Best distance between mattress slats?

littly_kitty

When using a pocket spring mattress with a pine bed frame, what's the best distance to leave between the pine slats to reduce wear?

Looking online, I have seen various space recommendations ranging from 1cm to 7cm (0.5 inch to 2.5 inches). I notice the smaller recommendations tend to come from older posts, so I am not sure if maybe the correct way of doing this has changed?

Also, I've seen that some gap is needed between the slats to allow ventilation, so it's all a bit confusing to pick the right size!

It is for a single bed and the user is around 13st. Would a 3cm gap be enough or is that too wide for support or too narrow for ventilation?

DigForVictory

There's the additional complicating factor of the weight of the users.
The more solid the citizen, the thicker the batten &/or the closer you might want to consider.
That said if you are both fortunate featherweights you can almost certainly thrive on whatever's provided, so long as any offspring aren't of the bouncing habit. (Keep that for soft play areas & any foam guest beds you may have.)

littly_kitty

DigForVictory wrote: »

There's the additional complicating factor of the weight of the users.
The more solid the citizen, the thicker the batten &/or the closer you might want to consider.
That said if you are both fortunate featherweights you can almost certainly thrive on whatever's provided, so long as any offspring aren't of the bouncing habit. (Keep that for soft play areas & any foam guest beds you may have.)

It's a single bed and the user is around 13st.

Would 3cm gap be enough or is that too wide for support or too narrow for ventilation?

cranford

It depends upon what the manufacturers say for your mattress as its differs from one to another. Read what UK bed maker John Ryan says about the subject. https://johnryanbydesign.co.uk/understanding-beds/mattresses-for-slats-3/
At he end of the day you could follow their advice and put a 6mm MDF sheet on the bed for about £15 for a single bed.