A stand for airing out a mattress

[blulemming]

Hi all,

I put a lot of effort into keeping my things in a pristine condition for as long as possible.

The same applies to my mattress. Mattresses need to be aired out minimally twice a year, optimally four times a year.

At the moment, I place my mattress horizontally on the hand rests of my chairs. This is not optimal, because the UV rays from the sun don't reach the bottom part, plus the airflow is somewhat disturbed.

My idea is to create a pair of stands that would allow me to place the mattress on its side, at an angle of 45-75°. This way the airflow would be much better and the mattress would get a better "UV cleaning."

What do you guys think, is this a product, that would sell? I, for one, would certainly buy it, if it would be available.

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[RazorCut]

I think maybe it’s a regional thing? I don’t know anyone in the UK that ‘aires their mattress’. Hell , most are so large and unwieldy turning them over regularly is hard enough.

So no, I wouldn’t buy one.

 

[silent]

Hell , most are so large and unwieldy turning them over regularly is hard enough.

Haha, yeah, I don't try to wrangle our 200x200 (6'6"x6'6" US) mattress on my own (anymore). It's too unpredictable And I've never heard of the need to air it out too (here in EU).

 

[blulemming]

@RazorCut @ugisozols

Mattresses do need to be aired out from time to time (1). It's because only after a year or two, they are full of sweat, germs, bacteria, fungus, and dust mites (2).

Even my pillow came with an instruction to air it out at least twice a year (it's a buckwheat pillow, which doesn't even get as dirty as a "normal" pillow).

The mattresses are heavy, especially if you buy a premium mattress (I don't have those D2C mattresses in mind, like Casper, which are sold for premium prices but are extremely cheap to make and low quality).

However, it's easy to move them, if you have someone to help. "Standard" mattresses are up to 90 cm x 200 cm (35 x 78 inches) in size.

I don't know about you, but I do enjoy a clean living space. Having a good quality mattress makes all the difference in the world, and they don't come cheap, so I am inclined to take good care of them.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[silent]

I'm not arguing it's something that shouldn't be done. I'm speaking from my limited knowledge as I've never been advised to do so though I've bought only a few mattresses in my life. One for my bedroom and a couple of for kids.
One thing that's not clear to me is how I would air it out living in an apartment? Like, what's the difference between it sitting in the bed frame vs being put in 45-degree angle?

 

[blulemming]

Yeah, there's a ton of stuff that is not common knowledge, but it should be.

One thing that is common knowledge is that many people sleep poorly. And part of the reason for that are unmaintained mattresses - they can actually make you sick (1). A proper mattress maintenance even includes flipping the mattress every couple of months, so it stays firm for longer and doesn't wear out as quickly.

You need to air out your mattress out on the sun. Sun emits UV rays and those rays have cleaning properties - they are very good disinfectants (2).

The wind, combined with the sun rays, will help to wick out the moisture and make the mattress smell fresh again. Sun + wind = lethal combination for fungus and other impurities.

EDIT: Many apartments have a balcony. The 45-75 degree angle is better for airing, the "underside" of the mattress gets a better UV treatment (UV rays bounce) and it saves space (on a balcony, for example).

 

[blulemming]

Oh, I'm actually looking to parter up with someone for this project. I have a couple of other successful projects going on, and I'm not sure, if I could tackle this on my own. I only have 4-5 hours per day available at the moment (I'm kind of semi-retired, heh).

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[100k]

It seems like before you can sell this product to anyone you'll first need to educate your potential prospects.

Who would need this the most?

I'm thinking maybe hotels, air bnb landlords and other landlords.

Perhaps offer your product as a service, you go to their premises, you remove everything professionally and air the mattress for 1 day then put everything back the way it was.

Or they a little extra and you air the mattress at your facility and bring it back before sunset.

Just throwing out ideas.

 

[Jon L]

In the US, anyway, airing out a mattress isn't a 'thing.' I think it would be a tough sell.

In my house, we use a fairly think mattress pad that we wash every month or so. Sheets get washed once a week. When the kids were younger, we used a waterproof mattress pad under the regular mattress pad. I'm sure that wasn't as comfortable for them, sweat-wise, but I wasn't interested in having mattresses soaked with pee, either...

With what we're already doing, I'd need to be convinced that airing out a mattress would do anything useful. It seems to me that if airing it out does any good, the mattress will quickly go back to how it started out once its put back into service. We keep our mattresses about ten years or so, and they don't have any stains on them, or weird smells. I don't look at them under a microscope, and wouldn't want to. I don't want to know what I'm sleeping with.

