Mattress Resizing Trick

Probably one of the excellent benefits of owning an all-latex mattress that many haven’t realized is the flexibility to change it. If ever one needs to either downsize or upsize a latex mattress, they can do it without having to replace the mattress entirely.

If you’re like many that enjoy the luxurious comfort of your current latex mattress, you probably would like the same exact feel if you would need a different size. If you know the ILD ratings of your latex foam and if you know where you can buy them, there shouldn’t be any issue unless you don’t want to spend your money. It will be very disappointing, however, to find out that the replacement mattress did not feel exactly the same as the one that you loved. This can happen because foams that are rated with the same ILD’s may not feel exactly the same because between production runs, variations that are within the manufacturer’s tolerances can exist and for some of us that refer to themselves as “the princess and the pea” a slight variation can make a huge difference in your sleep. Not to mention, what if you really didn’t know the ILD’s of the foams that you own or what if they just don’t make it anymore?

The ideal thing to do is to keep the mattress that we have but what about the size? It is not impossible to change to a different size mattress without getting rid of your current mattress… if you have an all-latex foam mattress, particularly the one that you’ve built yourself by stacking layers of foam that you didn’t glue. You will find this pretty easy to do and you can save a lot of money.

With a sharp electric carving knife, you can cut the foams to make your mattress smaller. Simply cut each of your foam layers but with caution as these knives are very sharp and unforgiving. When cutting the foam, make sure that you hold the knife down perpendicularly to the foam to ensure a straight edge cut. With Talalay latex foam, it is easier to cut straight if you cut through the holes.

Downsizing is simple but upsizing shouldn’t be scary at all. You’ll be surprised to find out how many customers have revealed to us that they needed to upgrade to a King size from a Queen size or from a Full size to a Queen size.

If upgrading to a King size, the first thought that comes to the minds of many is to cut down the existing Queen mattress (60” x 80”), for example, to a Twin XL (38” x 80”) and purchase another Twin XL and place the two Twin XL mattresses side by side, thus, creating a split Eastern King (76” x 80”) mattress. This is the easiest solution but really the most expensive solution. The price of a 9-inch Twin XL all-Talalay-Latex International mattress, foam only, costs $1,200 on the average. However, the more important question is what if both sleeping partners loved the mattress and no one wanted to change it?

An alternative solution is to use extensions. If you would need to change your Queen size foam layers to Eastern King, you can choose to extend the width of the mattress by adding a 16” x 80” foam to only one side or by adding a 8’ x 80” foam to each side. One disadvantage of this approach is that in order to keep the feel of the mattress the same you will need to make sure that you use foams that match the firmness of your mattress. If you have several layers, it may not be easy to find all the foams that you need and it can get very costly to buy the different ILD’s especially if you could only buy the foams in full sizes. One trick is to extend on the sides that you will not sleep on, such as the edges. You may browse our selection of scrap latex foams that can help you with your project.

Probably the better thing to do is to rotate your mattress by 180 degrees so that you would need to add to the bottom of the mattress instead. If rotated, the Queen-size mattress will be 80" wide and 60" long. Trim 8” off the side and place a 76” x 20” foam at the bottom and, wala-you have an Eastern King mattress! Since you only need to extend the bottom of your mattress, the extension foams do not need to match the firmness of your mattress and it can be on the softer side, too, because your leg and foot will appreciate a softer surface.

Because you only need to add to the foot of the mattress, you don’t even need to use exactly the same foam. You can find a store that sells inexpensive latex foams if you’re on a tight budget or you can visit our scrap foam page to buy pieces of foams at a fraction of the cost.

With regards to keeping all of your foams together,you have two choices: either glue the extensions to the mattress using a foam and fabric spray or just lay them down together inside a well fitting mattress cover preferably with zipper. You may browse our selection of zipper mattress covers.

If you need to upgrade a mattress topper only and not a mattress, the same principle applies.

Note that altering your foams will void the warranty of your mattress or mattress topper. After weighing the pros and cons of the solutions suggested here, if you decided that the warranty will not do you any good if you cannot use your existing mattress, then start your project now.