# How would one break a mattress "accidentally"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2015, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-one-break-a-mattress-accidentally/712444 "2015-02-12T03:53:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Artemis\_Tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Artemis\_Tardis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Artemis_Tardis)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-one-break-a-mattress-accidentally/712444/1 "2015-02-12T03:53:27Z")
Let’s say that hypothetically the land lord of an apartment building provided his tenants with a mattress. They can not afford a new one, so this comes in handy. It is written on the contract that the land lord will provide a new mattress for tenants when the old one becomes old and / or broken. Is there a way one of those tenants could speed up the process of making the mattress broken with no signs of tampering? ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-one-break-a-mattress-accidentally/712444/2 "2015-02-12T04:23:26Z")
Sit on the edge for a while. It slowly damages the sides. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-one-break-a-mattress-accidentally/712444/3 "2015-02-12T10:16:15Z")
I suggest to sleep on it on a regular basis. It eventually works. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-one-break-a-mattress-accidentally/712444/4 "2015-02-12T10:45:26Z")
Lots of hot monkey sex? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-one-break-a-mattress-accidentally/712444/5 "2015-02-12T18:51:59Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Lots of hot monkey sex? Especially with actual monkeys, as they are ridiculously strong ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-one-break-a-mattress-accidentally/712444/6 "2015-02-12T18:55:07Z")
So… the mattress isn’t broken (down) enough to qualify for replacement, but the tenants want it to break so it will be replaced. I have a problem with this. Besides the fact that the tenants essentially want to rip off the landlord, they are likely to get a really shitty and cheap replacement. Or be stuck with their you-broke-it-you-sleep-on-it mattress, which which I’d have trouble being sympathetic. Being broke, gosh darn it all, is not justification for ripping anyone off. Far too much “revolutionary” logic is based on that absurd idea. Go buy a cheap mattress topper. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-one-break-a-mattress-accidentally/712444/7 "2015-02-12T19:31:26Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Especially with actual monkeys, as they are ridiculously strong “I think so, Brain, but where are we going to find a hot monkey at this time of night?” ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-one-break-a-mattress-accidentally/712444/8 "2015-02-13T07:42:55Z")
Maybe the OP is helping the owner, who wants to explain how a mattress can be broken on purpose … If there is a spring, the metal is very springy, it can bend a long way and spring back. But bend it beyond the “return to start” amount and it starts becoming stressed… work hardening… the crystals are become smaller and brittle… After a bit of extreme bending, it becomes broken. But probably the metal would show a funny S shape at the break, a tell tale sign it was “worked” backward and forward to the extreme extent. If its foam, then a solvent could dissolve it. The telltale would be the unnatural shape of the damaged part… the solvent may fall with gravity making a tell tale track , that isn’t going to be the result of any horizontal or vertical human body movement… no matter how much Discovery channel they watch or shades they learn about. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-one-break-a-mattress-accidentally/712444/9 "2015-02-13T18:31:24Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Lots of hot monkey sex? Impetuous! Homeric! ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-one-break-a-mattress-accidentally/712444/10 "2015-02-13T23:43:27Z")
Coil springs can break and leave a sharp point sticking through the fabric cover.