Can I cut a mattress in half to make two smaller ones?

I have an 8 year old king mattress.  I'm wondering if I can somehow cut it in half to make two smaller mattresses.  I think they'd be Twin XL.  

I think it has individual coils but I'm not sure how to tell.  I wonder if I could just buzz it in half with a machete (hopefully not hitting any metal in the process), staple or stitch together any internal baffles or fabric that wants to be held together, and then patch something over the cut side of the mattress.  Sewing that patch on would be interesting, ugly but doable (I think).  Just put the ugly side against the wall :)

I'd love any thoughts or suggestions!  Thanks :)

I think there's a great deal of variation on what's inside a mattress. It sounds doable if it's relatively primitive, but I think some have baffles or pockets filled with air, fluid, or pellets that might be problematic.

I look forward to hearing how it goes!

Personally, I can't see why not. I'd start by measuring it, to see which direction you'd want to go. Would a pair of longer, somewhat narrow mattresses suit your needs better? Or, a pair of shorter, but wider ones? (You're pretty darn tall, so I could easily see the longer ones being desirable!)

The next thing I'd do would be to measure to find the center, on both sides, to ensure the cut would be as straight as possible, before making that first careful cut, to explore the internal workings of the mattress, and go from there.

I think you may need to be prepared to do some metalwork as well as some stitchery. The images I've found online of the spring construction all appear to also have an edge wire that forms the outer shape of the mattress.

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I think this edge is similar whether you have simple coil springs or pocket springs as the support mechanism inside the mattress. You would need to make the corners safe at the cut, and probably introduce a new wire to connect the corners together. I don't think it will necessarily be simple to make a good job of this.

Please let us know how it goes!  Comedy or not!  I'd definitely sew up the cut edges.  You may luck out and have that foam only!

Is the mattress a coil mattress?


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I'm pretty sure it's a coil mattress.  It was supposedly pretty "healthy" so I doubt it's foam.  Due to the age and not being a bottom-of-the-line mattress, I hope it has individually pocketed coils.  I think the issue would then be how the pockets are connected.  If they run lengthwise down the mattress, they might just separate where I want them to.  If they run across the mattress, I'd have to cut them all apart, leaving exposed spring pockets to deal with.

Carla, I'm sure I'd cut it lengthwise so it becomes two Twin XL beds so bedding is more available.

Christopher, I'm pretty sure it doesn't have any fancy stuff in it like beads or fluids.

I guess I could cut into the middle of the end and do some exploratory surgery before delving too deeply into the project.  Then if I get scared, I could sew it back up with a patch and try to sell it or give it away as a decently usable mattress.

I'm surprised youtube doesn't seem to have a video on doing this...  Time to get out the camera :)

It will if you create it...comedy or not.  Lol

For my sake I hope there's comedy!  For your sake I hope there isn't!  

The outer wire in Nancy's picture, is quite possibly spring steel. Just to warn you...
Good luck!

You might need this...


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This is more my style...

Please...I beg you...take video!  Lol

(more than anything...stay safe!)

A much more sensible, and doable, idea might be to list your mattress on craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. Say you'll trade your bigger mattress for one or two smaller mattresses. Or you could sell your mattress and use the money to buy two smaller beds.

~If you try to cut your mattress apart, I am just about as sure as can be possible, that you will destroy your mattress. Then you'll have nothing. Except a mess. Some things only work as a whole. As made. This is one of them.

not on subject, but semi-related.  My wife and I have a king sized bed, using two single mattresses.  2 singles are quite a bit cheaper than 1 king and we can each pick the hardness we want.  Besides, since there are two of us, neither of us sleeps in middle, and any other activities are on one side or the other.

I see no reason why you would not be able to. Be prepared to cut wires as needed, and to bend them over tight and safe. Be prepared to add a padded layer of something on the cut sides when you cover it. But odds are very high it'll work just fine.

If you are worried, go in at the center of the thickness of the mattress and explore, but realistically, there's not much possibly in there you can't deal with. Mattresses are pretty basic tech if they are not gel etc.

And have a place to sleep ready, this probably won't be a one day project.
:D

If you can find the tag still on the mattress, call the manufacturer and ask what is inside, or look up the mattress online.

