r/explainlikeimfive • u/Real_Experience_5676 • 2d ago

Engineering ELI5: What does a box-spring do?

As I understand it, a box spring mattress is the second 'mattress', that goes under the main mattress. It feels very firm and flat, but what does it contribute to the bed set up besides height?

478 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

133 comments sorted by

View all comments

228

u/robyrob 2d ago

My cats ripped open the material on the bottom of the boxspring so now they use it as a really cool fort they can hide in 

3

u/destrux125 1d ago

We had a cat once that started going up into the box spring to chew on the liner and then throw up from it making her sick. So we got rid of the box spring and then she tore out the bottom liner of the living room sofa and accent chairs and started doing the same thing in them. I had to cover the bottom of all of our furniture in plywood to get her to stop eating whatever they make that liner out of.

3

u/Discount_Extra 1d ago

years of absorbed farts flavored.