Guess we’ll give it a go, thanks!
Hi abravesfan25,
I’m looking forward to your comments and feedback when you receive everything … and congratulations on your new mattress 
Phoenix
Here is what my base looks like. I wonder if the Slats may not wide enough (but they are very closely spaced). They too have a little arch in them; I purchased the Ultimate Dreams Supreme 12" GEL. Phoenix is that ok with this type of Mattress?
Platform Bed, replacing Mattress with Ultimate Dreams, little arch to Slats
2.125" Slatss
2.25" Space between each Slat
Hi ocean2027,
Your slats would provide suitable support for your mattress and they would probably be fine as long as the flexible slats don’t have a detrimental effect on the feel and performance of your mattress compared to using a solid non flexing foundation or platform bed.
Phoenix
For anyone looking to reinforce their bed frame/slats/foundation, AliExpress (China’s eBay) has many adjustable bed legs (add on) in many sizes:
This was my go to option when I had an IKEA Hemnes bed frame with slats in mind for my future bedding setup, but I have since changed my mind and going with a foundation, metal bed frame (6 legs) and headboard alternative.
I bought many items from AliExpress, their shipping speed is no different than buying anything on eBay from China but their prices and money back guarantee policy is a better than eBay’s with a catch you may be speaking to someone with no so great knowledge of the English language…
We recently purchased a Casper mattress which resides on the floor of our bedroom. is it possible to make a slatted bed by simply using a basic queen metal frame and laying lumber/slats on it. Would this work or would you advise against this configuration? What would be the pitfalls?
Hi sjminneapolis,
A mattress with a polyfoam support core will be fine with any firm, flat, and evenly supportive support surface underneath it that has minimal to no flex under the mattress and for larger sizes with at least one center support beam that has good support to the floor to prevent any sagging in the middle of the mattress. The components need to be strong and durable enough to support the weight of the mattress and the people sleeping on it without some of the parts bending, sagging, shifting, or breaking with extended use. The support surface under the mattress should have enough surface area to prevent the mattress from sagging through any gaps or spaces in the support surface over time but still allow some airflow under the mattress. I would suggest that the gaps between the slats are no more than about 5" (with 1 x 3 slats) although less than 4" would be better yet.
Many bedframes are shorter than the foundation they are meant to support so they wouldn’t provide support under the whole mattress and if you put slats directly on a metal bedframe you would need some way to secure them to the frame to prevent them from shifting and falling through the frame but if it’s long enough and would meet the previous criteria it would be fine as long as you are OK with the lower height of your sleeping surface.
Something like the slat conversion kit here may also be worth considering.
Phoenix
I think Universal Bed Legs are great from attaching directly to recommended wood foundations for Latex and Foam mattresses:
http://www.universalbedlegs.com/product/
Comes in a set of 6 for twin and 9 for full/queen and 12 for king sizes which should be more than adequate support and center support for all Latex/Foam mattress setups with wood foundations.
Hi Phoenix,
First, a grateful thank you for this site and all you do. We needed to replace a very worn out 7 yr old mattress and went back to Sleep Country Canada, where were prepared to upgrade to memory foam when we happened upon your site and started educating ourselves. We have learned more than we ever thought we needed to know! And all the research lead us to find the Dunlop Arpico through NorthShore Linens, where Matt and his wife are so helpful. Their pricing is extremely competitive, the only drawback being that once it’s ordered it’s yours, there’s no “30 day sleep guarantee”, but Matt is clear about that from the onset and has no problem with you coming in and testing out as much as you need to. We have decided on the medium 6" base and super soft 3" topper. So far all that is good.
Here’s the problem and we here we need your help please. We have a 3 yr old bed that we are happy with, that of course nothing about slats or foundations was on our radar when we bought it. It’s a queen, and has 15 slightly bowed 2" wood slats spaced 3" apart, with a mid support beam and two middle legs. But at the top and bottom there is a 4.5-5" gap between the last slat and the metal frame. So here’s our dilemma.
