Your New Mattress Delivery Day: Be Ready1

After putting it off for months, my husband and I finally bought a new mattress and box spring. They are being made by a local factory and will be delivered tomorrow. Before these items are delivered there were some things we needed to do. Our experience may help you. Delivering a mattress and box spring sounds simple, and it usually is, but things can go wrong. This checklist will make your delivery go right.

1. Have the receipt handy. The truck driver isn't the salesperson and may ask for proof of payment before the crew hauls in your new mattress and box spring. Keep this receipt in a safe place. We keep our receipts in an accordion file above the kitchen desk.

2. Figure out the best entry. At our house, the delivery crew may enter through the garage or the front door. The garage entry has no steps, so carrying would be easier. The front door entry leads straight up the stairs, so it is a shorter walk. We opted for front door delivery.

3. Clear the traffic pattern. Any chairs, bedside tables, and chests of drawers should be moved to ensure a clear traffic pattern and make it easier for the delivery crew to get the mattress and box spring through the bedroom door.

4. Vacuum under the bed. This is your chance to clear out dust balls and the baseboard behind your bed. We have hardwood floors and I dusted under the bed with a Swiffer mop. While you are dusting, inspect the bed, baseboard, and bedroom sockets for bed bugs.

5. Have a cover for your mattress and box spring. Cornell University, in a website article, 'Preventing a Bed Bug Infestation,' recommends mattress and box spring encasements -- covers that 'cover the entire mattress, as if it were bagged.' Plastic encasements can be hard to get on and may rip in the process. If you get some rips, cover them with tape. Cornell recommends cloth encasements because they don't tear and don't have folds around the zippers, where bugs could hide.

6. Monitor the installation. You want to make sure the mattress and box spring fit your bed. This sounds obvious, but if you have an antique bed, as we do, the fit may no be quite right. You may help the delivery crew by removing any items, such as lamps, that are in the way.

7. Return packing materials. If you mattress and box spring come in giant plastic bags or boxes, as the delivery crew to take these packing materials with them. This prevents you from overloading your trash cans and recycling bin.

8. Sign for delivery. The delivery crew has to prove your mattress and box spring were delivered as promised, so make sure you sign the delivery document. Thank the delivery crew members for their work.

Copyright 2012 by Harriet Hodgson