I recently bought a memory foam mattress to go with my new IKEA king sizebed. The IKEA bed recommended the following slats that seem to curve in the middle.
Would these be ok with my memory foam mattress (I believe it is about 12 inches thick)? Would the curved slats effect the level of my mattress when sleeping?
Hi bhumatt,
The first post of this thread has some foundation options that can sit on top of the slats. I don’t know of any that are 12" high but there are several that are in the range of 8" - 9".
If you needed more height you could always add a very firm polyfoam layer underneath the foundation (the firmer the better) or even a 2" to 3" bunkie board although two foundations on top of each other may have a tendency to shift with movement on the mattress.
Phoenix
Hi mastermixer,
They would be OK in terms of providing even support for your mattress but flexible slats underneath a mattress may also change the feel of your mattress to some degree because of their additional give (more with thinner mattress than with thicker mattresses). Most memory foam mattresses are designed to do best with firm non flexible slats underneath them. You probably wouldn’t feel this too much with a 12" mattress but some people may be more sensitive and notice it more. Whether the additional give is “better or worse” would depend on which one provided the better PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) for a particular person.
Phoenix
Thanks for the input!
Would plywood be sufficient? I also received split bunkie boards but the king size IKEA bed just has the solid bar through the centre and without slats, I don’t think the bunkie boards will be able to support the load.
Thanks for your super fast response! I have looked at many of the foundations from the post but I am not sure which ones can sit on top of slats. Can you please point me to one such foundation so I understand what type it is that can go on slats? Anything that is 3-9" high would work.
I really appreciate your inputs. Thanks for your time.
Hi mastermixer,
Plywood would be OK under a foundation but I would tend to use caution with plywood or any non breathable surface directly under the mattress unless there were no other good options (see post #10 here).
I would also add some slats under the bunkie board as well for better support such as the Ikea slats here that are designed to be used with their beds. Some bunkie boards are built stronger than others (many are meant for use with bunkbeds and children rather than as a thinner replacement for a foundation) and I would also hesitate to use a bunkie board without any supporting slats underneath to give some strength to the load bearing surfaces of the bed.
Phoenix
I am unsure about the difference between a bed frame and a bed foundation. I currently have a metal frame on which sits a box spring and then a mattress. Can I continue to use my bed frame with a new slatted foundation and latex mattress? The frame I have looks like this one:
Thanks for the help and all of the valuable information on this forum!
Hi cmorris,
A bed frame is part that supports the foundation and holds it up off the floor and can either be a steel frame like you have or a wooden bedframe. Both of them need good support with a midbeam and legs to the floor on each side and in the middle of the frame (preferably two legs in the middle) … especially with larger sizes such as queen and king size to prevent sagging in the middle. Some wooden bedframes are designed to use with a foundation either for even support without gaps that the mattress can sag into under the mattress or for extra height and some like platform beds have more closely spaced slats across the surface so a foundation isn’t necessary for even support and a mattress can go directly on the slats (although you can still use a foundation if you want the extra height).
A box spring is usually used with innerspring mattresses that are designed to use them and have springs inside them. A foundation has no springs inside and is either a slatted or solid rigid surface. There is more about foundations and box springs in the first post of this thread and the posts it links to in the second paragraph.
Your current steel bedframe will probably be alright as long as it is the right size and has good support to the floor under the midbeam. Three legs on each side would be stronger than two and and two or three legs under the midbeam would be stronger than one.
So you need something to raise your entire sleeping system up off the floor (the bedframe), then a foundation or a suitable slatted surface to evenly support the mattress and then the mattress itself goes on top of this.
Phoenix
Phoenix - foundation questions.
You might remember that I’m using the foundation that was under my queen sized waterbed to hold my Dunlop latex mattress. Now I’m starting to wonder if I’m making a mistake doing this. I saw on a thread recently where you’d mentioned adding something between a piece of plywood (which is basically what is the top of the waterbed foundation, plywood with a fabric cover) and the latex mattress, but now can’t seem to find the thread.
