To throw away a mattress in storage for years

[Mamma16474]

Posted in housekeeping but looking for more responses.

We've lived abroad for just under 5 years and during that time we stored our mattress, sealed in a mattress bag, in a garage. The mattress was only about a year old at the time of storage and it was in good condition back then, though I vaguely remember having to clean it by hand because of spills from our newborn. I think it was a mix of latex and pocket springs.

How do I know if it's safe to use? On the surface it looks fine but I'm worried about mold on the inside that we can't see.

By comparison the small toddler mattress we stored in the same way has gone very mouldy even though it wasn't soiled in the same way. Also some pillows are fine and others are obviously not.

I want to throw it all but DH wants to use the ones that look fine. Any advice?

I would toss. In addition to the mold possibility did you store it flat? If not it’s likely to be wonky from being stored on it’s side.

Life’s too short to sleep on a suspect mattress if you don’t have to.

I would throw away the whole lot. The smaller mattress being mouldy is more than enough reasons.

I honestly wouldn't store any mattress for longer than a couple of months.

No, it was stored on its side. Have been googling for the hour and I can see that it can cause damage.

I want DH to not use it but he's the one unpacking the house while we're staying with family. I can't find much detailed into apart from "storing it on the side will damage the springs and make it lumpy".

I'm so annoyed because surely if it's damaged or moldy then its worthless, or worse if it gives causes I'll health. From DH perspective, it looks fine so he doesn't want to waste money buying a new one. He never listens to me about this kind of thing, so I need to find other sources to explain independently.

He's saying now he was wrong about the smaller mattress and it was just bad light.

*detailed info

Bin it. After all those years it will smell !

DH says it smells fine too. He is more sensitive to smells than I am too.

Believe me I want him to bin it too but he won't do it if I just say so, or he might if I insist and sulk about the wasted money. (I think we spent £700 on it for one year's use and bought three cheaper mattresses while we lived away all binned).

I need hard facts I can send to him to counteract what his eyes and nose are telling him! 😂

I wouldn't throw away a mattress that looked fine, felt fine and smelled fine, that seems ridiculously wasteful. If there was an issue with mould you would see it on the outside too.