A foam mattress I am considering calls for 1.5 spacing between slats. Only one I am seeing is PJS and I am looking for an alternative because of combined cost and shipping. Are wood slats on a metal frame ok? If so should they be bolted or secured in some way?
Hi Napper,
Yes, that is quite close spacing between gaps.
One option you may wish to consider would be the use of a coir bed rug (or similar product) on top of a slatted network that has a more common 3" gap, as this will offer a substantial increase in “surface tension” to effectively make the surface more appropriate for items requiring closer slat spacing. As an example, Savvy Rest recently introduced their pocketed spring mattress, and they desire a 2" or less gap spacing between slats, so they recommended that their clients use their coir bed rug on top of the foundation system that they offer to effectively “bridge” that wider slat space.
Regarding your other question, I believe you are asking if you could place slats on top of a traditional metal bed frame with wheels on it that would normally support a box spring or foundation – is that correct? While with proper center reinforcement you certainly could attempt something like this, the issue you’d end up having would be that a normal metal bed frame stops about 10" or so short of the actual length of the mattress, so you’d have quite a bit of distance left unsupported at the end of the mattress.
I’m not sure if I addressed your question correctly, so if not, please post again and clarify for me exactly what you’re thinking of doing, and I’ll do my best to reply more accurately.
Phoenix
Thank you,for the response. You did understand it and address it correctly. I think I will be going with a different mattress. They did not say no when I asked if the coir bed bed rug on top of slats a little wider apart would be acceptable but they said they recommend the 1.5 spacing.
I did not think about the metal frame being shorter, thank you for pointing that out. I think I will be selecting a different mattress,
Hi Napper,
Thanks for the update and confirmation. I appreciate it. I thought I was correct in my assumption about the bed frame, but it’s always good to check. 
Phoenix
Hi, I don’t know how to make my own post in this forum but I had a similar question. I have a Best Price Mattress Model E platform bed with metal slats in Cal King size, and I just realized when switching mattresses that the slats are 3.5" apart rather than 2.5". Apparently the company does not sell replacement slats.
Would it be better to add in a couple wood slats, or to buy something like a bunkie bed? I wasn’t sure if the inconcsistency between wood/metal slats would be an issue, especially since the metal slats are only a half inch thick and a wood of equivalent thickness would probably not be as supportive.
Or another question, does the less than 3" spacing for a latex mattress matter? The last couple I’ve returned for being too soft so I’m not sure if this is a contributing factor.
Thanks so much for the help!
Hi HarambeDidNothingWrong.
A combination of wooden and steel slats would not create issues and could be a good solution to having the required gap distance between slats for your current mattress. Adding more slats would, of course, solve the problem because IMO almost 4" is clearly too far apart for a latex mattress. Using slightly thicker wood slats would not pose an issue either as the height difference is not significant. Regarding the wood bending in the center, this can be easily addressed by converting the added wooden slats to T-slats. (For details of how to do this see Reinforced T-Slat Guide handout created by Jeff (Beducator from Mattress To Go and TMU expert)
An all latex mattress does best on a strong solid base with enough supportive surface to ensure that it doesn’t sink through any gaps. For latex, I generally recommend solid slats that are no more than 3" apart (or preferably less) but that differs from manufacturer to manufacturer so it is best to find out what they require so that it does not void your warranty.
With its 3.86" steel slat support, seven legs and central reinforcement the frame seems quite sturdy and while they don’t list the load capacity for Model E based on the metal weight and construction I wouldn’t have concerns about it sagging under load. The 3.5" gap between the slats wouldn’t generally contribute to the mattress being too soft which in your case is probably more connected with the firmness choice of the materials selected.
Phoenix
Phoenix,
Thanks so much for the response! Your mattress forum has been a huge help in my mattress-search by the way. I picked up some wooden slats to fill in the gaps and now am looking at closer to 2-2.5" gaps so I think at will be better. I was a bit off in my measurement of slat thickness though, and my wooden slats are about 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch thicker than the metal ones, so the support is a bit uneven. Do you think that would cause any long term durability issues for me? Thanks again!
Hi HarambeDidNothingWrong.
You are very welcome! 
Latex is a very resilient and elastic material, which can compress in many directions not only vertically and has much greater shear forces (forces that act in different directions and are parallel to a surface rather than vertical to the surface) than any other types of foams. A ÂĽ" or 1/3" height difference would not impact the durability or support in any meaningful way. The thicker wooden slat would slightly compress the latex in the area of contact and gently stretch the latex skin.
Phoenix
Perfect, thanks!
Glad to be of help!