A memory foam mattress is an awesome way to enhance your sleeping experience. Many experts will show you a long list of the merits of sleeping on a memory foam mattress and the effect that it can have on the quality of your sleep. Now, picture this – you love your memory foam mattress and are moving to a new house soon. When you move, you want to take the mattress with you.
The fact that you will have to move a huge mattress to your new place and the logistics of it all might seem impossible to you. I mean, it isn’t something that you can just put in a box and send away to your new home. But what if we told you, you can compress your memory foam mattress and move it anywhere you like?
You can vacuum seal a mattress if you are looking to transport it or store it for some time. When doing so, it is important to follow the right steps to avoid damaging the mattress. The bag and the hose should be properly sealed to avoid any residual air. Vacuum-sealed mattresses should only be stored for 2-3 weeks to avoid damage.
Can You Reroll a Mattress?
Whether you ordered your mattress online or purchased it in a store, you will have seen that it was rolled beautifully and fit into a box for easy transportation. When you’re trying to move your mattress from one place to another, you may think that you can just reroll it back into its original packaging and get going.
You can, in fact, reroll a mattress in just a few easy steps. First, remove all the bedding and place your mattress on the ground. For the rolling part, have a friend or a partner help you as you both hold one end and start rolling. While holding the rolled mattress, slide on the packaging and secure it with a tie string.
It will serve you well to save the packaging that your mattress arrived in, so when you are ready to start rolling your mattress, get the packaging out and have it handy. Be careful when you’re rolling your mattress, and don’t apply too much pressure. Rerolling a mattress is not hard and, if done right, is a great way to move your mattress around.
How to Vacuum Seal a Mattress
If you have a memory foam mattress that you want to transport and don’t have that much space in your car or van, you can always vacuum seal it. A few things to keep in mind before sealing your mattress are the condition of your mattress, the age of your mattress, and the correct tools. The things that you will need to vacuum seal your mattress are:
- Plastic mattress bag
- Duct Tape
- Ratchet straps
- Small vacuum bag
- Vacuum cleaner
- The box you want to store your mattress in
If you can, you should also have a partner or a friend with you as it makes this task easy. Once you have your things ready to go, you should take away all bedding from your mattress except for the protector.
To vacuum seal a mattress, take your mattress bag, slide the mattress in, and duct tape the ends to ensure it is secure. Next, take your vacuum bag and cut it around the valve, ensuring you have left enough plastic around it to tape down. Cut a hole in the mattress bag to match and fit the valve into it. Secure this with tape and attach your vacuum hose to it. Start the vacuum and wait for the air to be sucked out.
Start rolling the mattress while the vacuum is still on as it will ensure any extra air is sucked out as well. Secure the rolled mattress with ratchet straps and add padding to avoid creases. Keep the mattress horizontal and pack it up in a box. And just like that, you’re ready to move or store your mattress.
How Long Do Vacuum Sealed Mattresses Last?
Memory foam mattresses that are vacuum-sealed will only last for a few months before they start to lose their shape permanently. The recommended amount of time that you have to be leaving your mattress packed for is about 2-3 weeks since that will cause the least amount of damage.
Whether you’re storing your new mattress for a while or moving your old one around, you should not leave it vacuum-sealed for more than a few weeks as it can distort the shape of the mattress and make it uneven. Memory foam mattresses are very soft and will start to lose their shape if left too long in the compressed state.
If you can’t hold up to the recommended timeline, you should wait a maximum of 1-2 months and then open up your mattress. Different manufacturers will have different amounts of time that their mattresses can stay sealed for, so if you’re confused, you can always call them up and ask.
Can You Damage Your Mattress When Sealing It?
While it is very easy to vacuum seal your mattress at home, things can go wrong, and you can end up damaging your mattress in the process. A few key points can be the difference between you damaging your mattress and successfully sealing it. Keeping these in mind will ensure success without any damage always.
The age of your mattress matters a lot. If you have had it for 7 or more years, you risk damaging it when you roll it up or try to seal it. If your mattress has visible tears or cracks, you should not be vacuum sealing it as that will only make the tears worse. And lastly, if your mattress is already sagging or losing its shape, you will damage it more when you try to vacuum seal it.
Apart from these, if you don’t follow the proper instructions, you do risk damaging your mattress beyond repair as vacuum sealing, and then rolling can distort the shape of the memory foam. Remember to always only vacuum seal memory foam mattresses as vacuum sealing or rolling spring mattresses will damage the coils beyond repair.
Other Ways to Store a Mattress
If you’ve decided that vacuum sealing is not for you, there are still many other ways that you can store or move your mattress around. Vacuum sealing may not be for you because you don’t want to risk damaging your mattress or simply because you don’t want to go through the hassle of having to vacuum seal the mattress yourself.
You can buy mattress bags online and in hardware stores easily and cover your mattress in that to store or move around. You won’t have to roll it up, and that will save you time and possible damage. You can store your wrapped mattress in your cupboard or storage unit.
However, just keep in mind that it should be a temperature-controlled environment as too much moisture can damage the mattress and introduce bacteria into it. Lay the mattress flat wherever you are storing it and avoid placing objects on top of it to avoid indentations in the mattress.
Final Thoughts
Memory foam mattresses are a great addition to your sleep arsenal. They have a long life and provide a lot of support to your backbone while you sleep. Whether you are actually moving or want to store your mattress away for a bit, you can roll it back up or vacuum seal it so that it doesn’t take up too much space.
Rolling up a mattress does not require any extra tools and can be done with the help of another person easily. Vacuum sealing requires some pre-planning and a few tools to make sure you can do it easily and efficiently at home. While sealing is a great way to store or move your memory foam mattress, you can damage it in the process. Old mattresses and those already damaged are not good candidates for sealing and rolling.
Spring mattresses are also not to be rolled as that will damage the coils in your mattress. If you really don’t want to risk damaging your mattress and would rather not vacuum seal, you can always use a mattress bag and store or move it easily.
