The mattress is the sleep surface. A box-spring is one kind of support under that surface. The matching question is what already stands under the bed in an Orlando room: a guest room off the pool, a primary on afternoon air-conditioning, a spare that used to be an office. And whether a platform frame is doing the box-spring’s job.
Read the mattress guide for humidity, sizes, and families. Guest rooms that need linens and a place for a suitcase use the guest-room kit. Other compares live on the compare hub.
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Support versus the sleep surface
| Mattress | Box-spring / foundation | |
|---|---|---|
| Job | The surface you sleep on | The structure that holds that surface up |
| CPSC term | Mattress: resilient material enclosed by ticking, intended for sleeping upon | Foundation: a ticking-covered structure used to support a mattress or sleep surface |
| Open-flame rule | Part of a mattress set under 16 CFR part 1633 | Included when the manufacturer labels the mattress for sale with that foundation |
| On this site | Support, soft-top, firm-feel, or split-size families on the catalog | Platform, rail, storage, or guest frame families |
Those definitions are in 16 CFR 1633.2 and the Commission’s mattress FAQ.
What the safety labels are for
Adult mattresses sold in the United States are subject to two CPSC flammability standards. 16 CFR part 1632 is the smoldering (cigarette) test for mattresses and mattress pads. 16 CFR part 1633 is the open-flame test for mattress sets: peak heat release not more than 200 kilowatts in a 30-minute test, and total heat release not more than 15 megajoules in the first 10 minutes, per § 1633.3(b).
Mattresses labeled for sale with a foundation must be tested with that foundation. Mattresses labeled for sale without a foundation must be tested alone. The permanent 1633 label states whether the manufacturer intends the mattress to be used with a named foundation, without a foundation, or either. That is a safety-and-use label, not a comfort score.
FTC Textile Act rules are a different label. Outer coverings of mattresses and box springs are among the products the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act exempts from ordinary fiber-content tagging (15 U.S.C. § 70j(a)(2)). Reused stuffing in a mattress still has to be disclosed: 16 CFR 303.32 requires a tag at least 2 by 3 inches stating reused, secondhand, previously used, or used stuffing. Sheets and pillows in the guest-room kit carry fiber content, country of origin, and manufacturer or RN under the Textile Rules.
State “law labels” on bedding filling are not the same as the CPSC flammability label or the FTC textile tag. The white tag on an old Orlando guest box-spring is often a state filling label; it does not, by itself, tell you the mattress was tested with that box.
When a platform frame replaces a box-spring
Many current frames are a deck or slats. The mattress sits on that surface. There is no separate box. In CPSC language that deck can still be a foundation, “constructed frames, foam, box springs, or other materials.” The matching question is whether the mattress you want is labeled for use without a foundation, or only with a named foundation ID.
Keep the mattress off a humid Florida floor either way. Orlando morning humidity averages 88 percent for the year on Florida Climate Center station normals. A box on the floor and a mattress on the floor are both the wrong height for that air.
Read the 1633 label for “with foundation,” “without foundation,” or either. Then look at the deck you already have.
If the slats you can see have a wide gap, measure it and write it in the matching note. Too-wide slats are a foundation change, not a mattress family. The catalog’s platform and rail families are how to name that in a note.
Search if you still need the box
Some rail frames still take a box. Some replacement asks are “keep the rails, replace the sagging foundation.”
Write what is already under the bed, platform, rails, slats, or a box, to sales@tabaconda.com. Publisher: Orlando Bed Finder and Tabaconda LLC.