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Turning mattresses!

(21 Posts)
phoenix Sun 25-Aug-19 19:50:51

Hello all, not sure if this should have been under House & Home, but here goes!

It is time to turn the mattress, but which way? Just flip over from side to side, or flip from top to bottom???

I blushto admit that I even tried to do a rough diagram on a bit of paper, something like this:

Current position:

Mr P head. Phoenix head

Mr P feet. Phoenix feet

Then on another piece of paper, I attempted to try to change all permutations, but got a bit confused

Now, oh wise ones, how do I turn it over to change the weight distribution to best effect, and preserve the life and comfort of the mattress.comfort

Thank you!

Pantglas1 Sun 25-Aug-19 19:53:18

Some mattresses don’t need turning over merely spun around top to bottom - it’s the reason I buy from ikea as we get older and can’t lift heavy mattresses any more.

phoenix Sun 25-Aug-19 19:54:09

PS if I turned it over, and then turned it round, would that work?

I think I must be getting even more thick these days!

Cabbie21 Sun 25-Aug-19 19:56:15

I would love to turn my mattress completely but I do not have the strength. The most I can manage is over one way, side to side, but ideally I want to turn it top to Bottom as well.

Mossfarr Sun 25-Aug-19 19:57:05

I just spin my mattress around. I do it each time I make the bed.
As Pantglas said - most mattresses do not need flipping over any more.

midgey Sun 25-Aug-19 19:58:16

I turn mine head to toe one time then next time I turn it over and so on. Does that make sense?

phoenix Sun 25-Aug-19 20:25:18

Perfect sense, midgey!

I remember the mattresses on my step grandmother's beds from a very expensive shop, had labels on each side, and top and bottom with months on them, to show (the staff, I presume!) exactly how and when they should be turned!

Perhaps manufacturers of mattresses that do benefit from turning may consider adopting that?

Anyway, Mr P (who is not speaking to me, another story) has just turned the mattress, I know not which way, so I will now make up the bed.

As I am generally speaking a nice person, I will refrain from putting prickly burrs or itching powder in his pillowcase.

NfkDumpling Sun 25-Aug-19 20:28:53

Got a Tempur mattress. It would need six fit firemen (in uniform of course) to turn it. Unfortunately memory foam mattresses don't need turning.

NfkDumpling Sun 25-Aug-19 20:30:50

In the days long ago when we had an ordinary mattress, I did the same as midgey.

jura2 Sun 25-Aug-19 20:31:02

same with our Dunlopillo Super King size NfkD !

lemongrove Sun 25-Aug-19 20:41:25

We bought a new mattress the other year, very expensive and very heavy, and it does need turning regularly.So, we turn it once a month( flipped over) and next month turned head to toe and repeat that pattern.

phoenix Sun 25-Aug-19 20:56:20

Thank you all, responses much appreciated!

phoenix Sun 25-Aug-19 21:00:56

Sorry, back again!

When you turn it head to toe, do you do it with the same surface upwards,(just sort of rotate it) or is that another flip, iykwim?

Pittcity Mon 26-Aug-19 09:09:14

We turn ours head to toe on even months and flip over on odd ones. First change of sheets in the month. (takes two of us). It's pocket sprung and wearing evenly so far.

Calendargirl Mon 26-Aug-19 10:00:24

We do ours once a month, I rely on DH remembering whether flipped or side to side. He always seems confident it’s correct. It’s heavy, don’t know what we’ll do when too feeble to do it.

Jessity Mon 26-Aug-19 10:02:58

We had a mattress years ago which had an arrow label (stuck, stitched, can't recall) in a corner on the top side and the under side.

First bed change of each month we followed the arrows, one side the arrow pointed to the foot of the mattress, so we flipped it over top to bottom. Following month the arrow was pointing to the side, so we flipped it over sideways.

We now thankfully have a "don't turn" mattress but those labels were very useful. If anyone is interested in following that, maybe arrows could be "written" on the mattress with a felt tip pen or highlighter?

henetha Mon 26-Aug-19 10:06:30

My lovely daughter-in-law helps me turn mine, about twice a year. Is that often enough?

Auntieflo Mon 26-Aug-19 10:52:44

We do the top to bottom turn, then flip and top to bottom turn, with our mattress that we bought when we were in Spain? a long time ago.
That is on top of the original mattress, ( think princess and the pea) . When we used to turn that regularly, I stitched some marks onto each end. 1/ 11/ 111/ 1111.
So that I knew which end should be at the head of the bed. Sad! I know.
But as that is now the bottom mattress, I no longer have to look .
Mattresses seem to be wearing well, and after seeing the programme from a mattress factory, I don't think we will be having one of theirs.
I'm sure that they said it weighed 50 - 60 kg ?

tanith Mon 26-Aug-19 11:06:29

Mine doesn’t have to be flipped over only turned end to end, I didn’t think I’d ever manage even that on my own but I found it slides very easily on the base and I turn it once a month or thereabouts.

BlueSapphire Tue 27-Aug-19 08:40:13

I can spin mine around on the base, but there is no way I could ever manage to flip it over now that I am on my own.

fizzers Tue 27-Aug-19 08:59:43

I spin mine round and turn it over - that's when I can remember!