Can you use a mattress without a box spring?

[MELSMICE]

Kind of a dumb question, but in our Florida condo there is a very deep queen mattress. I don't know if it's a special kind but it's very high. I need to climb up knee fist to get into the bed..........well, at least I had to.

We just purchased & received new furniture, so the queen mattress is going in the new set in the guest room (we now have a king ).

Anyway, can you use a mattress without a box spring? It is so high that I believe it will be a real hinderance for any guests that stay with us or anyone that rents our place. If we get rid of the box spring it would be a normal height.

Honestly, it's so high that when DH & I took the old set apart last night for today's delivery, we slept with the box spring & mattress right on the floor & it didn't even feel like we were sleeping without a bed frame!

 

[tlbwriter]

I don't know, but I *do* know that you can get a low-profile box spring for extra deep mattresses.

 

[MELSMICE]

I don't know, but I *do* know that you can get a low-profile box spring for extra deep mattresses.

Oh really? Any idea where you can get one of those?

 

[wvjules]

We couldn't get our box spring up the stupid stairs so we ended up buying a bunky board from Crate and Barrel. It doesnt provide the amount of support a regular box spring does but it will work as a guest bed pretty well.

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/furniture/mattresses-foundations/bunky-board-queen/s417389

 

[luvflorida]

Our younger daughter is a Junior in college this year and is sharing a house near the campus with two roommates. We bought her a new headboard and footboard set from IKEA. The frame that the mattress sits on is metal, as well as the headboard and footboard. We helped her put it all together and helped put her queen-size boxspring and mattress on it.

The second it was all together, we knew something just didn't look right. The top mattress was really, really high. There was no way someone could easily climb into that bed, especially our 4' 10" daughter. A stepladder would have been necessary.

So she decided to remove the boxspring and only use the mattress. It then became apparent that the bedframe was made to be used with just a mattress. Without the boxspring, it was a normal height. So yeah, you can use just a mattress with the right frame.

 

[FireDancer]

I don't use a box spring at all. I have a platform bed which came with slats that the mattress rests on.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

yes, we just bought one without a box spring. Saved a couple hundred too!

 

[tlbwriter]

Oh really? Any idea where you can get one of those?

We got it at the same store where we got our super-high mattress. Any mattress store should carry them.

 

[Wall-E1]

You are allowed to forgo the box spring as long as you DO NOT remove the mattress tag.

 

[Geoff_M]

As long as you have something to support the mattress, then you don't need box springs. For example our first bed was a Scandinavian design "slat" bed. Instead of a box spring, there was a series of narrow wooden slats (each about 2 inches wide and 6 inches apart) that ran across the bed frame that supported the mattress and provided some "give" as they'd flex under weight. If you like a firm bed, you can also support the mattress with a sheet of plywood... that's how my youth bed was.

 

[msmayor]

My son has a platform bed, so his mattress doesn't need a box spring.

So yes, you can use a mattress without one, but its important to make sure it is fully supported underneath. Many bed frames only have two or three metal slats across the frame because the box spring provides sufficient all-over support. If you remove that all-over support, the mattress will sag in areas where its 'open'.

If you have one of those 'open' frames, consider getting a piece of plywood to use as the support, in effect creating a platform for the mattress.

 

[amyren]

As others have said you can use a mattress without the box spring as long as it's supported. I work for a furniture manufacturer and we make "captain's beds" (beds with drawers underneath) that don't accommodate box springs. We provide the client with sheets of 3/4" plywood to fit under the mattress. I would either do that or use lots of sturdy bed slats.