Sofa Bed Tips

Why You Shouldn’t Use a Regular Mattress On a Sofa Bed

Posted on by Louis Leibowitz
Woman having a lazy morning
21
Nov

A sofa bed provides you an extra mattress to sleep on when there aren’t enough beds within your home or RV. This convenience can seem like a nightmare if you replace your sofa bed mattress with a regular mattress. When looking to replace your sofa bed mattress, there are a couple different reasons to consider when opting for a true sofa bed mattress instead of a regular mattress.

Sofa Bed Mattresses Are Designed To Be Folded Over And Over

Many times, sofa bed mattresses are made out of foam instead of springs like traditional mattresses. (Click here to read about the best types of sofa bed mattresses) Foam gives you the leeway to fold the bed over and over again with no significant damage to the mattress. A traditional mattress might fold once or twice, but when it is unfolded, the mattress will have lumps, be irregularly shaped, and be very uncomfortable. A mattress specially designed for a sofa bed can be folded over and over and still be as comfortable as before it was folded because the material it is made out of is pliable and will not lose its shape or comfort from being folded.

A Traditional Mattress Is Too Thick To Fold Correctly

A hide a bed mattress is much thinner in height (4″-5″) than a traditional mattress (10″-14″) giving it the ability to fit inside of the sofa bed mechanism. A traditional mattress is so thick in height, even if it will fold into the hide a bed, it will probably bulge and not allow the bed to properly be stored (beside ruining your mattress). Sofa beds are meant to be compact and easily hidden, where traditional mattresses are styled for comfort without being folded.

Regular Mattresses Do Not Accommodate the Sofa Bed Bar

Typical sofa beds are equipped with a metal bar that runs along the bed for extra support. This bar ensures that the mattress does not sag in a particular area such as the middle of the bed. Mattresses that come with the sofa beds are specially designed to accommodate this metal bar. A traditional mattress can be uncomfortable if used on a sofa bed due to this bar, and the mattress can become damaged.

When looking for a replacement mattress for your sofa bed, it is important to buy a couch mattress truly designed for the sofa bed. If you want to find out more about sleeper sofa mattresses before you actually buy one, our Sofa Bed Mattress Buying Guide was created with your questions in mind.

Read our sofa bed mattress buying guide here

Louis Leibowitz

I have over 40 years of experience in the mattress industry. At age 12, I began sewing box spring covers in my father’s factory. That was the beginning of a career centered on helping people to sleep well. I’m currently the owner of Walt’s Sleep Shop located in Middletown, NJ, the brick-and-mortar retail affiliate of replacement-mattress.com. My experience in the bedding and furniture industry encompasses manufacturing, materials planning, merchandising, retail sales, and sales management. For the last 15 years, I’ve been a member of the Mattress Committee of Furniture First, a nationwide buying group with more than 200 members and 400 stores covering 47 US States.