tihor@acf4.UUCP (06/22/84)
Nf-From: acf4!tihor Jun 22 13:46:00 1984 There was a discussion in this group (or at least it ought to have been) on various waterbeds and waterbed equivalents (air mattresses, hollow core beds, etc.) A friend of mine is very intreested in some of these alternatives since her building is an old law tenenment and both a little shaky and without current blueprints to judge the support level of the floors. She REALLY wants a water bed or something similar. Will anyone with a copy of the old discussion, especially the part on the equivalents which mostly sound lighter, an important consideration, please MAIL me a copy.
ron@brl-vgr.ARPA (06/24/84)
Actually, I am tired of people who insist that the weight of a water bed is going to cause problems. Even the building I am in (one of these new concrete and HoJo cinderblock arrangements) has a no waterbed clause in the rules. Odd, since they consider it an adult apartment complex. The problem here is east coast mind set. No apartment manager Denver or west would make such a rule. An average water bed (king size) weighs in at about 800 pounds and covers about 30 square feet. Your living room sofa covers probably about 18 square feet and only puts it weight in the corners rather than distributing it over the entire 18 square feet. Now have five of your friends sit on it. Unless they've all been on good diets you've now stressed the floor more than twice what a water bed does. Worried? Of course not. Actually, I've lived in older (circa 1915) appartment buildings and row houses. Those, I'd worry less about than the 1960 ticky-tacky box private home. -Ron
ron@brl-vgr.ARPA (06/24/84)
Actually, what a water bed most reminds you of when you get in it, if you've had the benefit of having tried one, is an old feather bed. You might try that. -Ron
waynez@houxh.UUCP (W.ZAKARAS) (06/28/84)
Where did you get hte number of 800 pounds for a king size waterbed?? My QUEEN size water bed weighs in at 1800 pounds. <NO FLAMES, this is truth> WayneZ... P.S. A bigger water problem is large fish tanks 55 gallons plus. The square footage is less but the cubic amount is larger.
kal@trsvax.UUCP (06/30/84)
#R:acf4:-1050000300:trsvax:70900011:000:1873 trsvax!kal Jun 29 18:22:00 1984 I,too, am tired of all the talk about how much water beds weigh. A water bed weighs less per square inch than a refrigerator. Does your lease have a no refrigerator clause? Seriously, there are alternatives to full fledged water beds. We own two water beds. One is a standard water bed with frame and pedestal. The other is a flotation system. It consists of a hollowed out foam rubber mattress that sits on a heavy duty box spring. The box spring is supported by a frame with nine legs. The bladder is only about 5 inches thick when filled with water. This not only provides less motion but less weight as well. There are many advantages to the flotation system over the standard water bed. The most important one being that it uses regular queen size sheets, alot cheaper than special water bed sheets. Another advantage is that if you ever decide you don't want a waterbed, you only need to replace the mattress, not the entire bed. We own a queen size regular bed mattress and when our parents (who don't like water beds) visit, we empty the flotation system and put the regular mattress on. It keeps them happy. The main reason I purchased the floatation system is that water beds are so hard to get out of. You really have to push yourself up out of the water. This can be tough on your aching muscles early in the morning. If you don't like all of the motion of a regular water bed, the flotation system provides a nice compromise. Most people who see our floation system don't realize that its a water bed until they sit on it. (The landlord will never know.) And if springs a leak, the water will accumualte in the foam rubber long before it does any damage to the floor. I bought mine at a furniture store. But I have also seen them at Sears, Wards, and some water bed stores. I highly recommend them. Sweet dreams, Kathy
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (07/09/84)
Gee, you're right. I just got around 2000 lbs for king size. But still, you are right and fish tanks don't have safety liners. -Ron