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Small Cabin Forum / General Forum / What's the best type bed for seasonal cabins?
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Jrbrandt25
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2019 13:11
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I'm almost done with my complete cabin renovation and am at the point of building a built in bed frame with storage,,before I do so I was trying to find the best type mattress for the cabin. It's in western nc and there will be months in between visits and I dont want and mold,critters or any other issues. I figured you guys would have input., I figured I'd wrap it in plastic vac bag then cover with topper and sheets.. but thanks for any input. I love this site!

snobdds
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2019 13:17
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I bought the best beds with box springs I could. After staying in our smaller cabin with cots and pads, I swore to myself I would upgrade in a huge fashion.

It has been the best decision I made yet.

ICC
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2019 13:23
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Buy the best you can, no sense escaping to your cabin and then having a crappy sleep. I don't think plastic wrapping is needed.

Do your rodent control with proper building techniques. I have never had mice in the house, bunkhouse, or any cabin that was built with an eye to keeping the rodents outside.

hueyjazz
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2019 13:30
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We been using memory foam beds enclosed in a mattress cover. No box springs needed. Those that have slept on them have had no complaints and there isn't much of a way for rodents or insects to get into them. But keeping rodents out is best.

Jrbrandt25
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2019 13:33
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After gutting entire cabin I sealed up everything pretty well and then with expandable foam at almost all points. Did that after I walked in on a group of bats that decided to suprise me one late night arrival to do work...needles to say I spent the night in the truck that night . But that day I figured I'd eliminate any opratuintys for critters I could right then..but this is my first mountain cabin. So i guess I'm alittle paranoid and precocious.. and your right who wants to sleep on a crappy mattress.

sparky30_06
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2019 13:45
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good quality air mattress and store it in a sealed tub when your not there.

toyota_mdt_tech
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2019 14:13
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I have gel foam mattress, 3 bunks stacked with pantry shelfs opposite of it. Bottom bunk is 12" from floor which makes it easier to climb out of and gfets you some storage too.
Bunks
Bunks


Absolutely
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2019 14:52 - Edited by: Absolutely
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We use Ikea latex foam mattresses. We've had no issues with mice, bugs, mould, etc.
Bunkie beds
Bunkie beds


fiftyfifty
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2019 17:26
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Regular mattresses were not practical to transport for us, so we went with memory foam mattresses that are shipped compacted. Got the Lucid brand 5 inch XL twins. The XL's were on sale for about $80 at the time and were also better for tall family members. We have them on simple platforms without box springs. For couples, you can push 2 beds together, use a King size sheet, and the gap between them virtually disappears creating a King bed. Or you can separate the beds for singles. A very flexible arrangement. The mattresses have a firm but comfortable feel. I liked them well enough that when it came time to replace our mattress at home, we replaced it with these.

mj1angier
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2019 19:38
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I have a Casper mattress that I got at Costco that will be for me and the wife. We have an old iron bed set that I am pulling the head and foot boards off and building a wood frame for. I plan to put mattress in a full sack to cover it. We have the same thing in our camper and have been happy with it. Never had critters mess with it

KinAlberta
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2019 22:30 - Edited by: KinAlberta
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This is a great question, I hope others keep posting their experiences as I need to replace the beds at our place.

On a related note we had an old rope style oval rug in the cabin and it was in great shape but my wife wanted it out. Well, I dragged it out and hung it over some other junk. An hour or two later I came walking towards it and that’s when I could finally smell the incredible musty smell coming from it. So that thing was obviously stinking up the whole cabin but for some reason I hadn’t noticed it when I was inside.

Since then I’ve noticed how other old stuffed furnishings need to go.

I also took an old pressed-sawdust-wood bookcase out there, left it in our 2nd unused cabin for a few years. Anyway when I dragged it out I discovered that the moisture it absorbed had sort of started to rot it. It smelled absolutely horrible! Yet the solid wood furniture out there is still good, dry and no smells from them whatsoever.

Brettny
Member
# Posted: 16 Aug 2019 06:09
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Walmart has a 6in king size foam mattress for $125 shipped. Two twin XL beds are the same size as a king. This is what we will be doing in less than a month.

