Disposing of a mattress

[alan_m]

In my younger days and when I was struggling financially after buying a property I did overdo the keeping of just in case items.

These days it's very much the case of not keeping too much of things I'm unlikely to use again and periodically going through and disposing of items I haven't used in years. Anything that may be of use to someone else either gets displayed on my front garden driveway with a 'free, help yourself' sign or gets advertised as free* on social media, but then goes to the tip if I'm still left with it for a week.

*I sometimes will put a nominal £5/£10 price if the item is potentially worth a lot more but my main aim is to pass it on after I have stopped using it.

[Bob Henson]

In the circumstances under discussion there are only two. Had we been discussing the niceties of language you would be correct. Still, pedants of the world unite! :-)

[Colin Bignell]

Good and bad?

[Brian Gaff]

Surely most councils for the princely sum of x pounds an item will remove most things to a safe resting place. However if you have sawn it up already with all the bits of foam, then if I may say so its a self inflicted wound and may require the use of an industrial vacuum cleaner to get rid of the fragments never mind the other bits. Brian

[Clive Arthur]

<snip>

In my sister's experience - she lives in London - putting a skip outside your house will act as a mattress magnet, leaving little room for your own waste.

[GB]

It took an hour or two of vacuuming to get it all up. Well, I say all, but we keep finding bits.

[RJH]

Just chucked out a foam mattress - used a kitchen knife to cut it up to fit in the car for a tip run. No bits.

[Andy Burns]

A wide multi-tool blade might do well on memory foam?

[S Viemeister]

Years ago, my mother got an electric carving knife - she found it to be useless for carving, but I found that it was ideal for cutting and shaping foam.

[Robin]

A mattress left outside on a breezy day could just happen to fall on the coals of a barbecue

[SH]

You've clearly made your bed, you must now lie in it! :-D

[alan_m]

Around my way it now seems common practice for mattresses/sofas to magically appear overnight on the pavement corner of the main road.

This anti-social fly tipping is usually cleared by the council's contractors within a day or two.

[Theo]

That's one recommended tool for PIR foam insulation board.

Although you probably want to make a jig for precision cuts if you need an interference fit (Gapotape looks like a good idea there, I've not tried it).

Theo

[Andy Burns]

The "teeth" on this look similar to electric carving knife blades

[Andrew]

You could have put the entire mattress up there, as extra loft insulation :-)

[Andrew]

Pour acetone all over it and dissolve it into gooey lump

[S Viemeister]

Hmm. I've only ever used it for upholstery projects.

[RJH]

Good idea - but it'd hike the price of insulation at about £1/metre - £150 for a 4m x 3m suspended timber floor?

Think I'll stick with foam.

[John J]

What a lot of fannying about. Id have burnt the thing after dark

[Tim+]

I hope you don’t have neighbours.

If you have a car you can always just strap it to the roof to take it to the tip. No roof rack needed. If that doesn’t appeal, a couple of ratchet straps will compress it into something that will fit in most hatchbacks.

Tim