Proper Bed Slat spacing for support and ventilation

[Sensei]

Hey zzzcatcher,

Welcome to the Mattress Underground ! Thanks for your question.

I’ve been using a queen Beautyrest innerspring mattress on a platform bed with thin 1/4 inch thick/2 1/4 inch wide sprung slats spaced 2.5 inches apart. I’ve noticed in the past year that the mattress is beginning to sag, or at least feel less supportive where it counts. I’ve recently taken pictures of myself lying on the bed which confirm that the slats bend downward below the horizontal plane of the bed in places (under hips and shoulders) when I lay on it. I’m a side sleeper and I weigh about 190 lbs. I was told by a mattress salesperson that the 2.5 inch spacing should be fine for support despite the fact that Beautyrest’s warranty specifies using slats with no more that 2 inches of spacing.

For those following your post who may not be familiar with “sprung” slats, these are a different type slatted foundation made of a more flexible wood, providing a springy feel to the bed and also reacting to a body’s weight by “bending downward” when you are sitting or lying on the mattress and returning to their normal flat state when you leave the mattress. People who like a softer feel of mattress sometimes prefer sprung slats as a slatted support base option. A 2.5" sprung slatted spacing may be adequate for your queen Beautyrest innerspring; however generally speaking, 3" spacing is considered industry standard for most mattresses.

To up the support, I’ve been looking into buying a set of slats made of thicker wood with 2 inch spacing. I reached out to a seller on Etsy who would make them to that spec, but the catch is that they would be using 1 x4s. My concern is that with boards that are almost 4 inches wide, spaced only 2 inches apart, that this wouldn’t provide enough ventilation since the surface would be more wood than open space. (Also, I’m trying to avoid a boxspring or Bunkie board to minimize dust mites (allergies) and maximize ventilation.

I see from your similar post to MFC’s forum that @Mario gave excellent response in post #2, (and thanks Mario for your support!), so hopefully his base recommendations and diagram will help your Etsy seller better understand your needs.

One other thing to note is that I’m trying to buy slats that come as a set attached by ribbon rather than individual boards because I’ll need to attach them to a metal bed frame (and hoping to be able to only have to fasten the first and last slat to make it work) Thanks in advance for any pro-tips on how to increase the support of the slat system while maintaining ventilation!

You may want to check with trusted member U.S. Box Spring, they have a cool product demo utilizing the ribbon attachment technology you describe, you can view it here. They may be able to help you with your needs and you are welcome to reach out to them with your questions here on the forum. Let us know how things go and if we may help you connect with U.S. Box Spring .

Thanks,
Sensei