Every mattress page here tells you how that mattress arrives: rolled and boxed, or flat and fully wrapped. Neither is better. They suit different homes, and knowing the difference before you order saves a lot of huffing and puffing on the stairs.
Rolled and boxed
A rolled mattress is compressed, vacuum packed and rolled up at the factory, then boxed. The box is far easier to handle than a full-size mattress, so it goes up narrow stairs, round tight landings and through small doorways without a fight.
Once you cut the wrapping, the mattress starts to expand straight away. It can take 24 to 72 hours to reach its full size and shape, and a new mattress can have a faint smell for the first few days while it airs. Neither is a fault. Unroll it on the bed frame, because once it has expanded it can't be rolled up again. Check the label for how long it can stay boxed, as makers don't want it left rolled for long.
Most memory foam mattresses come rolled, and so do some pocket sprung and hybrid ones. See all our rolled mattresses.
Flat and fully wrapped
A flat mattress arrives at full size, wrapped in protective plastic and ready to sleep on straight away. Many traditional pocket sprung and open coil mattresses come this way, and some can't be rolled at all because of how they're made.
The catch is size. A flat double is 135 cm wide and 190 cm long, and it won't fold. Before you order, check it will go through your front door, up the stairs and round any turns on the landing.
Which should you choose?
| If | Choose |
|---|---|
| Your stairs are narrow or have a tight turn | Rolled |
| It's going into a loft room or an upstairs flat | Rolled |
| You're carrying it upstairs yourself | Rolled |
| You want it at full size the moment it arrives | Flat |
| You want a traditional sprung mattress with deep fillings | Usually flat |
On delivery day
- Someone needs to be in to take the delivery.
- Check the packaging when it arrives, and tell us within 48 hours if anything is damaged, with photos.
- When you open a rolled mattress, cut the outer plastic carefully so the blade doesn't catch the cover underneath.
- Recycle the box and the plastic. Your council's website will say how.
How quickly can it arrive?
Most of our mattresses can be delivered the next working day, rolled or flat. Each mattress page shows its own delivery time, and our next day delivery mattresses page gathers the quickest. Our delivery and returns page explains the rest.