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Do You Need A Bunkie Board? Prepare For A Quality Sleep

Providing proper support to your mattress is essential to keep it in a well-functioning condition and improve your resting experience. Bunkie boards are an affordable and widely used mattress foundation. You might wonder if it’s necessary to have one under your foam mattress. How to choose a Bunkie board for a foam mattress? Do you need a Bunkie board? This article will provide you detailed information to answer the question clearly.

What Is A Bunkie Board?

A Bunky or Bunkie board is a flat board made of plywood or particleboard. A thickness of 1-3 inches fits between a bed frame (the surface the board sits on) and a mattress. It can work with many bed boards, such as found box foundation, box spring, slatted foundation, solid platform, or metal frame, to support the mattress if the box foundation alone is insufficient.

Bunky boards are broadly available for mattresses of all sizes, including twin, double, twin XL, king, California king, and queen. Also, they can either replace or be a supplement for a slatted foundation.

Do You Need A Bunkie Board?

The answer depends on the type of mattress you’re using. Traditional innerspring pads need box springs. However, modern mattresses with more advanced designs have made a box spring not always necessary. Today’s innerspring mattresses can rest comfortably on a support slat or solid base, like a Bunkie board or platform.

Do you need a bunkie board under a latex foam mattress?

Yes, a latex foam mattress could do with a Bunkie board. A latex foam mattress is renowned for being durable and elastic. Like any foam mattress, it is heavy and dense, thus requiring a solid base underneath.

When it comes to accommodating an overweight child, no spring box can compete with a bunk bed. Latex foams are elastic, breathable, heavy, and easy to break down after use. A Bunky board will, in part, prolong the lifespan of your foam mattress.

In particular, while latex foam has to be dense to absorb shock, a Bunkie board, whether made from slats or an entire plank, is robust enough to bear and support the latex foam’s heavyweight. Nonetheless, the slats must be thick, wide, and take up no more than three inches to deliver even pressure distribution.

Metal rods and hardwood accommodate extra weights more efficiently than plywood. Thus, go for these materials when buying a Bunkie board for your latex foam pad. Besides, a latex foam mattress also reacts to movement. Every time you move on your bed, you’re pressing down the pad at a specific point; thus, your body will move afterward.

The pad needs a stable foundation that offers uniform and constant support, and a Bunkie board is an excellent option. What’s more, latex foam mattresses, whose material is open-cell foam, feature pinholes and allow air circulation to pass through the pad.

A sturdy flat surface beneath the pad will prevent airflow, inducing the pad to capture body sweat and heat. As such, opting for a slatted board is advisable to provide your latex foam with adequate support without losing ventilation. Plus, although latex mattresses are solid and durable, they can dip and sag, particularly if you lay the wrong foundation under your mattress.

Should the bed base’s slats take up much space, they could damage the pad and decrease its longevity. Also, the elastic foam may stretch the gaps even further and sag after short-term use. That’s when a smooth Bunkie board becomes handy: it’ll deter the pad from sagging while still maintaining necessary support.

Do you need a bunkie board under a memory foam mattress?

Density and elasticity are the two prominent features of memory mattresses. They compress pretty slowly when exposed to pressure but will bounce back quickly to the original position once you release the pressure.

Since they’re denser than any foam pad, the lack of adequate support will induce them to stretch. Concerning suitable foundation types for a memory foam pad, Bunkie boards are the top choice due to the high volume of support they can provide.

Nevertheless, a flat Bunkie board would reduce the pad’s breathability, resulting in mildew and moisture build-up within the pad. Slatted bed foundations function as ventilation and solid support suppliers, yet the slats’ gaps could damage your mattress and decrease its lifespan.

One of the best ways to deter the pad from fitting into those gaps is to let a Bunkie sit on the slats’ top. That way, you can maintain its functionality and structure.

How To Choose a Bunkie Board for a Foam Mattress?

You can find the best bunkie board models on the market, and sometimes this abundance makes you confused when shopping for your bed. To pick the right product, keep these pointers in mind:

Determine where you’re going to place it

You can attach a Bunkie board to a wooden or metal bed frame or place it on the old box spring or slats. Another brilliant way is to lay it on your floor. Thus, the first step is to decide where you will put your bed foundation.

Choose the right size

You must ensure your board is compatible with either the bed frame or the mattress size. Measure the accurate size of the pad and pick a foundation with similar dimensions. Avoid buying too large or too small boards that don’t fit the frame properly.

Choose the right material

The material’s rigidity guarantees efficient lifting and support. Usually, companies utilize plywood, particleboard, steel, or hardwood to manufacture Bunkie foundations. You should remember to go for robust materials for durability and weight capacity.

Choose one with the noise-reduction feature

The best idea is to grab those products that offer foam-padded tape. This feature helps minimize the sounds when movements occur on the bed and improve your sleeping.

Read more: How do I choose a bunkie board for good sleep

Conclusion

With a low-profile, sleek look and top-notch durability and support, Bunkie foundations have gained much attention and become a considerable alternative to standard box springs. Though the answer to “do you need a Bunkie board?” depends on the type of mattress you use for your bed, we still recommend buying one. It is an affordable and convenient base option and a fantastic solution to bettering your experience in bed.

David Elkie

David Elkie

David Elkie is the CEO at Banner Mattress. He has been in the writing and editing business for the mattress, bedding accessories and décor industries for over 20 years.