You can get a stitch remover and open the seam to take a look.  Post a photo here!

My customers always tear apart their mattresses in order to reuse the fillings inside for their DIY mattresses, but usually not in the same way as the original.  But nothing says you can't use it as it is, just cut in half.

An electric bread knife is good for getting through the thicker foam layers.  

Thanks Everyone!  I'll probably film it and take a few pics for this thread.  Not sure when I'll get around to the exploratory surgery, probably the next time the sheets are in the laundry...

Follow the KISS principle: Keep it simple.  Try to sell it to offset the cost of two smaller mattresses. You have an alternative, maybe, if you have a tractor, which is to bury it near your lightning rod “ground” spike (wherever that may be).  Old homes may have deteriorated lightning ground rods, depending upon soils, moisture, etc.  An old bed spring has a lot more surface area for receiving lightning (or Electro-Magnetic-Pulse) energy -- but it maybe should be 20+ feet away from your house (just in case:(I mean ground rods are not trying to attract lightning).
I took apart a 50-yr old Queen Mattress to see how it was made and recycle the carbon-steel springs, to see if they made good flint-steel fire-starters, because each compressed spring-wrap would strike on the stone in a different place from its neighbor wire producing multiple sparks, not just one flash.  I saw this happen with my own eyes at age 5 when the neighbor big-boys threw springs down the street and they sparked plentifully and repeatedly; but back then the street was California pebble-stone, and not blacktop.  
For me it was a miserable job.  (1) First, no saw blade worked for me (if I were to try it again I would buy a grinder; but would that be worth your expense?).  (2) All the saw blades did was grab onto the hard-to-tear-and-cut fabric around each spring with the effect of dragging the mattress and cutting nothing.  (3) The worst part was that every spring has at least three (or four) wire clips (top, bottom, and often middle) to hold the fabric to the spring, but also in the middle to hold the springs together tautly.  Those clips go flying and could easily puncture tires. So factor the cost of one or more new tires for your vehicles (and a garage is a better location than gravel or dirt).  
It would go faster if you burned off the fabric if that was feasible at your location. But the material and smoke would have fire-retardant in it.  
I promise you that you will be SO SO “P.O’d” for trying to take it apart.  If you decide to just dump it, then you can always tear into it a bit, but pick about six inches away from a corner because the corners have lots of metal clips and very tight material.

Would a stud finder work to find if there are metal coils inside?

Hi Mike,

I am thinking along the lines of what leslie was thinking, but my thoughts were to get ahold of a small but powerful magnet and see of you could probe around to find where metal was and wasn't.  

Maybe run some painters tape right down the center where you plan to cut and probe with a magnet from there.  If you find that metal crosses that centerline, then things might get messy.  But if there is some kind of gap, then maybe there is promise.

Eric

No, a stud finder would not be helpful to find the clips.  The springs, the thick 3/8-inch wire frame that the springs attach to, and the clips are all metal and would respond to the stud finder.  The clips are generally easy to see since they poke through the fabric-netting surrounding the springs.  But I had to pry up each clip and then use a pliar to pull it through the fabric--that was a pain also, because I had maybe 500 clips to remove.
The mattress also has a fairly thick "quilt" laying over the springs, and clipped to the outer wire-frame-top of the springs (but at the bottom only of the quilt top mattress; and not at the lay-down upper surface of the mattress).  I used a surrogated knife blade to cut through the box springs fabric to be able to get to the clips.  I have never taken apart or found a hole in mattress fabric that showed anything in the mattress beyond metal.   Newer mattresses may have features in them beyond what I am aware of.

Hi again.  I did see the pictures of mattress springs in a wooden-frame box; but I have no idea what the springs are made of; and I didn't read the info from contributors that posted those pictures. I am assuming the springs are metal because they looked just like what I tediously cut and tore apart.  Maybe they are plastic; but if so, I doubt that they will last 50 years like the mattress I took apart.   If the springs are a type of bendable plastic, then maybe the clips are plastic too.  So if beds are made differently today than when metal springs were used for 100 years, then I am ignorant about it (and choose to remain ignorant).  I do like the wooden box far better than without a box.  I am just trying to clarify at this point; and I guess I should go back and read the discussion about the newer bed build.  

