King bed width - 76" or 78", Advice needed

[BuddyGuy]

Hi everyone,

I need some help here, hopefully the good people of RFD can provide some insight.

Recently, we purchased a bed frame (which is non-adjustable) with wooden slats providing the same function as a box spring. This custom made piece is 78" wide, since the mattress they sell their King size beds with come in 78", but also to accomodate other's 78" wide mattresses. Suffice to say, we wanted a mattress other than the crap they were flogging.

I just checked with the big 3 S's (Simmons, Sealy and Serta), and they said their mattresses (like mine) are 76" wide. Long story short, there is a little over an inch on each side that shows the slats (non finished slats against a dark stained frame).

Is there a governing body which maintains these standards, or is it just a "seat-of-the-pants" type of standard?

Do I have a leg to stand on in a court to get them to address the problem? Any advice?

[onlineharvest]

Hi everyone,

I need some help here, hopefully the good people of RFD can provide some insight.

Recently, we purchased a bed frame (which is non-adjustable) with wooden slats providing the same function as a box spring. This custom made piece is 78" wide, since the mattress they sell their King size beds with come in 78", but also to accomodate other's 78" wide mattresses. Suffice to say, we wanted a mattress other than the crap they were flogging.

I just checked with the big 3 S's (Simmons, Sealy and Serta), and they said their mattresses (like mine) are 76" wide. Long story short, there is a little over an inch on each side that shows the slats (non finished slats against a dark stained frame).

Is there a governing body which maintains these standards, or is it just a "seat-of-the-pants" type of standard?

Do I have a leg to stand on in a court to get them to address the problem? Any advice?


I don't know of any 'governing body' but from what I know there are 2 King sizes: 76" x 80" and 72" x 84" (the first being the most popular I believe)

It's not illegal to create a bed frame for a 78" mattress or manufacture a 78" King mattress. However, did you ask if perhaps they created the extra width so that it's not RIGHT UP against the frame, giving a little room? I've seen mattress frames like this all the time.

Don't know what kind of legal case you have since you knew the dimensions when you made the purchase...

[BuddyGuy]

I don't know of any 'governing body' but from what I know there are 2 King sizes: 76" x 80" and 72" x 84" (the first being the most popular I believe)

It's not illegal to create a bed frame for a 78" mattress or manufacture a 78" King mattress. However, did you ask if perhaps they created the extra width so that it's not RIGHT UP against the frame, giving a little room? I've seen mattress frames like this all the time.

Don't know what kind of legal case you have since you knew the dimensions when you made the purchase...

Thanks for the quick reply.

We did not know that they were going to make it 78" wide. We didn't even know that there is so much abiguity for king size beds.

The invoice states "King <model name> bed" no mention of widths, or even a discussion that we would buy their 78" wide mattress.

After a bit of research, it would appear that some companies produce 78" mattresses since they are so cheap they do want to make a king size box spring or they want to cut corners and use 2 twin size boxes (twin size width is 39" wide x 2 = 78"). In a typical case, a split box for a king size are actually two boxes at 38" wide, an inch less than a twin.

I realize the standard is 76 x 80, but they maintain that some mattresses are 78". This is true, but the 3S's make up the majority of mat sales in N.A., so from a manufacturers perspective, do you screw the majority of the people to satisfy 1-5%?

[t3359]

Hi,

I haven't heard about the 78" wide. When we were shopping around for ours, we found the terminology (king mattress and california mattress):

mattress sizes (http://www.dormia.com/sleepcenter/dimensions.asp)

I guess they were just trying to lock you into buying their particular mattresses!

bjl

[Keigotw]

Hi everyone,

I need some help here, hopefully the good people of RFD can provide some insight.

Recently, we purchased a bed frame (which is non-adjustable) with wooden slats providing the same function as a box spring. This custom made piece is 78" wide, since the mattress they sell their King size beds with come in 78", but also to accomodate other's 78" wide mattresses. Suffice to say, we wanted a mattress other than the crap they were flogging.

I just checked with the big 3 S's (Simmons, Sealy and Serta), and they said their mattresses (like mine) are 76" wide. Long story short, there is a little over an inch on each side that shows the slats (non finished slats against a dark stained frame).

Is there a governing body which maintains these standards, or is it just a "seat-of-the-pants" type of standard?

Do I have a leg to stand on in a court to get them to address the problem? Any advice?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattress

[BuddyGuy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattress

I completely agree a king is 76" wide. My S&F is 76" wide.

My issue now is how to rectify the situation.. I mean, if you can even find ONE manufacturer to make a 78" bed, it could be used to support their decision to make a 78" wide bed. The issue at hand is to find out what the TRUE standard is, and prove beyond any shadow of a doubt, that 76" is the true standard.

A wikipedia link doesn't have that credibility, especially if I were to take it to small claims. "Umm excuse me your honor, ummm.. I have this wikipedia link, it .. uhh.. has everything there that you need to know.... and it was written by a pretty smart guy on the internet...."

Something like a standard written by ISO, or some association. I can't believe that 76" is an "agreed" upon standard that all manufacturers volutarily agree to.

Trying to figure out how to proceed. Appreciate the help so far...

[BuddyGuy]

Hi,

I haven't heard about the 78" wide. When we were shopping around for ours, we found the terminology (king mattress and california mattress):

mattress sizes (http://www.dormia.com/sleepcenter/dimensions.asp)

I guess they were just trying to lock you into buying their particular mattresses!

bjl

That link is a bit misleading too.

A King Split mattress, "(Two Twin XL Mattresses)" as its stated on the site would be 2 x 39" = 78" not the 76" it claims. I'm thinking there are a few cheap ass manufacturers out there that don't want to make 38" boxes for their king size matts, and we end up with a bastardized 78" king size matt.

This discussion should prove a warning to anyone purchasing a king size bed (platform or any type that can't have its width adjusted), to double check that they don't end up with a frame that 78".

The furniture guys play it safe, to try to appeal to everyone.

[afong56]

speaking from a non-north american p.o.v., the double twin method is pretty common, since most apartments, even homes, in cramped old world cities would be hard pressed to allow passage for a huge one piece king mattress/box

here in canada, it was no problem getting a king through the double front doors and up the open foyer of our subdivision home. in practical terms, it was impossible to do the same when we lived in europe and africa, so it was not a cost-cutting issue, so much as a real-world issue

so, the 78" measurement may be a world standard

[afong56]

have you considered going the twin mattress route, with the spacer inbetween?

if not, i'm guessing that ikea will sell a 78" mattress