Our house is totally climate controlled - no open windows, no humidity problem - too many allergies between us to let pollen, etc., into the house, so either the AC or the heat is always on, and in my room it’s always cool because I can’t sleep in a warm room, to the point where I block off the vent when the heat is running so sometimes I wake up in a room that’s about 60 degrees in the winter. In other words, it’s not humid in the house.
I have seen a reference to using pegboard, but what I remember seeing recently wasn’t pegboard but some other material that would go between the plywood foundation and the mattress itself. Does this ring a bell with you, or do you have any advice/input for me? I sure don’t want to ruin a mattress I love as much as I do this one! (Thanks, as always!)
Clawdia, this might be what you are thinking of. I remember Phoenix mentioning it before.
That’s it - thanks!
I remember seeing that exact thing, because I couldn’t tell if for a queen it was saying you needed to order two pieces, or just one of what they call “queen”. I still can’t figure that out, so if anybody knows, I’d love to hear the answer. Or, if anyone knows of the same thing, basically, for less money - I’d love to know that, too.
Thanks GW208 
@ Clawdia,
On the last line of the description it says that the queen is two 30" x 80" pieces. The price would include both pieces.
Phoenix
Thanks, Phoenix - guess I was getting confused because I was surprised it didn’t cost more than it does - the way the world works these days, I just about expected a queen size would cost double the price of a twin size.
Do you think this is something I should give serious consideration to adding to my set-up, rather than letting the mattress rest on the foundation itself? I also wondered if a thin piece of wool between the mattress and the foundation would work (or work better).
I’ve felt of the surface of the foundation, and it’s not absolutely flat - probably a deviance of 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch in places. Husband says he can barely feel anything. I’m never sure if I’m detecting something that might be problematic, or if it is my “princess and the pea” syndrome rearing its ugly head.
Then again, nothing’s absolutely flat - I realized that when I was tucking the fitted sheet under the mattress and tucking the bottom corners of my comforter under the mattress to keep them off the floor - even doing that keeps the mattress from being completely flat because there are layers of fabric tucked under around the edges and corners.
Maybe it’s just that after 60+ years of screwing up, I’m always afraid I’m going to make yet another mistake with something important.
Hi Clawdia,
If I’m not mistaken you have your mattress “in” a hard sided waterbed foundation which would somewhat restrict airflow anyway with the wooden sides so I think that the bed rug would provide better ventilation under your mattress than a layer of wool.
I doubt that this would make any difference but the bed rug would probably help to even it out somewhat as well.
I think you did well this time and with the bed rug and the mattress and other good choices you made I think you will be set for a long time
Phoenix
For once (and it sure doesn’t happen often!) you are mistaken . . . my mattress is on a foundation that was part of a soft-sided waterbed set-up, not a hard-sided enclosed box. There’s a steel frame (with center support), and on top of that is the foundation that came with the waterbed - feels like just something like plywood covered by fabric, about 5-6" in height. Airflow isn’t restricted by anything other than by the mattress sitting on a solid piece of something hard, which I figure is a thin piece of wood but don’t know and can’t seem to find online how Sensa constructs the foundation for the Laurel style bed.
All the sides are open to unrestricted airflow. Does that change your opinion that a bed rug would be of benefit?
Thanks for saying you think I’ve done well.
Hi Clawdia,
Oops … I didn’t have the chance to go back through your posts last night and I only remembered that you had a waterbed foundation.
The bed rug would lower the risk with any solid surface although with the conditions you are describing the risk of a solid surface would be lower than if your sleeping environment was higher humidity or warmer. There is more about this in post #10 here.
You probably wouldn’t have an issue either way and FWIW … I use a solid surface (our adjustable bed) because the benefits of the bed were worth the higher risk of a solid surface for us. It really depends on how much “caution” you are most comfortable with.
Phoenix
Thanks, Phoenix.
