Waterbeds: Should You Get Rid of Yours Before Moving into Your New Apartment?

Share:

Waterbeds: Should You Get Rid of Yours Before Moving into Your New Apartment?

Cole Nemeth · Jun 21, 2018

 

modern waterbed

Remember waterbeds? Developed in the 1960s, they rose in popularity quickly and remained a desired item throughout the 70s and 80s. Eventually people fell out of love with them and sales eventually dwindled into the 90s and early 2000s. Now, they’re mostly a thing of the past.

Still, there continues to be a surprising number of people out there who own waterbeds to this day.And I’m assuming that if you’re reading this you might be one, and you might be wondering whether or not it’s worth dragging your beloved bed to your new place when you move. However, if your new place is in an apartment, you might want to reconsider.

While I don’t want to tell you whether or not to actually get rid of your waterbed before moving into your new apartment, here are a few things you might want to think about first.

Difficult to Pack and Move

Waterbeds can be cumbersome to get from one apartment to another, but not necessarily because they’re more bulkier or heavier than an ordinary set-up. A waterbed mattress can hold between 80 and 200 gallons of water, weighing up to about 2000 pounds when full, but trying to lift a full mattress would be next to impossible and dangerous. As such, you must always drain it completely before you can even get it out of your place.

Draining itself is not always a simple and easy process. For baffled varieties, a pump is required, but the whole process can take one to three hours to empty completely. With a tube mattress, a simple garden hose can do the job in about an hour. This will usually require two people, and a fairly long hose so you make sure you can reach a proper drain from wherever you are in the house.

When the mattress is full drained, the entire bed can disassemble just like a normal mattress and box spring set-up. However, at this point you will have to be extra careful. Moving heavy and bulky furniture is hard enough, but with a waterbed, even once it’s been properly drained, is a complicated and heavy material to hold on to, carry around, pack, and fit into a moving van. Not only that, but you need to be careful not to puncture it or store it improperly. Baffled mattresses, for example, need to be rolled only after making sure ALL the water is drained out or the fiber could shift and ruin the entire thing.

Once you’ve managed to move it successfully from your old bedroom, to the moving van, and up to your new place, you then have to fill it up again. And remember, emptying and filling it requires being able to run a hose up to the bed once you’ve found the perfect placement for it. This could be a challenge in an apartment especially if you’re on an upper floor.

Extra Costs

Did you know it costs extra money just to have a waterbed?. Believe it or not, owning a waterbed is much more expensive compared to owning a regular mattress. You have to have the water heater plugged in at all times, which can increase your monthly electricity bill by about $20 a month. If you don’t keep the water heater plugged in, your bed will rapidly cool down and cause condensation, mildew, and a funky smell.

You also have to clean and condition your waterbed mattress to keep it in good shape. Manufacturers recommend a vinyl cleaner and protector be used several times a year, if not once a month, and a conditioner to prevent mold and mildew growth be added to the water every time you change it or about once a year.

Finally, if your bed were to spring a leak or break, not only will you have to hunt down a replacement part or a patch kit to fix it, you might have to repair damage to your frame depending on the severity of the leak.

Not Allowed

At last, the most important deciding factor to end all pros and cons: some apartment landlords do not allow waterbeds. For good reason! Waterbeds can cause major damage if they break or are allowed to leak past what your liner can contain, and that’s something most landlords just won’t want to deal with. And if they do allow waterbeds, they might require that you get appropriate liability insurance. Even renter’s insurance is difficult as it does not cover any water damage from a waterbed.

You might also like:

Moving into a new apartment or rental property can be both exciting and stressful. From packing up your belongings to coordinating logistics, there’s a lot to manage. However, one aspect that is often overlooked is what to expect on move-in day regarding the condition of your new unit. Surprisingly, according to recent surveys, a significant […]

Jessica Lee

 · Mar 12, 2024

On ApartmentRatings, real renters have the ability to rate and review their apartment communities based on their experience touring and or living in the communities. ApartmentRatings offers renters the ability to see what life is like at a community through a report card grade style format called epIQ. Every month we highlight apartment communities whose […]

Jessica Lee

 · Feb 28, 2024

On ApartmentRatings, real renters have the ability to rate and review their apartment communities based on their experience touring and/or living in them. ApartmentRatings offers renters the ability to see what life is truly like at a community through a report card grade style format called epIQ. Every month we highlight a major city across […]

Jessica Lee

 · Jan 31, 2024