 

[Odysseus M Jones]

In conclusion, a potential market size of one.

It's a pity because you could have called it

The One Night Stand ™​

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[blulemming]

@100k
Selling it as a service is a good idea, especially in these times. I actually sold a shitload of ozone generators to hotels, apartment owners, and vehicle service centers. One company in my country even started an ozone sterilization service for cleaning schools. It's believed that ozone can kill the C0VlD-19 virus (1).

This proved to be a very lucrative business, but I needed to decide where to focus my energy. I can't do everything.

Oh, I'll be 40 in 2 years and I'll probably retire then (there's so much to explore and learn), so starting a service isn't optimal for personal reasons. I'd just like to have a cool landing page for this thing, scare the crap out of people, and then sell it. It's actually a product that most people need, but they don't know it yet.

@Jon L
Mattress pads help, for sure. If they are washable, it's all good. One of the functions of mattress pads is to protect the mattress itself.

@Odysseus M Jones
This is gold, man. =)

 

[minivanman]

Me being a clean freak, we get a clean mattress when we get a new one. It's been about 7 years for us and this one still feels comfortable so we will keep it until it is not comfortable anymore. No way I'd fight mattresses to get them outside and then fight them to get them back inside and on the bed...... all the while, scratching the walls and knocking stuff over. But, what you can do is get you some Procyon, mix it and then spray it on the mattress. It crystalizes any type of bug you might have. Then, you can use the hand wand from a carpet cleaner to spray water and suck it off ( ). Procyon is the only cleaner that does not have a surfactant which means it will not leave the surface sticky or attract dirt in any way.

 

[biophase]

I’ve never aired out a mattress. I can’t imagine moving a queen or king around doors to get it outside. And mine is on the ground floor. Imagine people with bedrooms on second floors? Will they do this? Why not sell a powerful uv light instead. You’d also have to prove that putting a mattress in sunlight will kill germs.

I don’t know if just having it outside means that there is air flow through the entire mattress. Maybe sell a blower fan with a vacuum seal.

A 45 degree stand for this just doesn’t sound like a good product.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[csalvato]

Most people aren't airing out their mattresses, so this is a niche product to serve that market.

It doesn't seem like it hits on something most people who air out their mattresses would really describe as a "massive pain" in their life.

But you know better than me, I'm not in that psychographic.

 

[Sethamus]

Create a bag big enough that can zip up around a king size bed easily and has one way valve like the compression bags they sell for storage. Combine it with a uv light bar cleaning kit and a strong pump or able to be used with a vacuum.

Vacuum sucks the air out as most mattress these days do not have springs and are mostly different layers of foam. Uv light kills bacteria and mold.

 

[minivanman]

I’ve never aired out a mattress. I can’t imagine moving a queen or king around doors to get it outside. And mine is on the ground floor. Imagine people with bedrooms on second floors? Will they do this? Why not sell a powerful uv light instead. You’d also have to prove that putting a mattress in sunlight will kill germs.

I don’t know if just having it outside means that there is air flow through the entire mattress. Maybe sell a blower fan with a vacuum seal.

A 45 degree stand for this just doesn’t sound like a good product.

Actually, I think you are correct. I don't think sunlight will kill allergens, only dust mites. That was 20 years ago when I had a carpet cleaning company so maybe nowadays they have changed their minds. The problem is, stuff will still be ON the mattress and the allergens would just come right back.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[AFMKelvin]

Hi all,

I put a lot of effort into keeping my things in a pristine condition for as long as possible.

The same applies to my mattress. Mattresses need to be aired out minimally twice a year, optimally four times a year.

At the moment, I place my mattress horizontally on the hand rests of my chairs. This is not optimal, because the UV rays from the sun don't reach the bottom part, plus the airflow is somewhat disturbed.

My idea is to create a pair of stands that would allow me to place the mattress on its side, at an angle of 45-75°. This way the airflow would be much better and the mattress would get a better "UV cleaning."

What do you guys think, is this a product, that would sell? I, for one, would certainly buy it, if it would be available.

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks!

How about a mattress mover? With an arm to lift the mattress?

 

[minivanman]

How about a mattress mover? With an arm to lift the mattress?

That's what my dad always called me back in the day. I was also called the couch mover and the tv mover (back when a tv weighed 900 lbs).

 

[RazorCut]

Well by the looks of it you are creating a product for a market that either doesn’t exist (or in very low numbers) rather than looking for a common pain point people are desperate to have solved.

As for wanting to team up on this ‘exciting opportunity’ I’m afraid ‘I’m out’ as the Dragons and Sharks would say.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.