Understanding Mattress Quality - Northeast Furniture Direct

Understanding Mattress Quality:
By Northeast Furniture Direct Stoughton, Ma visit www.nefurnituredirect.com
Mattress retailers have a reputation for using questionable sales practices. It is therefore a good idea to arm yourself with information before you go shopping. Learn what matters and doesn’t matter in mattress construction. Learn to recognize common sales techniques.
In terms of mattress construction, there have been significant improvements over the last ten years. As long as you don’t go into the low end of the market, durability should not be significantly different among brands and models. Major attributes to consider are firmness, and construction.
1. Firmness – test out the mattress to make sure it feels comfortable. Also make sure that the firmness is consistent across all areas of the mattress.
2. Construction – learn about how the mattress is made. More expensive mattresses typically have damask ticking, thicker padding, higher coil counts, and a cushion sewn into the mattress. Coil count and configuration seem to have little effect on durability. Sagging in mattresses is caused by the padding, not the coils. Therefore, when comparing mattresses look at for thicker, higher quality padding.
Types:
Innerspring Mattress – a mattress with coiled metal springs layered between sheets of padding
Other Bedding - Foam Mattresses, Featherbed , Futons, and Waterbeds
The focus of this article is on innerspring mattresses.
Attributes:
Size – There are five sizes to chose from: Twin 39 X 75 inches, Full/double 53 X 75, Queen 60 X 80, King 78 X 80, and California King 72 X 84. Chose a larger size if you want to have more room to shift from side to side without bumping into your partner. Chose a smaller bed if you room is not large enough to accommodate a large bed.
Softness – Make sure the mattress is soft at contact points, if not you will begin to ache causing you to toss and turn, and not sleep well.
Support – The mattress should be firm enough to keep your body well aligned during sleep. If too soft, your spine and neck will not be supported, and you will get a sore neck and back.
Construction – Different levels of durability and performance can be determined by different construction techniques (primarily by the type and thickness of the padding). See below for more description of different constructions.
Appearance – Look at the color, fabric, and stick pattern to assess quality. However, remember that the mattress will be covered with sheets 99.9% of the time.
Construction Attributes:
Ticking - The mattress’ outermost layer. Most are made of a cotton-polyester blend, polyester, or vinyl. Vinyl is used on the cheaper mattresses.
Quilting and top padding – Most mattresses have a few layers of padding attached to the ticking. These are generally made of foam.
Middle padding – Often starts with "egg-carton" foam. May also include thick wads of cotton called garnetted cotton.
Insulated padding – Lies directly on top of the springs to prevent them from being felt. Common materials include: matted fabric, plastic fibers, and coco padding (fibers from coconut husks).
Coil count – A premium full-size unit will have 400 or more coils, a low end might have 312 coils. {Likely has little effect on performance and durability}
Coil configurations – The organization of coils, e.g. hourglass, individual pockets, sense and respond coils, etc. {Likely has little effect on performance and durability}
Handles – Most include handles for use when positioning the mattress. They are not meant for carrying the full weight.
Box Spring (foundation) – Provides extra softness and comfort. It can be simply a wooden frame covered with boards, a wooden frame with springs, or a metal frame with springs. Some recommend buying mattresses and box springs as a set because they are engineered to work together.
Where to buy:
1. Brick-and-Mortar Stores – includes department stores, chains, and boutiques. Allow you to test the mattress out, but require a significant time investment to comparison shop.
2. Mattresses by phone companies – more convenient than brick-and-mortar stores, but can be slippery on pricing and returns. Many offer different prices each time they’re called. The upside, however, is you can likely negotiate over the phone by quoting competitor prices. An additional area to be wary is with returns. Be sure that you can return or exchange the mattress without paying fees or being forced to pay full retail on the exchange.
3. Internet – offer low prices, but you can’t test the mattress before you buy. You may have difficulty returning if something goes wrong.
Be sure to check with the local BBB<> for complaints before buying.
Marketing Tactics:
Bait and switch advertisement – some stores use ads for cheap mattresses to get you to the store. Once in, you’ll be led to a costlier model.
Questionable pricing – Stores list prices that nobody ever pays, discount prices that are open for further discounting with negotiation.
Fine print – Some stores have additional charges that you don’t find out about until something goes wrong.
Late deliveries – Many promise to deliver within 24 hours, often it takes two to three weeks in reality.
Confusing jargon – Each company has its own set of terms for mattress quality and construction techniques, making it difficult for consumers to comparison shop.
Comparables - The names of almost identical mattresses ("comparables") often differ from one store to the next. This is another way comparison shopping is discouraged.

Northeast Furniture Direct Stoughton, Ma 781-626-0843
Visit www.nefurnituredirect.com