1)We are trying the mattress at northshore linens on a firm no flexible ikea slat foundation, and ours has some definite flex (I can push down to even or past even very easily). We can’t try the mattress at home, and you have mentioned in other posts that it will change the feel of a mattress, should we be concerned?
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the spacing at the top and bottom is too wide. We were thinking of cutting a straight piece of slat from a lumbar yard, but it will be different from the existing slats, would this work, or what would you suggest?
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would you suggest either a mattress rug or a bunkie board over our slats? I prefer a mattress rug as the bed is only 4" deep. The only 2" shallow bunkie board I can find at a reasonable price to order locally would be Crate and Barrel and I see in previous posts you don’t seem thrilled with this one. Some of the others you recommend are out of our budge at this time and the slat conversions are too high for our bed frame and seem redundant.
Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for your help!
Hi Crackers,
While the only way to know for certain how it will affect the feel and performance of your mattress will be based on your own personal experience … I would also have some concern with this type of support system particularly if the slats bend past the point of being flat. The slats will also flex more in the middle of each side than they will at their attachment points in the center and each side of the slat system and in some cases you may also be able to feel the rigid center support in the middle of the bedframe. You can also see some similar comments and concerns from one of the more knowledgeable members here in post #4 here.
An all latex mattress will generally do best with a firm, flat, and evenly supportive support surface underneath it that has minimal to no flex under the mattress and for larger sizes with at least one center support beam that has good support to the floor to prevent any sagging in the middle of the mattress. The components need to be strong and durable enough to support the weight of the mattress and the people sleeping on it without some of the parts bending, sagging, or breaking over time. The support surface under the mattress should have enough surface area to prevent the mattress from sagging through any gaps or spaces in the support surface over time but still allow some airflow under the mattress. I would suggest that in a slatted support system that any gaps between the slats are no more than 3" (with 1 x 3 slats) although less than that would be better yet.
I would have more concerned with the issues I mentioned previously and the suitability of the slat system itself than I would with the larger gaps as the head and foot of the mattress where there is less weight to support although this isn’t ideal either. Adding some slats will provide better support at the head and foot but it wouldn’t solve the other issues with the slat system.
I don’t think that the bed rug would solve the issues I mentioned since they will still follow the flex in the slats. I would also question whether the flexible slat system would provide a stable, flat, and rigid support system underneath the bunkie board and it may also damage the attachment points for the slats (particularly if they are plastic) which aren’t designed to support a hard surface.
If your actual experience indicates that it’s necessary or would be beneficial … and assuming that it’s possible … I would tend to replace the flexible slat support system completely and replace it with a suitable non flexing slat system (that you can also purchase from a lumber yard) with good center support to the floor.
Phoenix
Phoenix, thank you for your prompt, and very thorough reply. Just to make sure I’m understanding this right, you’re thinking the ideal would be to take out the existing slats and actually replace them with non flexing ones? Being not very “handy”, I can’t figure out how we could actually do that. The slats have metal end caps fixed into the frame on each end, so the flex seems to be necessary to bend them to get them into the end caps, if you see what I mean. Would there be a next best suggestion if we can’t figure out how to do this? It was an expensive bed, we can’t just scrap it and we really have our hearts set on moving forward with the arpico, we just have to find a way to make this work.
There is good existing support to the floor, there are already two middle legs from the centre beam so that should work, if I not mistaken.
I contacted the local retailer where we purchased our bed, who contacted the local manufacturer of the bed. They suggested using a piece of plywood on top of the slats. I didn’t find this helpful based on the readings here about airflow, etc, or stability with the bowed slats. Oddly enough they said no one else has brought up this issue in 10 yrs, which seems kind of strange…
Hi crackers,
I would try your mattress with the bedframe and slats you currently have first to see how it works for you. You can also try your mattress on the floor to see how a non flexing support system (the floor) compares to the one you have.
