Futon Mattress Care

For 40 years, Bedworks' customers have given us thoughtful feedback on the futons we designed. Here's their feedback:

Assembling Your Futon Frame

Follow the simple instructions, with one tip: Rub a bar of hand soap lightly on the 8 fat black 2.75"L screws. The glycerine lubricates the screws and makes them tighten easily.

Positioning Your Futon Frame

Place your futon frame just 9" from your wall. Now, you can easily convert it, without even moving it. A guest can slip in and out of bed easily. For two guests, pull the futon frame 12" more into the room. Now both guests can get out of bed easily.

Converting Your Futon Sofabed

Lift up the seat deck just 1" at the front, and your futon glides from sofa, to lounge, to bed. If you ever forget how to close it, look at the simple mechanism inside the rear of the arms: two white rollers in two slots. Remember, when the back roller is in the locked position and not in the vertical slot, you can't convert it. To unlock it, first pull the seat deck 2" forward on both sides. You can check if it's unlocked by trying to lift the back three or four inches. When it's unlocked, hold down the chair arm with one hand, while you use your other hand to quickly lift the rear of the frame back up to the sofa position.

Caring for Your Futon Frame

Anything with moving parts requires regular maintenance. Your frame needs very little, just a seasonal bolt tightening. Tape the allen wrench under a seat slat to keep it handy. Then you can tighten the four black arm bolts whenever they need it.

Bolt-tightening is required in the fall and winter when central heating causes the arms to shrink. It's easy to keep the arms tight. With this care, your European solid beech frames can last a lifetime.

Futon Mattress on the Floor?

It's very risky! Because floors are cooler than rooms, moisture will condensesunder the futon. This wetness quickly causes mildew to form. Don't let your futon mildew. Keep your futon a few inches off the floor. In Japan, they roll up their thin futons every morning and let them air out all day. In America, we don't because our futons are thicker and heavier.

Futon Covers: Very friendly!

This may be a futon's best feature. Futon covers are remarkably user-friendly: they're inexpensive, stylish, removable, cleanable, and changeable. If it's spring and you'd like a meadow green cover, you can do it! Change your room from winter to spring, solid to print, traditional to contemporary, Shinto to Deco, floral to soft Ultrasuede. And do it in a snap, for a fraction of what a new sofabed would cost!

Zipping on Your Cover

To put on your cover, first unzip it and open it up face down. Lay your futon on one half. Fold the other half over your futon. Now softly cinch both halves of the cover together around the futon, while you gently ease the zipper around the three sides. [Note: Forcing it can tear off the zipper head.] Tip: After you're done, with another person, gently drop your futon on the floor three or four times to square up the cover seams.

Cover Cleaning

Thick upholstery fabrics, when wet, are too heavy to be safely laundered. Dry-cleaning is better: it's super safe and inexpensive, only about $25. Our thin sheeting economy covers can be cold water washed and line-dried just like bed sheets.

Turn, Turn Again

All mattresses benefit from turning. Turning a futon increases its life by distributing use and helping it compress evenly. So spin your new futon every week for the first four weeks, then flip it once a season afterwards. Other mattresses sag and soften. Only futons possess the advantage of becoming firmer over time. Why? Futons' cotton batting gradually compresses into felt, like a firm gym mat.

Keeping It Clean

Like all mattresses, futons cannot be laundered or dry-cleaned. So if you have kids or pets, we recommend a cleanable cover to protect your purchase or, where spills are likely, a guaranteed Plush Guard Cover.

Storing Your Futon

Moisture is a futon's worst enemy. So always store your futon in a dry place. Never keep it in a damp basement. Store it in a plastic futon bag to keep it clean. We offer plastic bags with ties for $14.95.

Moving Your Futon

For our complete futon moving tips, please see Disassembly/Moving.

In a nutshell, here's what to do:

Unzip your futon cover. Fold the futon mattress in half. Then tie it up and place it in a plastic futon storage bag. Remove the futon's two arms and two connecting rails. Remember to gather all your frame hardware in a zip-lock bag and use duct tape to lash it securely onto a slat of your futon deck frame, so it won't get lost.