How do you make a pull-out sofa bed comfortable?

[ctandrinokc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ctandrinokc]

Just wondering if anyone has some great advice on how to make those pull-out sofa beds comfortable? My husband and I usually end up on them and no matter how new the sofa might be, the mattress always sags in the middle - making it very uncomfortable to say the least. I know the kids would probably do better on them, but because they go to bed early we usually put them in the bedroom so we end up on the sofa.
Does anyone have suggestions/ideas?
Thanks!
Chris

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

We almost always pull off the mattress, fold back the frame, and lay the mattress on the floor.....it is a bit hard but we like it much better than the sag.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

The best way to make a sofa bed comfortable is to replace it with a real bed.

The second best way is to not fold it out, and sleep on the cuhsions (that's usually what I wind up doing.

Putting the mattress on the floor, as mentioned above, is usually my third option.

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

I read somewhere that Flexsteel makes a good sofabed mattress.

I am going to push to get Flexsteel sofabeds at our resort, since I am on the board now. I want people to be comfortable in the living room and not feel that they have to move the mattress to the floor.

I think I read about Flexsteel on a TUG review of a resort, and it sounds like they are as comfortable as any regular bed. Of course, I will try out the mattress in the store before ordering 27 of them.

[CaliDave Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close CaliDave]

We usually carry the kids out to the sofa bed once they are sleeping..
I guess it depends on the age and weight of your kids.

At home we have a sofa bed and we'll put a really thick sleeping bag on top of thew mattress

[aliikai2 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close aliikai2]

two words

air mattress, or air bed. If we know we are going to a certain resort and what size the sofa bed will be we bring along that air mattress. Or if we don't know, we will get one once we arrive. A good nights sleep for a week or two is priceless, for everything else there is MasterCard..
fwiw, Greg

[katiemack Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close katiemack]

Another option, if you cannot travel with a foam topper or purchase one at the location, is to take the bedspreads and place them under the sheet, it makes a good basic foundation and can add a layer of support that the mattress doesn't have. If you have spare beach towels, they too can be placed under the fitted sheet....anything to add to support.

One other thing we have done, is call resort and ask if they have roll-away beds available...if so, we use them, they are often more comfy ...once we had guests, and they put the mattress from the roll-away onto the sofa-bed and it worked quite well.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

If you could, a bedboard under the mattress would firm things up. There were many complaints about sofa beds at the Royals (I never used one) and they decided the cure was to go with murphy beds. From all I've heard, those who require extra sleeping capacity have found them to be comfortable.

[Oracle Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Oracle]

My biggest complaint with sofa beds is that the support bar is right at my hip. I always have to sleep on my side, so after a little while my hip starts hurting. If I had it to do again, I would look at bringing a queen size inflatable mattress and see if that helps.

[basham Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close basham]

The prior posts would include what we have done.

We really have avoided the sleep sofas for the "bar in the back" problem, yet routinely travel with two airbeds in a seperate duffle bag. Yet another bag for someone to carry.

Sometimes we have used them on top of the sofa bed. Mainly we have used a single on the living room floor and maintained use of the living room for living room purposes.

Somewhere, in the living room or one of the bedrooms there is often room to tuck a single airmatress, for one of our, now older teen kids.

Gives a lot of configuration flexibility, and I can accept the two double bed bedroom condo timeshare units for a family of 5.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Call the front dest and ask for a rollaway bed. If they don't have it , Put the matterss on the floor.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

At home we use

http://www.sleeperhelper.com/

for when we have to use the sleeper for company. We have also purchased these and given them to our two married daughters for us to use when we are visiting them.

I have always thought that Aerobed should make a half thick air bed to put on top of the sleeper mattress.