Glossary

Bed Frame/Base

Refers to the frame or type of platform the mattress set will be resting on. All queen and king size mattress sets need a frame that is either metal with a center support bar and vertical center leg or on a headboard/footboard system, a minimum of 5 slats (1” x 6”) with a vertical center support. Waterbed platforms may be used, but a layer of protective material must be used between the bed and the platform to limit damage caused by splintering wood.

Border Wire

A heavy wire that forms the perimeter of a mattress and/or box spring. The border wire is attached to the outermost coils, providing shape and form for the mattress and/or foundation.

California King Mattress

A mattress that measures 72 inches wide and 84 inches long. Also referred to as a Cal-King or Western King.

Comfort Options

Firm

Firm mattresses provide the most resistance against pressure from the sleep surfaces, making them as the name indicates, the firmest style of mattress.

Plush

Creates a softer sleep surface by utilizing soothing comfort layers, like memory foam or latex

Pillow Top

Multiple layers of foam in the top upholstery create enveloping soft surfaces.

Plush Pillow Top

The softest and most enveloping bed available, this mattress has soothing foams in its upholstery layers.

Coil Count

This refers to the number of innerspring coils in a mattress. The number given will usually be in reference to a double (full) size bed. A high coil count does not necessarily indicate better quality. Rather, it is the design of a coil, the gauge of wire used and the way the coil is engineered that determines the comfort, support and durability that it will provide.

Cushioning

Materials such as felt, cotton, polyurethane foam, etc. that lie above an insulator pad and below the ticking in an innerspring mattress.

Double Bed

Refers to a bed that is 54 inches wide and 75 inches long. Also referred to as a full-size bed.

Double Extra Long Mattress

A bed that measures 54 inches wide and 80 inches long.

Foundation

The term now used industry-wide in place of box springs.

Gauge

The thickness of the wire used in a mattress and/or foundation coils. A lower gauge represents a heavier/thicker wire.

Helicals

Wire spirals that usually hold adjacent rows of coil springs together.

Innerspring Unit

The spring and wire unit made up mostly of coils, border wires, and helicals, which is inside of an innerspring mattress.

Insulator Pad

A fiber padding that separates mattress coils from the cushioning layers.

King Mattress

A bed that measures 76 inches wide and 80 inches long.

Latex

A natural foam product often used in the construction of premium latex foam mattresses.

Modules

A type of coil/spring used in foundations to provide support to the mattress and sleepers.

No-Turn / No-Flip Mattress

Tempur-Pedic, Simmons, Serta, Stearn’s & Foster and Sealy models do not require end-over-end flipping in order to maintain their warranty. They have been designed to provide continuous support without the need to turn them over and use the reverse side of the mattress.

Pillow Top Mattress

A top finishing on a mattress where a pillow of soft materials is sewn over the entire surface.

Pressure Points

Places on the body where capillaries will close due to pressure against that area, causing discomfort.

Prorated Warranty

Each product comes with a national manufacturer’s warranty, which can range in duration from 1 to 20 years, depending on the model. Some warranties have a prorated time frame, where if a manufacturing defect occurs after that time frame, the consumer will be required to pay a portion of the original retail cost to have it replaced. Check with your salesperson to determine if the warranty on the bed you are purchasing has a prorated time frame.

Queen Mattress

A bed that measures 60 inches wide by 80 inches long.

Quilting

Patterns that are sewn into the mattress ticking. Quilting does not go through all layers of upholstery/fabric.

Split Queen Box

Two queen size foundations, each measuring 30 inches wide by 80 inches long, designed to accommodate the passage of a single-piece foundation due to space limitations.