I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I just need to stop worrying so much. 
Hey everyone!
Long time lurker first time poster here. I spent a good month and a half combing through posts on this board before deciding to purchase a DreamFoam Ultimate Dreams Latex mattress. It should be here this upcoming week! I decided to spend the weekend rearranging my room and getting rid of my old mattress when I noticed a huge issue with my bed frame.
I’ve got an Ethan Allen Lotus frame. I love the look and “lowness” of the bed, but there are a whopping four support beams w/ legs under my current mattress and box spring. They run W → E, and there is 17.5" between beams 1 and 2, 20" between 2 and 3, and 17.5" again between 3 and 4. Everything I’ve read has told me this simply won’t do for a latex mattress.
I’m interested in an economical, low-profile solution. I’ve seen the Crate&Barrel bunky board but along with less than stellar reviews it doesn’t seem to be highly regarded here. I’ve seen the slatted bases and foundations mentioned in the OP but they all seem to be 8-10" tall. I think I can put a low-profile 5-5.5" box spring/foundation in my frame without it throwing off the look too much but there are so many options to choose from and very little detail to help differentiate between products. For instance, Walmart has four low-profile foundations from Simmons and they all run $127 in queen size. They each list different warranty periods (10 years, 20 years, 25 years) but other than that appear to be exactly the same. What’s the difference between the $127 queen-sized low-profile Simmons foundation from Walmart and the $450 equivalent from Crate&Barrel?
Are there any low-profile box springs/foundations that come highly recommended by members here? Maybe a slatted base that I missed (the IKEA ones don’t seem to play well in my frame) that doesn’t cost nearly the same amount as the mattress I just bought?
Hi hipzilla,
Your bed is clearly designed for use with a bunkie board or a foundation on top of the cross beams and not meant for use directly under a mattress (you can see from the pictures as well that the mattress has a foundation underneath it). I’m not sure if you purchased the total latex mattress (in which case a foundation with gaps that are no more than 3" apart and preferably less would be best) or if your mattress is one of their hybrids with polyfoam in the base layers (in which case slightly larger gaps or a wire grid foundation would be fine) but you would need a foundation or bunkie board either way.
Unfortunately they don’t provide any details about the details of the support surface or construction so it’s hard to tell if this would be suitable for your mattress. There are a couple of slatted bunkie board options in post #2 here (one is a higher cost and quality organic version and with the other I would want to confirm the distance between the slats).
I don’t know the difference between the foundations outside of the appearance and externals and some of the extra features mentioned here in the more costly Triton foundations but the basic Triton foundation would be fine if your mattress has a polyfoam base layer. The Serta Stabl Base and the Sealy Shock Abbzorber base would also work fine and can be found in many stores. There is also a 5.5" KD foundation with gaps less than 3" apart and an organic cotton cover here.
Phoenix
I’m going to build a base for my BB Cool luxe but have a few questions before I begin. My main purpose of building my own is to keep cost low.
I am fully confident in my carpentry skills that I can build it but my knowledge of lumber is lacking. I know oak is strongest but would obviously be quite expensive and overkill for this project but I don’t want something too soft that will sag overtime.
My plan is use 2x10 for the outer frame (i like a high bed) and regular 2x4’s for frame support with 3" spaced slats across the top. I’ve read a lot that the slats are usually pine? Is that correct and if so why is this? I think moisture levels in the wood would also be a factor especially for the slats since the minimum 3" spacing is for ventilation. I saw one DIY foundation used 1/2" MDF cut into strips. Would this be sufficiently strong enough and cheaper than buying pre cut slats?
I’m going to put a fabric of some sort around the outside to cover the 2x10 frame for cosmetic purposes, but I’m wondering if I should cover the top too to keep any rough edges from snagging on the mattress? The only reason I’m not playing on the side of “better safe than sorry” is I wonder about air flow. Will covering the top restrict the air flow and negate the 3" gaps?