Sofa/Sleeper Frame Construction???

Hello all,

What should I look for in the materials/construction/joining of the frames and springs of a sofa versus a sofa sleeper made by mid-line brands?

For seating purposes does a sleeper hold up as well as sofa in the same line?

How long is the average lifespan of a midline sofa or sleeper based on excellent care by the consumer?

What Brands are considered midline? (not junk but not the best-I'll probably use it 10 to 15 years)

Is Palliser considered midline?

Thank you folks for helping out a south Arkansas girl. Jan

Sleeper sofas by their nature are metal stand-along units that are slipped into a frame enclosure and bolted into place. Leggitt and Platt is the best drop-in unit on the market, so look for that when shopping and see if you can find a sofa maker that uses L&P. Most salespeople won't know if you ask them, but look at the frame for an oval sticker with the company name on it.

A sleeper will hold up, but it won't be as nice to sit on the seat cores that are located atop the sleeper grid. You give up the 8-way hand-tied spring system when you buy a sleeper.

Lifespan will be more about fabric durability than anything structural. You won't wear out the sleeper frame or wood frame but you might do so with the fabric covering itself.

If you can, upgrade to an Air Dream mattress in the sleeper. If going to cost a few hundred more, but the comfort level is far above the standard 4" sleeper mattress.

Palliser is considered solid mid-line.

Good Luck!

There is an alternative that allows you to keep the comfort of your regular sofa along with the utility of a sleeper.

At my factory we use an air sleep system which we buy from Leggett & Platt called the Endura Ease. This is basically a queen-size deluxe air mattress that comes with its own electric pump. It takes 3 minutes to inflate. The Endura Ease will fit on any sofa that is at least 60 inches in length between the arms.

This air bed is much more comfortable than most of the available sleeper mattresses currently being made. It also allows you to have a much more comfortable sofa (with the 8-way-hand-tied-coils) when nobody is sleeping on it.

I currently sell the Endura Ease for $195 and there are a few other websites that sell it (although I think I have the lowest price.)

Jeff
www.simplicitysofas.com

what is the benefit of having the air mattress rest on the sofa? besides maybe overlapping footprint to reduce space.

just curious... we have recently placed an order with duane for a new HM sofa after years of buying only sleepers with the expectation that we would get a standalone air mattress for guests. They are much more comfortable and our sleepers always developed metallic creaks over time. i dont know what our obsession was with sleepers all this time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lok1

what is the benefit of having the air mattress rest on the sofa? besides maybe overlapping footprint to reduce space.

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You've got it. The main advantage is using less space in the room, plus the Endura Ease is a particularly nice air bed. There is also a velcro tab on the air bed. So if you tape a strip of velcro to the sofa decking it won't move around as much as a standard air bed. (In my factory we sew the velcro strip onto our sofas.)

Jeff
www.simplicitysofas.com

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lok1

what is the benefit of having the air mattress rest on the sofa? besides maybe overlapping footprint to reduce space.

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I forgot to add a couple of other advantages to the Endura Ease Air Bed.

1. You can use regular queen-size linens and blankets and tuck them in.

2. It is regular bed height (20")

3. It looks much better than an ordinary air bed thrown into the middle of a room.

Jeff
www.simplicitysofas.com

Jeff,

This sounds very interesting. Do you have any photos? I'd like to see what this looks like.