If the flexible slats don’t work well with your mattress or if your mattress works better on the floor (which would indicate that it would work better on a solid non flexing support system) then you would need to figure out a way to remove the slats and the caps (which would probably also mean removing the center support beam and any side rails that the end caps are attached to) and replacing them with a new center support beam with support to the floor and new side rails that you can use to attach solid non flexing wooden slats (typically 1x3’s with less than 3" spacing) on top of them.
You could also try the plywood as well although as you mentioned it may not be completely stable or may make some noise if it moves or shifts on the flexible slats but your own experience will let you assess this. It would also remove any airflow under the mattress which can also be one of several risk factors that in some cases can add to the risk of mold and mildew under the mattress (see post #10 here) although if there are no other risk factors involved it would probably be fine.
Phoenix
Thanks for clarifying, Phoenix. I thought finding the right mattress would be the difficult part, but compared to the issues with the slats, the mattress decision was easy! We really want to get this right, so I’ll have a look at trying to get rid of the slats and caps and see what we can do to replace them with non flexing slats. The caps are plastic (not metal) and are attached/glued to a solid steel bed frame and the center bar is welded to the bed frame, so there aren’t any side pieces to get rid of. But I’m afraid it might be more work than I’m able to do, and I’ll be stuck with a bed that won’t be good for anything once I’m done. This really shouldn’t be so difficult should it?
Hi crackers,
Hopefully the mattress will work well on your bedframe as it is and all of this will be moot
Phoenix
Hi. Phoenix,
Here’s an update on our slat situation. There was no ways the flexible slats were going to hold the latex mattress. I pushed down on one slat and broke it, not a good sign! But Matt, the owner of Northshore Linens came up to our home and actually had a look at our bed (how’s that for great service!). And between us we came up with an easy, simple solution. I had 16 pieces of kiln dried fir cut at at the lumber yard, 5 foot by 2.5" x1" and they fit perfectly across the bed fame in between the old slats (which we pulled out) and used the plastic end caps as spacers so they don’t move. Strong, simple and non flexing! I’m hoping this will help someone else reading this who needs to do a similar conversion, as it turned out to be so easy once we figured it out. And less than. $100.
And yes, we would have liked the slats to be 3" or wider but we were limited by the plastic end caps that we’re glued to the metal frame and would have been too difficult to remove. So we sacrificed .5" of slat width to have the new slats fit inbetween the “spacers”. We will probably purchase a bed rug soon to help distribute the weight a little better to help make up for that if you think it would help.
So problem solved and now we can go ahead and pull the trigger on our latex mattress!
If I an ask you one more question please. We getting an Arpico Dunlop and pretty sure we have decided on the 6" medium base but we are dithering between either the 3" super soft or soft topper. We just can’t decide. They both feel good, but we are definitely leaning towards the super soft. I guess we are just worried that it feels so good, what if it softens up, then it will be too soft? I realize latex doesn’t soften up much, but this is a final sale, there’s no “30 day” or anything so we have to be sure. I’ve read every post on PPP and I’m just so worried going from a hard/firm old inner coil to something that feels so good that too soft feeling is going to be a mistake? Any last minute words of advice? We are going for one last nap test tomorrow and then hoping to put in our order. This has been one long process, and thank you for all your help!
Hi crackers,
With sixteen 2.5" fir slats I think your solution will work well without a bed rug in terms of support. If the plastic slat holders are higher than the slats and would be impressing into the mattress to any significant degree then the bed rug may help to protect the latex from any damage or tearing over time but if they are even with the slats then you probably wouldn’t need it. Way to go
The mattress you are testing in the store has probably already been broken in so it should be a good indication of what your mattress will feel like after you have gone through any initial break in period as well.
