I recently purchased a pure LatexBliss mattress and it’s matching foundation. post #3 I chatted with Pete, The Mattress Expert, about how PLB’s foundation is made with 2 - 1" x 3" head to toe wooden support pieces ~20" apart and no middle support piece like other wooden foundations. His reply was that it was made for this type of frame, 3 crossbars with the middle crossbar having a center support. I read in a few places that for a heavy mattress a steel frame with a head to toe center bar with crossbars gives the best support, i.e., like the frame I purchased.
Or do both give adequate support for a latex mattress?
Both the steel frame and the foundation are part of the support structure for the mattress and the “best” combination of steel frame and foundation would depend on how well the load bearing surfaces matched up to each other and supported the weight of the mattress and you on top of it. If a steel frame has a center rail with support to the floor this would certainly provide strong support in the center of a foundation and be capable of supporting a large load but the strength of all the load bearing surfaces of the frame / foundation combination is just as important and if they don’t match, the strongest part of one may be under a weaker part of another and then the weakest link could be the center of the foundation which was supporting a higher load in a weaker area of the foundation.
So you could end up using the frame and foundation you have and in hindsight never end up having any issues but with foresight the risk of sagging and/or something breaking would be higher with the center beam frame and foundation combination that you have and not surprisingly what Pete is saying makes perfect sense to me both in theory and in terms of reducing the risk of failure or sagging in your support system choices.
I have talked with several retailers who are not particularly thrilled with the design of the PLB foundations.
Phoenix,
Thanks for the quick reply. I can see Pete’s reasoning since my bed frame is only giving the 2 - 1’ X 3" head to toe wooden support pieces 2 points of support each. The 2 head to toe wooden pieces are 20" in from the side rails and 10" from the center beam, so they are getting some support from the center beam. The frame I purchased is a super heavy duty frame so I think it is more than adequate to support the mattress and foundation and there will not be any problems. I have not heard any creaking sounds yet.
What the PLB foundation needs is a 7 leg, 3 cross beam, steel frame like this one. This would give the 2 wooden support pieces 3 points of support, although none of the pieces would rest directly over the support legs.
So a heads up to those that are thinking about purchasing a PLB mattress and PLB matching foundation. Their wooden foundation construction is not conventional and requires a 3 cross beam steel frame; or as I already posted, post #3, purchase a different foundation.