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Discussion Forum

Mattress Pad Won’t Stay Flat

WayneL5 | Posted in General Discussion on March 28, 2004 05:21am

I’m a bachelor who sometimes has problems with domestic things.  One is my mattress pad.  I’ve tried several, but every one bunches up in the middle of the mattress by morning.  It’s uncomfortable to sleep on those folds, and annoying to have to strip the bed and flatten everything out.  So, how do you keep a mattress pad to stay spread out flat and smooth for a week without bunching up?

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  1. plantlust | Mar 28, 2004 05:48am | #1

    I never thought I'd be asking this but.....describe your bed.

    I'm assuming you have the box spring, followed by the mattress and then the mattress pad.  Is the mattress pad covered w/a sheet?  Is it a fitted sheet? 

    You can purchase a mattress pad/fitted sheet combo.  This may solve your problem.  A fitted sheet covering the mattress pad might also help (fitted sheet has elastic on the corners, the better to keep it ON the bed).

    Unfortunately, Stupendous Man's cape is caught in mild-mannered Calvin's zipper!  Curses!  Calvin

    1. WayneL5 | Mar 28, 2004 06:59am | #2

      My bed is green, with a pillow.

      Seriously, it's a standard twin bed -- metal frame, box spring, mattress.  I've tried both fitted mattress pads (which I have now) and flat mattress pads with just a diagonal elastic strap at each corner.  I've always used fitted sheets for the bottom sheet, and flat sheets for the top sheet.

      The corners of the mattress pad stay hooked around the four corners, but between the head and the foot the sides pull in like an hourglass when I lie in the bed.

      When you say a fitted sheet mattress pad combo, do you mean that the bottom sheet and mattress pad are one piece, laminated together?  Or is it just a separate mattress pad that comes in the same package together with the sheets and pillowcase?

      1. CTI | Mar 28, 2004 10:30am | #3

        It seems this happens more frequently with smaller width beds, I don't know why, maybe if you toss and turn it pulls the pad with you.

        Anyway, here's what I would suggest - attach some reinforced grommets, a couple equally spaced on each long side hem, through which you can thread something (velcro? bungee cord?) that you will attach to something else (bottom mattress frame?) or wrap it under the mattress and attach to the opposite side.

        One other idea is to add elastic on both long sides and you may need to widen the elastic strips on the corners. Or you could get a larger pad and tuck it under or sew box corners and let it drape. 

      2. Tish | Mar 28, 2004 07:29pm | #4

        Wayne, there are gizmos available for sale that will help with your problem, and they work really well on twin beds.

        The gizmos are elastic straps about an inch wide with clamps on each end.  You clip them to the edges of the pad, under the mattress, to pull the pad tight.  There are short ones that you clip under the corners like cross braces, and there  long ones that go under the mattress from one side  of the pad to the other.    

        I don't know what these things are called, but you ought to be able to get them in the bedding section at a Target or Linen's and Things, or Bed, Bath and Beyond.                                    

      3. plantlust | Mar 28, 2004 08:08pm | #5

        Tish is right about the gizmo.  It sounds like what you need.

        The mattress pad I'm thinking of is sewn into a fitted sheet.  In my example, the box spring, followed by the mattress, then comes the mattress pad/fitted sheet, THEN the fitted sheet and then depending on the weather a featherbed or cotton blanket.

        Dogs are optional but usually end up there anyway.

        Oh and the higher the thread count the smoother the sheet feels.  300 or more feels very silky and lasts longer w/out getting threadbare.Who says Rhinocoat should be limited to truck beds?  Cost estimate for coating the inside of a windowbox should be forthcoming next week.

        1. WayneL5 | Mar 28, 2004 08:57pm | #6

          Thanks to all of you for your help.  I will look for the straps and the combo sheet and shop at some higher end stores.

          The engineer in me now ponders the rhetorical question, if such gizmos are necessary for a pad to work properly, why aren't they manufactured with them in the first place?

          1. Tish | Mar 29, 2004 04:45am | #7

            Ahh Wayne-- they don't make them that way because they want you to believe that your purchase is perfect.  And if you're not that gullible, they want you to believe that it's your own fault.  And if you're not that gullible they want you to think that purchasing a more expensive brand will solve the problem.  And if you're not that gullible, they want to sell you the add-on product.

            By the way, I finally found a couple of versions of the elastic straps on an on-line retailer.  I was mistaken in calling them gizmos.  Bed, Bath and Beyond has them in the "gadgets" section of their on-line catalog.  They have the short corner versions, which they call "straps," and longer ones they call "suspenders."   If you've got a BBB in your stomping grounds, you might want to stop in and give them a look.

            By the way, is your mattress in good shape?  I think that once a mattress starts to develop a dip in the center, the bedding is more likely to bunch up when you move at night.  If  you've been flipping and turning your mattress and it still has a permanent indentation where  the center of your body lies, you need a new mattress more than you need "gadgets." 

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