What is in a mattress?

The next, but less important thing, to remember about mattresses is how they are made and what they are made of.

There are many, many ways to make a mattress. The list of products that have been used through history to make them is a long one. However, nowadays, mattress manufacturers have focussed around a few (winning?) technologies.

The first bit to understand is the springing system. In this area there are 2 major categories: sprung (also known as open coil, regular sprung and lots of other names) and pocket sprung.

A sprung mattress consists of a lattice of springs tied together with wire – the kind of thing you see rusting in a land fill or on top of skip. This a simple and less expensive structure. Life span of between 3-7 years.

A pocket sprung mattress has each spring wrapped in a pocket of fabric. This gives a slower,  softer bounce and also extends the life of the springs. Usually a pocket sprung mattress will last between 7-12 years. Every so often we get a couple coming into the shop with  stories of great lifetimes on their mattresses – the longest I ever heard was 23 years.

So that’s the major spring categories.

After that it is just a question of what padding is layered over this spring mechanism.

From more traditional cotton and horse hair, to memory foam and latex.

Memory foam maintains its popularity – and as the name suggests it holds the shape of your body. There are different layers of memory thickness and density that are applied – so when comparing make sure you are comparing like with like.

Latex is a rubber that we at Montana really like on mattresses. It is a little more expensive, but, from personal experience, it does the trick for this 15 stone lump.

Remember, though, from the previous post, the ‘best mattress’ is the one that lets you have a comfortable, good night’s sleep – and that really is different for every one of us. Let me know if you have any questions, always available here to help.

Cheers

Mark

How to buy mattresses? The lowdown

Or: How to get a good night’s sleep?

You have probably heard the one:  Choose mattresses and shoes wisely, because if you are not on one, you are on the other.

Well, there is quite a bit of truth in this. As a furniture retailer, I will avoid talking about buying shoes, and try to share whatever wisdom I have regarding mattresses.

The temptation now is to launch into a detailed explanation of the specification on each type of mattress (I will get to all that stuff later) However, that is the kind of the mistake I constantly see with folks coming into our shop.

The most important thing about a mattress is that it supports you comfortably for a good night’s sleep. So I will lead with that.

And if you think about it, sleeping is all about your body’s comfort. And every body is different. So everyone’s favourite mattress will be different. That is really important. So it is practically impossible to select a mattress without lying on it.

So spend time (we recommend about 30 minutes) lying on your mattress before you choose it.

Technical discussion of mattress specifications to follow.