if they’re the same or not, or if those numbers alone are effective at describing the feel of a mattress made from those materials. It seems intuitive to me that the firmness experienced by the user will depend at least on the D number and the thickness of the latex layer, with the effective firmness increasing with decreasing layer thickness.
I continue to peruse the DIY site that your post linked to. It seems as though building would require selecting a core of latex, a topper, and ticking. If you’re able to summarize the process here, that’d be helpful.
You’re right, the density numbers and ILD’s are two different ways of noting the firmness. Here is how they line up with my latex:
Soft: 19-22 ILD, D80
Medium: 23-27 ILD, D75
Firm: 28-33 ILD, D80
Extra Firm: 34-38 ILD or D85
Hard: 39-43 ILD or D90
You are exactly correct, the depth of the latex effects the firmness. For example if a 3" extra firm is the standard, a 2" extra firm will feel more like a firm and 1" extra firm will feel more like a medium. Of course it’s not an exact comparison, but worth noting. We run into these comparisons a lot when we work with upholstery since depths are usually much less than in mattresses. Regarding mattresses and firmnesses correlating to depths, you’ll find https://mattressunderground.com/the-underground/our-trusted-membersthe-banana-test/The Banana Test worth a read.
You have got the hang of building your own mattress. All you need is a case and a fill. We call our cases ticking and they are all zippered with at least 3 if not 4 sided zippers. Mattress fills from my site are latex, wool, kapok. Latex is the simplest to use as it is a slip in and zip up item. Wool and kapok would need to be tufted to keep them from shifting. Toppers are optional as latex can be its own topper, but if you want to combine two different feels, like wool and latex, a topper is a great way to do that. More people put wool toppers over latex than latex toppers over wool mattresses, but everything is an option in the DIY world and everything serves a different purpose.
Let me know if you have any other specific questions.
[quote=“diynaturalbedding” post=85370]You’re right, the density numbers and ILD’s are two different ways of noting the firmness. Here is how they line up with my latex:
Soft: 19-22 ILD, D80
Medium: 23-27 ILD, D75
Firm: 28-33 ILD, D80
Extra Firm: 34-38 ILD or D85
Hard: 39-43 ILD or D90
[/quote]
Ok, the above mostly makes sense to me, but also confuses me somewhat. Specifically, as the ILD numbers rise in successive rows, the D number first dips from 80 to 75, and then rises again tp 85 and 90 with further increases in ILD. This surprises me since I thought that the D rating would rise with increasing ILD values. Perhaps I’m missing something. However, an explanation would be helpful here.
Again, I’m a little confused. You appear to say above that a layer of a material that is extra firm when it’s three inches thick, will feel merely “firm” when only two inches thick (that is, softer than “extra firm”). I somehow thought the relationship was the opposite, namely that a thinner layer of a particular material would feel firmer than a thicker layer of the same material (assuming that both are placed above a rigid surface).
I’m still reading through some of the other material on your site and will let you know if I have any questions.
By the way, if you or anyone else has any information regarding the ILD or “D” value of the three-part D&D Futon mat, I would love to know that. I called the vendor and the salesman didn’t know the ILD value. He said that they used the number 18/33 to refer to the density (the “18” portion which apparently refers to 1.8 density PU foam) and where the “33” portion of the number refers to firmness - however he didn’t know if the 33 value was an ILD value or not.
I second natural latex. People in my family has VOC sensitivities and no one has had any issues using Latex. We choose to go with Tallalay Latex from Flobeds. I’m getting ready to post about our experience working with them.
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