Based on some image-searching, I think I'd open the bottom first, assuming that's going to be the hardest part to work with and the easiest point to give up and put it back together. But there really is a broad diversity of how these things are put together and I don't think anyone can make firm statements about what you're going to find.

Hi again, Nancy Reading's picture of a metal box spring is different than what I took apart. The springs in that picture were more flimsy than what I took apart. I had wider springs on the outside perimeter, and narrower springs in the center.  There were at lest 4-5 winds on each spring.  Nancy's picture seemed, to my eyes, to have much fewer winds in their springs.  When I saw side-profiles of the covered springs, the ones that show somewhat diagonal lines (of the springs) are similar to what I took apart.  I have no idea what type of spring would have mere horizontal lines (from a side view).

Whatever you try, DO NOT USE A CHAIN SAW (like the picture I saw) to cut a metal spring mattress.  You will have injuries; your saw will have injuries; anyone nearby you will likely get injured.   I did try cutting with a reciprocal saw (the other picture). It didn't work. That carbon-steel heavy wire is really tough; and when I tried, I had not removed enough material, so the blade sort of jammed up, but not in a dangerous type of way.  

When I saw the chain saw picture (and just for trying to cut the 3/8-inch outer frame wire, my mind saw me being attacked by a mattress grabbed upon by the chain saw teeth and throwing me backward onto a cement floor with the mattress laying on my dead body.  Then my mind began to wonder if the jammed saw could throw me up in the air over the mattress (because I hold on to my saws tightly) and I really do think that it could lift me off the ground before I could relax my hold on the saw.  Then I imagined my chain saw flexible blade breaking in-two and flying "God only knows where" in my garage.  Don't even try to use a chain saw.  Don't use a metal hand saw.   Don't use a circular saw.  The steel is so hard that it will be hard to cut that first groove, the blade will slide along sideways.  A neighbor with a grinder (1/2 inch thick "rock-like" blade) saw my difficulty and brought his over, which quickly ground away the metal frame into pieces that I put into my recycle bin.

Excellent compilation of some of the options, Christopher Weeks!

My I suggest that if Mike does his test hole, and decides to go through with it, having the padding, fabric, and threaded needle at hand and possibly even starting the closing stitching as you go, so that things inside the mattress don't get a chance to expand and make it impossible to put the genie back in the bottle, could save grief.

Possibly even just straps of heavy fabric safety pinned to one side that can be pulled through and pinned to the opposite side as you progress along, would help and might be easier to accomplish in the moment.

Thank you Mark Yates, for saying what I've been thinking!
Please, Mike: eye protection! Hand protection! Safety first!

I was just joking about the chainsaw :)

Mike Haasl wrote:I have an 8 year old king mattress.  I'm wondering if I can somehow cut it in half to make two smaller mattresses.  I think they'd be Twin XL.  

I think it has individual coils but I'm not sure how to tell.  I wonder if I could just buzz it in half with a machete (hopefully not hitting any metal in the process), staple or stitch together any internal baffles or fabric that wants to be held together, and then patch something over the cut side of the mattress.  Sewing that patch on would be interesting, ugly but doable (I think).  Just put the ugly side against the wall :)

I'd love any thoughts or suggestions!  Thanks :)

Mike, amerisleep.com has the following information: 'How do I know what model my mattress is?
Check the law tag sewn into your mattress, typically located by the head or foot of the mattress on the underside. Here on the tag, you’ll find the date of manufacture and the model number. This can help with registration, warranties, or finding something similar to a product you love".
If you still have the tag on it, it will tell you the model and a few other things. that might help you figure out what it's made of. Also the weight and if it squeaks might indicate what it's made of. I suspect you want to know especially if it has metal that might damage whatever you use to cut it?
If it is only that, you might want to use a stud finder: these things  can locate metal: that's how you know there is a nail [and a stud/joist] behind the plaster. A metal detector might help perhaps?

I had a king size tempurpedic foam mattress. I moved with my son to a small-ish apartment and there wasn't room for a king. I used an electric carving knifeand cut the mattress in two. The original mattress was set on two twin box springs so each of us had one of those. Then I bought two new twin tempurpedic mattress covers. Of course that was foam, so doesn't help with your predicament, but just thought I'd share the story.

