New Mattress Flammability Standards

I watched a News show regarding the new mattress flammabilty standards. What I was shocked by was the chemicals that they dip these things in are not healthy for you! Here is an article link describing this.
http://chemistry.about.com/cs/medical/a/aa102603a.htm
I would focus on working smoke detectors and fire safety in the home. Good luck.

I recently bought a mattress in September for my toddler that switched from a crib to a big bed. Here is a warning. Ask to smell the mattress before you take it out of the store. Ask them to open the plastic wrapping so you can see how strong the smell is. My husband and I brought the mattress home and when we tore off the plastic it came wrapped in, a horrible chemical smell filled the room. It was very bad to the point where we had to close off my child’s room because the smell was starting to fill the rest of the house. I did a lot of research and due to the recent new mattress standards they are now dipped in that flame retardant. We believe that our mattress did not have enough time to air out at the factory or at the store. We were just very unlucky and I hope not all mattresses come with this problem. We called the store to complain and they said it is normal for a strong smell to be present. They advised us to open all the windows in the room and air it out for a couple of weeks. Ridiculous right? They would not refund us or exchange the mattress. I do not feel any safer with this retardant on my child’s mattress. We had to buy a zippered mattress cover to trap in the smell. You can still smell the chemicals after these two months. Maybe these new standards are great for those who smoke in bed or like to sleep with candles next to their bed, but we do neither. Again, my advice is to ask to smell the mattress before you bring it home. Especially if this is something a small child will be sleeping on.

I don't find flamability to be a big concern, unless you like to smoke in bed! Plus those flame retardents are full of nasty chemicals. A great option to look into is a natural mattress with wool. Wool is flame retardent naturally and a great temprature regulator.
Good Luck on your quest.
T.

You arent required to go out and buy a new matress the manufactures are required to meet flammability standards. This is a layer of stuff that they put around the top and sodes of the matress. You can hold a torch on it and it wont ignite. It takes a certain amount of time, but the mentality is you'll have time yo get out before your matress ignites. The flash point on a normal matress is quick, Ig a candle fell on a matress without the fire blocker it will be completley engulfed in about 15 seconds. ( I watched a training video serta did when I worked in furniture) So if you are a smoker I would definitly recommend upgrading. The only flaw I found is they don't layer the underside of the foundation so if a fire started under the bed you could have a problem with the foundation (hopfully the smoke doesnt kill you first)Serta already uses this in all their products for the last year and most brands you can spend about 300 extra for the model with fire blocker. Next year everyone will be in complience, and you will see an increase in the price because fire blocker is not a cheap material!! Hope that makes sense. I am not sure what some of the posts are about dipping the matress in stuff. Serta brought out the fiber maybe it is dipped in something but the mattress is not. Also to the post that said not to worry unless you smoke or have candles, there are other fire dangers as a lamp next to the bed falling over light bulbs cause a lot of matress and sofa fires from cats who knock them over when they are on. Also electrical fires happen quite often so as someone else said watch the outlets around your bed. I put plug covers in mine just in case. If you would have watched this video you would see the value in it completly. Say your child is playing with matches or a lighter on their bed the bedding may catch fire but the matress is not going to burst and ignite with the fireblocker. I am trying to remember the time it took for them holding a torch on the matress to get anything. They mostly got burn marks. But this was just a private test video that our reps did. They burned 2 other brands and theirs with the fire blocker. I have not checked on the health hazards of the chemicals. That is something I will look into and study some more, but as for the rest of it, it is a good thing.

B.,

Personally, I'd stick with my existing mattress and make sure that you don't smoke in bed and that your smoke detectors are working properly. New mattresses outgas the flame retardant chemicals for months and those chemicals can cause cancer and/or neurological damage. If you want a new mattress, I'd look at an organic mattress. But that's just me.

T.

I have never heard of STANDARDS or heard that you should switch them out. I am sure these standards apply for new now made ones, but to be honest, I have two new beds for my children, (hoping they fall in the range I guess) and mine is a pillow top king. Replacing them all would be like $1,000 and though mine may not be standard I don't think i would go buy new ones until these are worn. I don't think they have done any changes other then to maybe make them less flammable but to the point it is on the bed I would be more concerned that my smoke alarms were working properly.

Hi,I have been in the mattress retail sales industry for several years.Prior to the new mattress standards (flammability) there were no standards reguarding fire blocker. The Serta Mattresses Company was the first to meet these standards in California approx. two years ago. They also use fire blocker in their foundations (ie. box springs). You can go to the manufactures web sites to get more information for example: Spring Air.com, Simmons.com etc. The reason these standards were implemented is because mattresses are made with petroleum products which are highly combustible. I still feel safe with my mattress which was manufactured prior to the new standards. Most bed room fires (90%) are started from electrical fires, not due to smoking in bed, so I suggest to people to try not to plug anything in a wall outlet behind their beds. I hope this has answered some of your questions.

I feel safe with what I have, but have taken every saftey percotion just in case. There are smoke detectors in every room of my house. Also I made sure there weren't any cords pluged in anywhere near beds. just make sure your house is protected and you have excape plan and everyone knows them. you can never be too careful, but being prepared helps.

OMG i hadnt thaought of that. please let me know what you find!