Understanding your mattress - what to look for when buying a bed

Why can’t I find out what’s inside mattress models?

This brings us to the most important question when trying to understand mattresses and that’s knowing what’s inside them. 99% of all mattress brands and retailers actively hide the contents of their mattress. They may give loose descriptions of what’s inside their mattress and an arbitrary spring count in the thousands but they give away no real discernable information on their beds.

Why do they hide what is inside their mattresses? So you can’t compare their beds with other models all so they can make a quicker sale.

They want you to base your decision on the spring count and price alone. If they did disclose exactly what’s inside their mattresses, then a quick online search for that model would then highlight a number of comparative models all at different prices. If they did disclose what’s inside then it would slow down the conversion rate of their sales as you would have far more to think about. You would also quickly be able to see that the model you’re looking at is overpriced or the upholstery unsuitable for your needs.

The problem with this mattress sales method is that you the consumer are 9 times out of 10 just guessing when buying a new mattress. That’s where we differ. We tell you exactly what’s inside our mattresses and want you to compare. This is the only way you can find a truly suitable quality mattress.

Let’s look a bit more at the two areas of mattress construction you need to know far more about:

1. Mattress Support Units
2. Mattress Comfort Layers

1. The Mattress Support Unit

This is the fundamental starting point when looking for a mattress. Finding a suitable support unit for your body weight and height.

Once you’ve established the correct spring tension and pocket spring type you will have to look for supplementary layers of comfort (upholstery placed on top of this spring unit) that will make the mattress entirely suitable for you. You are also trying to ensure the mattress will stay as new for as long as possible without losing any of the support quality.

The higher quality spring unit you can afford will ensure a far longer lifespan than a cheaper cage sprung model. Calico pocket springs will outperform any other support unit. It’s not unthinkable to have a calico pocket spring mattress last 10-20 years if well looked after.

However, spring counts on their own can be highly misleading. There’s a sales tactic of ever-increasing this figure to baffle and confuse the consumer.

Let’s be clear 1000-2000 quality pocket springs is the sweet spot in a king-size mattress.

Anything over this involves layers of pretty much useless micro or HD springs. We explain more in the pocket spring video guide below.

2. The Comfort Layers of a mattress

This means that once you have the correct level of support from the mattress to suit the weight (load) that will be applied, you then have to mix and match separate comfort layers to make the mattress ideally comfortable for you. To sleep directly on a mattress without a protector and or topper is akin to wearing trainers without socks! It will not be too long before the mattress is stained and flattened beyond redemption.

You need to ask the retail to detail exactly what makes up these comfort layers.

• What upholstery is it? ie Wool, Polyester, Horsehair etc?
• What’s the gram per square meter of that upholstery (which tells you how much of it is contained).
• Is this fibre natural or a synthetic man-made fibre?
• Is the fibre a blend? If no what percentage?

As a guide, you want to be looking for at least 1000GSM in a kingsize mattress if not more!

It seems absurd that 99% of all mattresses are sold under the premise that they are the finished product. Sadly in most cases, this is not true and there is no way that this can be deemed to be the case.

Especially when looking at the midpoint mattresses sold at most retailers. There is no way that these models with limited synthetic fillings can be the perfect end result for your best nights sleep. There’s simply not enough quality upholstery to provide the comfort you may need.

When you look at Savoir Beds, Hastens, Marshall and Stewart, Vi-Spring (all premier mattress manufacturers) they all contain huge amounts of natural fibre fillings, sometimes in excess of 4000 GSM. Whereas midpoint retail mattresses may only contain 1000GSM. It’s for this reason that if you’re buying a mattress under £1000 for a kingsize you will ideally need to partner this with an additional removable matrtess toppers. This is to increase the comfort layer and provide you with a much more advanced sleep surface. Adding a topper can turn a good mattress into an amazing mattress and is definitely worth the investment in your search for sleep perfection!

Mattress Toppers can be an integral part of your mattress for many reasons:

• Provide a barrier from the copious amounts of perspiration we expire each night
• Provide an additional level of upholstery that can be replaced once wear and tear have taken its toll
• Able to be shaken and aired as regular maintenance
• Protect the primary comfort layer built into the actual mattress

Support and comfort as separate parts

Once you subscribe to this thesis of separate purchase of support and comfort you will be able to adapt your mattress to make it entirely suitable for your needs. This site goes into great depth about the different spring types and the different types of upholstery to show you where your money is going and to explain whether you actually need all the bells and whistles that are applied to such.

Understanding what your budget can feasibly get you will make your purchase easy. You will soon come to realise that many products are over-hyped, overpriced pieces of tat. Spend your money on what your body actually needs!

It is worth bearing in mind that there is only so much upholstery that can be contained in any mattress. When considering your mattress purchase, you will have to keep looking at whether any additional £100 or so is better spent on upholstery contained or would it be better spent on separate comfort layers? It does become a juggling act but after a few comparisons, it can become relatively easy. The upholstery table below will help you see exactly where on the price spectrum certain fibres sit. This will allow you to work out whether that mattress you’re looking at can actually contain these fibres at that price point or whether you should be expecting better fibres even!

The more you have to spend the better the combination you can expect to achieve. The additional money being spent will be on the higher quality of materials used which can help extend the longevity and comfort of your mattress. As a general guide on what to expect for your money when buying a new mattress, we have a handy table below.

Summary

This is just a starter post on what you are up against. It is very hard to give a general explanation considering the vast array of price points and what these price points will give you. After you have read a few of our articles you will soon come to understand what it is you should be looking for and more importantly where your money is going.

Why not ring our friendly team on 0161 437 4419 for a personalised recommendation to find the most suitable mattress for your requirements?