We both have bad backs and dont sleep well if the bed isnt firm and flat. In the near future im going to make a set of bunk beds for our little shed/cabin.

hueyjazz
Member
# Posted: 16 Aug 2019 11:34
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One recommendation to those using foam mattresses. If you don't encase them into a waterproof cover they do absorb moisture and need to breath. You sweat plenty as you sleep.

There's mattress frames made for just foam mattresses. You don't want to put them on anything that seals the bottom side of mattress or you might get mold.

moneypitfeeder
Member
# Posted: 16 Aug 2019 16:03
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We have a mouse/weasel/maybe chipmunks problem at our cabin, so we have had to go the route of encasing our beds in plastic. If not we'd come back to them living in the boxsprings/mattresses and leaving pellets & stains all over them. They have even ripped holes in the thinner waterproof zippered mattress cases. I found the best cover (but a pita to make) was to take an inflatable mattress, cut a slit in the center of the short end and cut all of the "connecting pieces" that are inside. This makes basically a giant pillowcase out of vinyl that they can't chew through easily. Stuff the mattress inside, and close up the slit with the best quality duct tape you can find. Once we arrive, a quick swipe with a disinfecting wipe cleans any "presents" that were left for us, and we are ready to pull the linens out of storage.

KinAlberta
Member
# Posted: 16 Aug 2019 16:33 - Edited by: KinAlberta
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Even with the disinfecting wipes I wouldn’t enjoy sleeping there.

I’d suggest that on your next trip you take some wire mesh, sealants, expanding foam out (pest resistant), etc and block the pests from getting into the cabin. Then add a few traps just to be certain.

We have two old cabins. One has always been pest free. (The odd housefly gets in.) The other is far from it. There’s dead flies etc in the cabin. One door needs a bit of weatherstripping. Also each cabin has two wood stoves and on my last check, two dead bats in the unused cabin. One bat got trapped trying to crawl out of the stove pipe where it met the stove. So it seems that critters might be coming in down the chimney. The cap is wide open on the sides so I think I’ll check out wrapping it with mesh or get rid of the stove altogether. Even if bugs and bats can come down the chimney they shouldn’t be able to exit the stove.

ICC
Member
# Posted: 16 Aug 2019 17:15 - Edited by: ICC
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Rodents are bad news. Droppings from deer mice can carry hantavirus and that can make you very ill and kill you. One of my friends here in the 4 corners area got it about 10 years ago. There is no way I would knowingly sleep where rodents have had their own way.

You can do a lot to keep the rodents out. It may take some work but can be done.

This anti-rodent link was posted here years ago. I came across it once on a search and made a note. The old link is dead now, but here it is again.


KinAlberta, I've had birds come down a cold flue and be trapped inside the building. Crap all over the place.

moneypitfeeder
Member
# Posted: 16 Aug 2019 19:09
Reply 


Thanks guys, the cabin is beyond "sealing" we have tried: spray foam / metal plates / wood fillers / fiber-cardboard removal, but the problem is less than it was when we bought it. We are looking at rebuilding in the near future as our only option. We have foundation issues that open up cracks faster than we can fill them.

Note to say that our cat does a good job of keeping the "activity" to a minimum when we are there, and the weasel/chipmunk activity seems to only occur during winter when we aren't there. She sleeps for about week straight when we get home, lol, because she doesn't sleep much up there!

Fanman
Member
# Posted: 16 Aug 2019 19:26
Reply 


Our cabin too is beyond sealing; best we can do is eventually get the ones that come in with a bucket trap. And plastic mattress covers. Fortunately where it freezes every winter the nasties like hantavirus aren't a problem. We leave the bed made up because we never know when we're going to arrive late in the evening just wanting to crash. Sometimes it's a matter of brushing the mouse evidence off the bedding, maybe a fresh pillowcase, and pretend it's not there.

If, as we do, you often arrive late on a winter evening then memory foam mattresses may not be a good choice; they take forever to warm up and they're rock hard until they do.

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