I can’t feel what you feel or see you on the mattress so I really don’t have any way to advise you except to say that I would choose the one that your careful testing indicates is the best match for you in terms of PPP and that you believe you will sleep best on (which is the most important part of the “value” of a mattress purchase). If you have confirmed that the softer version keeps you in good alignment and that your muscles can “let go” and there is no muscle tension when you lie on it in your normal sleeping positions for an extended period of time and it’s your clear preference then I would tend to choose the one that you prefer, If you really didn’t have any clear preference and both of them were well inside the comfort/support range that is suitable for you and they were “equal” choices then (and only then) I would tend to choose the firmer of the two.
I would also keep in mind that with a mattress that has separate layers or components (or a separate topper) that the worst case would be that you may need to replace the top layer (or topper) rather than the whole mattress if any softening takes you outside the comfort/support range that is suitable for you or if your needs and preferences change over time. I personally would rather sleep better for a little shorter period of time than sleep worse for a little longer period of time.
Phoenix
Hi Phoenix,
I have a 12" latex mattress from Foam Sweet Foam. At the time I bought it I asked if I needed a new foundation and they said if your box spring doesn’t sag it’s OK to use. I have been using the box spring with it for a bout a year but I definitely do feel like it’s sagging and want to get a new foundation. After much reading/researching (thank you!) I’ve decided on a wood slat foundation for my queen bed and am trying to decide between these two:
1 - .Slatted wood foundation from mattresses.net for $249 (or $236.55 with 5% discount via this site)
OR
2 - Slatted wood foundation from Sleep EZ for $275 (no discount available).
They are both 8 inches high and seem to be less than 3 inches between slats. From what I can glean from their websites, it looks like the only difference is the Sleep EZ foundation has an organic cotton cover and the mattresses.net just has a beige cover that you have to tuck under the foundation. If that really is the only difference, I think I’d go for the cheaper one. But if the wood on one is better than the other or more slats or whatever I might be persuaded to go for the higher priced foundation. Do you know if there is any difference in these two foundations beyond the cover?
Thank you in advance!
Hi Beth2014,
I don’t have any personal experience with either of them so they would be the best source for the type of more detailed and specific information you are looking for about any differences between them but as far as I know the The USBoxspring/SleepEZ foundation and the mattresses.net foundation both use the same wood (Spruce) and are fairly similar. The main difference would be in the cover with USBoxspring using an organic cotton cover with a quilted border.
Either one of them would be suitable for an all latex mattress.
Phoenix
I’m wondering if it’s possible to put one of the boxsprings suggested on a platform bed frame if I remove the slats on the bed? Or do I need to retrofit the bed by adding corner pieces. I’m getting a replacement mattress and they suggest I improve my foundation since my slats are 3.5 inches apart. My wife has always been concerned about the bed feeling too fragile too (a slat broke) so I’m hoping getting some closer slats will help with durability/stability.
Hi voxware,
I’m not sure if you are clear about the difference between a box spring and a foundation and there are many less people in the industry that incorrectly call foundations “box springs”. A box spring actually has springs inside it that flex and foundations don’t have any springs inside and have a support surface that is either a solid surface or a wire grid or uses slats to support the mattress and they have very little to no flex at all. Most of the mattresses in the industry today are designed to be used with a foundation … not a box spring. Foundations come in different heights that range from a bunkie board (usually about 2" thick) to taller foundations that are in the range of 8" to 10". The different heights are just a preference so that in combination with a bedframe and a mattress your sleeping surface ends up being the height that you prefer. There are also many platform beds that are also suitable for use directly under a mattress without a foundation as long as the slats are close enough together to prevent the mattress from sagging into any gaps in the support surface.
I don’t know what your platform bed looks like or how it’s constructed (a picture may help) but you should be able to put a foundation or a bunkie board (if you want the least possible extra height) directly on the slats so you wouldn’t need to remove them first. You would need at least 5 hardwood cross slats and good center support to the floor to provide suitable support a foundation.
You may also be able to add additional slats in between the ones you have or remove them completely and replace them with stronger slats that are closer together instead of adding a foundation.
Phoenix