Hi Alex,

Many thanks for your question and sorry to hear you're struggling with your current bed in a box mattress.

Mattresses & Coronavirus

It's a really concerning time for everyone with the Coronavirus outbreak. It's a really difficult situation for everyone and we're doing everything we can to help stop the spread. We've increased our teams distancing in the workshop and have slowed down our processes to enable people to stay apart. Good hygiene and being sensible are key to slowing the spread and enabling us to continue selling our hand made mattresses here in the UK.

Luckily we don't import mattresses or huge amounts of materials. Always choosing UK based suppliers and making our beds in small teams in Yorkshire. We're doing our best to keep people in jobs and are still able to manufacture our mattress models and deliver to you at present.

We have 4 different delivery options you can choose from:

1. Free Standard Delivery– including assembly is available as usual.
2. Limited contact Delivery – You can open the door and go into another room. We will then assemble the bed and remove all packaging and leave your property. We will let you know when we have finished.
3. No contact Delivery– We can deliver the bed to the front door and allow you to take the delivery in yourself.
4. Delayed Delivery– we can hold your delivery until you notify us that you are ready to receive it from us at no extra cost.

Please note delivery specifics may change at any time so make sure you follow our up to date position here.

In terms of virus spread its thought to be low risk with fabrics. We also double bag our mattresses and remove the external packaging. This coupled with our teams washing their hands in between touching materials means we are significantly reducing the chances of passing the virus onto surfaces.

We believe the virus can live for upto 48 hours on hard surfaces but given that the plastic bags are removed and taken away with us really reduces any potential issues. Then the bed - which has air sealed from the workshop - is then placed on your base and you could even leave this for a day or two to air if you're concerned. However, once you've put fresh clean bedding on and a mattress protector the chances of catching anything from the bed is extremely low given no bodily fluids are present on the mattress.
This brings us onto an important point over hotel bedrooms, guesthouses and pillows.

If during Covid-19 you are using hotels or other peoples beds we would advise you to take your own pillow. Given that the virus is spread primarily through bodily fluids, mainly sneezing and coughing, it would be sensible to use your own pillow where your face makes contact.

Also, solid bedroom hygiene is a must at these difficult times. Wash your bedding weekly on a 60-degree wash, vacuum and turn your mattress monthly. To ensure the highest bedroom cleanliness to protect against coronavirus and any other bedroom allergens.

So hopefully that gives you some reassurance during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Bed in a box issues

Right time for some bed & mattress advice! Mattresses in a box have come under a lot of criticism recently (mainly as they are now approaching the end of their shelf life of 2-3 years). It's around this time that the likes of Casper, Emma, Leesa, MADE and Otty are going to start to show the drawbacks of one sided foam mattresses. Mainly compression and sagging from sleeping in the same position every night without being able to turn these one sided models.

You've also identified the heat build-up issue that these foam boxed mattresses have. All forms of memory foam and synthetic man-made foam mattresses will retain far more heat than traditionally upholstered pocket spring models. This is because memory foam is heat retentive by nature and secondly far less breathable than natural upholstery and pocket springs which allow airflow through them. For a lot of bed in a box customers, this heat can be unbearable, cause night sweats and also damage the mattress due to excess perspiration during the night. This is why mattress hygiene is so essential with these models.

These mattress models are usually entry-level at around £500. It may be interesting to see what should you expect from a £500 mattress and alternatives here.

How much to spend on a double mattress?	What can I expect for my money?
Under £500	Will not get you much at best a 13.5 gauge open coil/cage sprung with a thin polyester layer or a solid foam mattress.
£500	Entry level spunbond springs with some form of synthetic upholstery. Usually one sided mattresses.
£750	The beginnings of a basic pocket springs unit with 800 – 1000 count. No substantial amount of filling other than foams and synthetic materials. Two sided models.
£1000	Should get you away from most low ranges and into the mid-range pocket spring models.
£1250	Should get you a decent pocket sprung mattress with some Natural Fibre content.
£1500	Should get you many manufacturers mid-range models with Natural Fibres
£1500-£2000	Should get you a Hand Made primarily Natural Fibre Quality Mattress
£2000+	You should expect 100% Natural Fibres and Traditional Hand Made Construction Method.
£5000+	A Bespoke Hand Made Sleep System, High-end Spring Units & Featuring the Worlds Most Luxurious Natural Fibres.

Firm Mattress Suggestion

For your bodyweight and preference for a firmer mattress have a look at the Artisan 1500 natural fibre mattress. It's a two-sided mattress that's breathable, far cooler than boxed mattresses and has 53% Natural fillings inside. It also has a huge 4300gsm (grams per square meter) of upholstery. It will far outlast any boxed internet mattresses and at £1005 is a much better investment.

At your bodyweight we would recommend a medium spring gauge ie 1.4.

Bodyweight	Spring tension
Upto 16 Stone / 50-101kg	Medium (1.4mm)
16 Stone / 101kg Upwards	Firm (1.6mm)
Available in Bespoke Products (Please Call)	Soft (1.2mm)

What to expect from a £1000 mattress?

We get asked a lot what you should expect from a £1000 mattress and have a detailed guide here. To summarise you should expect:

• Around 1000-1500 pocket springs (not cage sprung)
• 1500-2000gsm of upholstery content (usually primarily synthetic at this price point)
• 2 Sided mattress models

Below is also a table to show the types of fibres you should expect to see.

Upholstery Layer	Fibre Type	How it will feel?	Price Point
Polyester	Synthetic	Soft	Cheap
White Fibre	Synthetic	Soft/Medium	Cheap
Recycled Fibre / Eco Fibre	Synthetic	Medium	Cheap
Memory Foam	Synthetic	Medium/Firm	Mid Price
Igel / Hybrid Foam	Synthetic	Medium/Firm	Mid Price
Polycotton	Synthetic/Natural Blend	Soft/Medium	Mid Price
Linen	Synthetic/Natural Blend	Medium	Mid Price
Wool	Natural	Soft	High-End

We know that Coronavirus is causing all sorts of troubles at the moment and we must all be diligent to help stop its spread. Which is why we have taken so many additional precautions over the government's guidelines. We as a nation also need to support independent local businesses. We are not a huge corporation but a small independent. We employ skilled craftswomen and men to hand make our models and we rely on the support of people who want a quality product a realistic price.

May we thank all of our customers for their unwavering support during this difficult time as we continue to supply the best hand made UK mattresses.

All our best

John & Ryan