Okay, so, about a month ago we finally had to retire our nearly decade old and horribly busted memory foam mattress, and we replaced it with another one despite my past expressed interest in doing a
DIY buckwheat hull mattress the next go around. Part of it was resources and time, and another part of it was the need for getting an adjustable base for personal reasons. Budget, time, etc.
Of course, all this foam generation and waste bothered me a bit, so I got to thinking about it, and that lead me to tear the old one apart to confirm a long held suspicion I've had about the things. Here's where I discovered something really interesting about our old mattress. It was only the three inch memory foam layer that was old and busted, and that foam layer wasn't so heavily glued that darn if it didn't mostly just separate off from the base layer without much effort. And what did I find underneath it? Five inches of premium, high density open cell foam with no evidence of any wear and tear at all. The mattress was literally worn out
only due to the memory foam layer. Of course, the factory mattress cover was removable and washable, too (as is most of these things that aren't TempurPedics), which is also worth noting.
This got me thinking. If the base layer is still good, why not reuse it instead of throwing it out? We'd already replaced the mattress, so reusing it that way was out... but given this new information, it will definitely change how we "replace" our mattresses in the future.
In the future, the current mattress when it gets busted enough will get a similar autopsy, the mattress cracked open with the failed upper layer(s) gingerly removed, and new cheaper than a new mattress toppers of equal thickness and quality glued back in place before stuffing it back into its zippered cocoon. Considerably less foam waste and definitely cheaper.
As for our current old mattress? Well, our living room furniture just turned 20 years old this year. The fabric is still in decent shape, as is the frame and springs, but the pillows and cushions were getting a bit busted. Fortunately, and this is one of the reasons why it's a good idea to get furniture made like this in the first place young'uns, the cushions and back pillows weren't tacked to the frame and had zippers so it was easy to restuff 'em. Lo and behold, all the cushions used a 5" foam pad, and all the cushions from all three pieces worked out to just under the size of a queen size mattress. Score! The old mattress base layer was perfect! $40 worth of 3/4" upholstery sheet polyester from a DIY friendly local upholstery supply shop (this stuff is way cheaper if you can get it locally over ordering online), two cans of spray upholstery foam glue for $12,
an $8 electric carving knife, and a few hours of patient cutting and gluing later, our living room furniture has been wholly revitalized and is more comfortable now than when it was even new, and it was
quite comfortable when it was new. The new foam is considerably higher quality than the foam that came out of it. We already had spare pillows from the living room set that were unused, so we borrowed stuffing from those to perk up the remaining back pillows, but if it was needed, extra/replacement fluff from a upholstery supply store isn't too expensive.
Here's the thing with foam, it's expensive when it's new, even slow boated from China. At the same upholstery shop we got the cheap batting from, the same amount and quality of foam I effectively scavenged for free off our old mattress would have cost us nearly $300...
just for the foam. The guy at the shop even commended me for scavenging it from our old mattress, saying he's done similar for his own furniture, and commenting that the foam's the most expensive part of restuffing cushions. And here's the best part, if we'd had them make the cushions for us with their foam, their polyester, and their labor, it would have cost us nearly $600 for pre-assembled replacement cushion inserts. Online, the cheapest I found was nearly $1000. So, for a little personal elbow grease and time, we were able to replace all our cushions for 1/10th the price, and kept perfectly good foam out of the local dump! (Oh, how I wish we had a local way of recycling foam, but that's another topic.)
So, here's my challenge to all of you. If you own a memory foam mattress that needs to be replaced soon? Get creative and either try and replace the worn out layers on your own, or see if you can reuse the base layer on something else, like re-stuffing older furniture. Just be careful of memory foam mattresses that aren't safe for use with adjustable beds and when you're pulling things apart. Apparently some of the cheaper ones can be wrapped with a layer of fiberglass fabric, which can become an absolute nightmare plague on your home to clean up after if shredded inside the house. Other than that minor caveat, you really have nothing to lose but less foam waste.
Take that, furniture and mattress industrial complex!