Decoding the Jargon: A Beginner's Guide to Understanding Foam Lingo

Foam.

The beautiful stuff that makes every seat comfortable, or makes it uncomfortable, depending on the quality of foam in use.

You’ve heard us brag about our foam. How it’s high quality, 2.2lb foam. Yup, that’s us, we brag. But then you were checking out our competition and they said their foam was 35 lbs, 70 lbs, or 100 lbs.

Automatically you are getting concerned, aren’t you?!

2.2 lbs to 100 lbs??????

We are talking about 2 different things. Do not fear.

Foam has 2 ‘pound’ ratings. One is compression.

The easy way to remember it is compression is the high number. Does it say 35lbs, 70lbs, or 100lbs? They are talking about compression. This essentially means when a 40lbs child sits on a 35lbs compression-rated piece of foam, the foam will compress slightly. Likewise, if a 150lbs adult sat on foam with a compression rate of 35 lbs, they would probably end up sitting on the wood base or the floor and we would be left wondering if there had been any foam there at all.

So, what is Flexxform’s compression rate? Generally speaking, for ottomans we have around a 100 lbs compression rate, meaning anyone up to 100 lbs can sit on this foam and it won’t compress. Once over 100 lbs the foam will compress a little more with each added lb, but depending on the density it will pop back up after the weight leaves. And as for our lounge pieces, most would be 100 lbs or more!

The second ‘pound rating is the foam’s density. This is what we are talking about when we say 2.2 lbs foam. This speaks more to the longevity of the foam. 2.2 comes from, how many lbs per cubic foot of foam. The higher the poundage, the higher the density. This kind of foam is called Lux Foam, or Evlon foam (Wanting more information about the specs? Check out this website: Foam Types).

Not to brag or anything, but that website speaks about Lux foam as being used for “upper-scale furniture seating…” Yes, you are welcome, we make sure our customers get the best of the best. 😋

The most common type of foam for lounge furniture is High Density (1.9lbs) or Polyurethane Foam (1.2 lbs). If we used foam with a higher density than Lux foam, not only would it be highly expensive, but it also would make our chairs harder, for longer. Although there are higher density foams that are used for mattresses, outdoor use, and more.

And to leave you with a fun fact. The highest density foam you can buy is Latex Rubber Foam, which is used for top-of-the-line mattresses, pillows, etc… It features a density of 5.6 lbs.