Well, I started filming today and got the mattress to where I could explore a bit.  In doing so I found the tag with the ordering info.  I looked up the mattress and it seemed like a pocketed coil so I called the place I bought it (Verlo).  I mentioned what I was thinking about and she said "Oh, you just need a complementary mattress adjustment so it's good-as-new".  

So I'll try that first.  While talking to the guy who'll do the work, I asked him how the coils run and they do go head to toe.  But they're glued together.  Million dollar question - Do you guys cut them in half for people?  He says they do all the time.  For $500.    

So I'm going to get it fluffed/foamed/fixed back to new for free.  And I have a couple weeks to decide if I should have them cut it in half while they're working on it.  

Mike Haasl wrote:Well, I started filming today and got the mattress to where I could explore a bit.  In doing so I found the tag with the ordering info.  I looked up the mattress and it seemed like a pocketed coil so I called the place I bought it (Verlo).  I mentioned what I was thinking about and she said "Oh, you just need a complementary mattress adjustment so it's good-as-new".  

So I'll try that first.  While talking to the guy who'll do the work, I asked him how the coils run and they do go head to toe.  But they're glued together.  Million dollar question - Do you guys cut them in half for people?  He says they do all the time.  For $500.    

So I'm going to get it fluffed/foamed/fixed back to new for free.  And I have a couple weeks to decide if I should have them cut it in half while they're working on it.  

One of my mattresses is a Verlo. I bought it years ago in Wausau. It is American made, and very good quality. They do really good work and they are willing to help. You are in good hands.

Mike Haasl wrote:Well, I started filming today and got the mattress to where I could explore a bit.  In doing so I found the tag with the ordering info.  I looked up the mattress and it seemed like a pocketed coil so I called the place I bought it (Verlo).  I mentioned what I was thinking about and she said "Oh, you just need a complementary mattress adjustment so it's good-as-new".  

So I'll try that first.  While talking to the guy who'll do the work, I asked him how the coils run and they do go head to toe.  But they're glued together.  Million dollar question - Do you guys cut them in half for people?  He says they do all the time.  For $500.    

So I'm going to get it fluffed/foamed/fixed back to new for free.  And I have a couple weeks to decide if I should have them cut it in half while they're working on it.  

I'm glad you have help!  It's awesome to be able to salvage things!  

It sounds like you've found the answers for your specific mattress (yay!), but I'll just leave my experience here for any future mattress re-sizers.

Mike Haasl wrote:I wonder if I could just buzz it in half with a machete (hopefully not hitting any metal in the process), staple or stitch together any internal baffles or fabric that wants to be held together, and then patch something over the cut side of the mattress.  Sewing that patch on would be interesting, ugly but doable (I think).  Just put the ugly side against the wall :)

My husband and I once bought a conventionally-shaped mattress for our Casita fiberglass camper, which had a D-shaped bed. Our mattress was a "hybrid" with a bit of a foam topper and coils. This was a few years ago; this account is accurate to the best of  my memory.

Tool list:

decent scissors

Sharpie (for marking coils)

side grinder/cutter

wire snips or pliers

fishing line

leatherwork handsewing needle (curved worked best, I recall?)

The project was pretty straightforward, but tedious. We somehow determined how many/which coils to remove – I assume by measuring our space and comparing that to the mattress? We slit the fabric horizontally along one long side and past the corners enough that we could access the coils (picture 1). We removed as many rows of coils as necessary (I'm not sure which tool was used as I don't have a picture of that step). Then any sharp wire ends were bent or woven back into the remaining coils (picture 2). Corners were cut using the angle grinder (picture 3). I believe we left all the fabric intact, using the extra to cover and pad the exposed coils. I'm pretty sure I used fishing line and a curved leather needle. It looks like I folded the bottom mattress fabric up against the new side, and ran the fishing line around the piping then through either the top mattress fabric (catching the underside) or around the coils (pictures 4&5). It looks like I left the top fabric edge unsewn and just tucked it up against the wall (Picture 6).

When cutting thick foam, I've found a serrated cake/bread knife or electric knife very effective.