Putting an Air Mattress on a Bed Frame

Suppose you are going camping or on a trip. Carrying an air mattress with you can be useful. With an air mattress, you don’t have to sleep on the floor or ground. You can inflate the mattress and make it a comfortable bed for the night.

Do you expect guests to come to your place? Wondering if you would be able to provide them with enough accommodation? Don’t worry. When it comes to a sound sleep a night, you simply have to inflate and mount the air mattress on any bed frame. Air mattresses are a savior in such situations.

Have you recently figured out that an air mattress is just what you need? It’s lightweight, extremely portable, and needless to mention comfortable. People can keep it anywhere in the morning or place it on top of a frame and transform it into a comfortable bed for long-term use. However, before you put an air mattress on a bed frame, there are things you ought to know.

Though we understand that using an air mattress in certain situations is extremely useful, one cannot use it on a normal bed frame. A lot of people question can you put an air mattress on a bed frame? Even though you can, you aren’t advised to.

A regular bed frame, made from wood is especially unsuitable to hold an air mattress because the slats aren’t effective enough to provide support to an air mattress.

Even after knowing that standard wooden bed frames aren’t designed to hold air mattresses, if you put an air mattress on the sturdiest bed frame, the mattress would simply slide over. Therefore, you must place an air mattress on other materials instead of a bed frame.

This post discusses everything related to using an air mattress. We understand that you might be eager to know why people can’t place air mattresses on normal bed frames. But if you have no other way out than to place it on a bed frame, you must keep certain factors in mind. Keep reading below to know the factors you ought to remember while putting an air mattress on a bed frame.

Things to Consider Before Putting an Air Mattress On A Bed Frame

Do you know what the purpose of a bed frame is? The bed frame makes the mattress feel like a real bed. Now, to transform your air mattress into a comfy bed, you must place it on a bed frame. But before that, keep the following things in mind:

1. Frame Size

You must know how important the frame size is. Make sure the dimensions of the bed frame for air mattress and that of the air mattress must be in proportion.

Make sure the frame is neither small nor big. The frame can however be 3 inches bigger than the size of the mattress.

2. Safety Rails

Some frames are equipped with safety rails that prevent the mattress from falling off the ground. Besides that, the safety rails also prevent the mattress from wear and tear, protecting its longevity.

3. Positioning

Positioning an air mattress frame is important. The bed frame must be placed at one corner of the room. If not one corner, try to place it right adjacent to the wall. That would provide increased stability, and prevent the mattress from sliding off whenever you change your postures while sleeping.

Why You Shouldn’t Place an Air Mattress on a Bed Frame

If you have no other option, you can mount it on a bed frame. We have listed above some useful information related to that.

But now, we would discuss why you should avoid putting air mattress on bed frame as much as possible.

Before you buy an air mattress for indoors, know that it’s mostly bought for outdoor purposes. Now you can easily put the air mattress in a bed frame and provide a comfortable bed for your guests or yourself. But, why isn’t it advised? Are there too many reasons to ignore? Let’s go through the reasons one by one.

1. Slats

Earlier we mentioned that normal bed frames contain slats. They come with a slatted construction. You must have noticed slats at about 3 to 5 inches apart. Now, this type of spacing and construction design is useful to hold hybrid mattresses or memory foam mattresses. But, it’s not effective for supporting air mattresses. The slats make the structure uneven which makes it slide off.

2. Mattress height

There are a few branded air mattresses that are 20 to 22 inches in height. Now, a standard bed height is about 25 inches, which means that people who are intending to place the air mattress on the bed frame have to use a high-profile air mattress. Now the result might be too high for a normal human being.

3. Sliding

Do you know that bed frames are usually made up of polished wood or metal? Because they are polished, the air mattresses tend to slide off the frame. Even the regular mattresses also slide off the frame if they aren’t secured properly. If that’s possible, the lightweight air mattress is expected to slide down the bed frame, with every movement. If you are a deep sleeper, you are advised to not use an air mattress on top of a bed frame, as the mattress might fall off at night.

4. Increased risks of tears

Lasting, the slatted design and the sharp edges of the bed frame are expected to lead to wear and tear of the air mattresses. As a result, your mattress wouldn’t last long.

Tips to keep in mind while putting an air mattress on a bed frame

Even after the facts stated above, if you are still interested in placing the air mattress on the bed frame, you must follow the tips mentioned below.

1. Secure the mattress with a strong tape

By now you know that placing the air mattress on a bed frame will cause it to slide down. To prevent that from disturbing your sleep, attach the mattress to the frame by using strong tape. It would also protect the mattress from possible punctures. You simply have to glue one side of the tape to the bottom of the airbed. Don’t glue it only in one place. Attach the mattress to several places.

2. Position the bed frame against the wall

You should try to prevent the mattress from falling off as much as possible. Therefore placing the bed beside a wall is important. It would give less room to the mattress and prevent it from moving around the bed frame.

3. Choose the Pragma platform

You must be wondering what a pragma platform is. Well, it’s a specially made air mattress frame that holds air mattresses for a long time. This bed frame is equipped with a mesh support system and doesn’t have parallel slats. Also, it doesn’t have sharp edges. Therefore, there’s no risk of tears or punctures. Also, this platform is foldable, which is an added advantage. Therefore, you can keep it anywhere else, when not in use.

Now, if you are wondering where to place an air mattress if not on a bed frame, you can try out the following solutions below.

In what other ways can you place an air mattress?

Following are some other options you can try out to transform your air mattress into a bed.

1. Plywood

Purchase a piece of plywood from the market. Make sure the dimensions are the same as that of the air mattress. The plywood must be about four inches in thickness. Before placing the air mattress on top of the plywood, place a non-penetrative material. Bunkie board is also a great option.

2. Boxspring

If you don’t like the plywood as such, you can opt to buy a box spring. It might come in handy and help you to save the situation. There are a plethora of box springs to choose from. Find one of your choices and make sure it matches the bed frame.

3. Special frame

There are ready-made special bed frames available for holding air mattresses. They are called pragma platforms. They are expensive but extremely useful. Modern-day pragma platforms come with special features. This is the best option you can opt for if you don’t want to struggle with DIY projects.

These platforms are designed in such a manner that they allow the air mattress to sit perfectly on the frame. Neither will your mattress slip off nor will it get punctured. When you place an air mattress on top of a pragma platform you are expected to enjoy a sound sleep.

From the above discussion, you must have understood that it’s possible to mount an air mattress on other materials too, apart from a bed frame. You can place it on a plywood or box spring or special frame. There are different options to choose from. However, going for the pragma platforms is the best. But remember, the more expensive the air mattress is, the more costly will be the bed frames.

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Susan C Bohm

Fan of good quality sleeping and WordPress platform 🙂 Shopping is also my passion, that is why this article was created especially for you. Find out how you can sleep like a king and not overpay.