Furniture Builders

[Sphexi]

What's the purpose of a box-spring, other than to lift up the mattress off the frame, and to keep it evenly supported? Could simple plywood do the same, or is there something special you need to have underneath a mattress?

 

[ElFenix]

yes plywood could do the same. heck, you don't even need to use something completely solid. mine kinda looks like a ladder (spaced much more closely, of course).

 

[Sphexi]

I can understand the use of raising the bed up with a traditional frame, but what if you have some sort of a platform bed, something like a box of itself, that the mattress sits inside of? Seems to me that it'd work perfectly fine.

 

[BigJ]

For modern beds with boards that go across, not a damn thing.

My beds pretty old and if it wasn't for the box spring, the mattress would fall through the frame. So yea, no specific purpose for it besides just a hard surface that looks decent.

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: BigJ
For modern beds with boards that go across, not a damn thing.

My beds pretty old and if it wasn't for the box spring, the mattress would fall through the frame. So yea, no specific purpose for it besides just a hard surface that looks decent.

Good to know. I'm always drawing up plans for stuff to build one day when we buy a house. I'd love to build a nice platform bed, one that literally starts on the floor and then is just the mattress on top. Now that I know I don't need a box-spring it gets a lot easier.

 

[alkemyst]

Some boxes offer suspensions...many are just platforms and no different than a board.

 

[MaxDepth]

Box springs off extra coil by coil support of the mattress. If you have a mattress that is relatively new (last five years) and has independently wrapped coils, then all you need are five to seven slats to support the mattress if it is in a bedframe. I like my box springs with my sealey independent coils because it makes the sleeping surface extra firm.

 

[waffleironhead]

Just sitting the mattress right on plywood is somthing you may want to avoid if you live in a damp area. I've encountered mold growth between the bottom of a mattress and the plywood. But this was when living in a damp basement apartment.

 

[ryan256]

Originally posted by: Sphexi

Originally posted by: BigJ
For modern beds with boards that go across, not a damn thing.

My beds pretty old and if it wasn't for the box spring, the mattress would fall through the frame. So yea, no specific purpose for it besides just a hard surface that looks decent.

Good to know. I'm always drawing up plans for stuff to build one day when we buy a house. I'd love to build a nice platform bed, one that literally starts on the floor and then is just the mattress on top. Now that I know I don't need a box-spring it gets a lot easier.

I actually did build myself a platform bed a few months back. Looks great I think. Has 3 drawers on each side. But I built it to where the box springs sinks into the frame and only the mattress is visible on top. I'll take some photos and see if I can find the plans if your interested.

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: ryan256

Originally posted by: Sphexi

Originally posted by: BigJ
For modern beds with boards that go across, not a damn thing.

My beds pretty old and if it wasn't for the box spring, the mattress would fall through the frame. So yea, no specific purpose for it besides just a hard surface that looks decent.

Good to know. I'm always drawing up plans for stuff to build one day when we buy a house. I'd love to build a nice platform bed, one that literally starts on the floor and then is just the mattress on top. Now that I know I don't need a box-spring it gets a lot easier.

I actually did build myself a platform bed a few months back. Looks great I think. Has 3 drawers on each side. But I built it to where the box springs sinks into the frame and only the mattress is visible on top. I'll take some photos and see if I can find the plans if your interested.

That's what I was originally thinking of, but then I figured that the space would be so deep it'd be hard to deal with. I'd want the sides to come up maybe, halfway the height of the mattress itself, so the mattress is higher than the sides of the box, other than that no major requirements.

Also I was thinking of having it be sort of an altar/pyramid thing, with the box on top being smaller in width/length than the base, so there's kind of a small 4" step up to the actual box. Good idea, or just stupid?

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

a box spring provides extra support and reduces wear on the mattress.