So I have two mattresses (regular inner spring) at home: one for my bed and one as a futon on a couch/foldable bed frame. I know you’re supposed to turn them regularly to even the wear, but I forget, especially with the futon one (which I hadn’t turned since New Orleans won the Super Bowl — I remember because that’s the night I bought it).
So now I’ve turned it (the futon one), and it feels much better. But will the side I’ve been sitting on all these years ever feel supportive again? Did I “ruin” it? What about my bed, which I flip occasionally, but much less than I should? How should my habits affect my next mattress purchase (I don’t even know when I “should” replace the one on my bed)?
What you can do when you turn it over is reset the foam and padding… it falls below the springs, so that it covers the springs a bit better.
But as for the springs themselves, the overturned mattress isn’t going to “Stretch” the springs back to shape, they are still being squashed , and only squashed.
The steel is weakened by each and every squeeze they suffer… and its the total of 100,000 (or something) squashes that has made the springs weak.
The springiness is created in the steel by the extrusion process involved in manufacture - its in the grains (like crystals… ) of the metal … they will never regain strength until the metal is molten down and sent through the process again…
Remember to turn a mattress before the cover wears out… that means you can turn it over and the padding won’t fall out…