Mattress Forum

To be honest though, if you do one of those covers it should go over something like a quilted woolen cover, although they protect against dust mites penetrating into the mattress core; they do not protect the mattress from perspiration damage over time.  The salt content in your perspiration literally pulverizes rubber down over time, this is why in europe for decades (even before they had strict fire codes as well) sheeps wool or other animal hair was always used in the high quality latex mattresses to prevent this from happening, as well as to regulate your temperature and humidity.

I'd then cover everything in one of these: http://www.dreamsoftbedware.com/allcomapad.html which is also machine washable.

The wool topper can be set outside in the sun a couple of times a year to kill dust mites, and can also be drycleaned or preferrably professionally wet cleaned when necessary. These were the options I had it narrowed down to when I was contemplating a DIY bed.

One thing I forgot to mention in my above post is that I was definitely leaning towards the flobeds encasement due to it making the whole bed much more fire resistant, since the wool is sewn into all 6 sides. This may not seem like a big deal, but I have several firefighter friends who are constantly warning me about stuff like this. Unfortunately though, it does come at a price. Just another thing to consider.

As far as wool being flammable, so is steel. That doesn't mean wool can't pass the burn test on its own. See: http://www.popsci.com/node/9344

Many online retailers claim their wool filled encasements have passed the fire requirements without the use of chemicals like flobeds: here: http://www.flobeds.com/burntest.htm and here: http://www.flobeds.com/PleinAirWool.htm

"FloBeds was the first mattress company to use wool (and no chemicals) to pass the new Federal Fire Resistance standards. We have wool on all six sides of the mattress."

They do this by compressing a thick wad of wool inside their encasement. Now some say they're lying to us, but I do believe they'd be open to some pretty hefty lawsuits if proven, which can be easily done via some simple lab tests. I'm guessing that they're telling the truth.

Here, to answer some of your questions, (especially since you are making people believe steel is as flammable as wool....)

http://www.strobel.com/wool_burns.htm

"As you can see in all the proof above everything organic burns, there are no natural, chemical free, or nontoxic mattresses that comply with the federal regulation. They all contain toxic chemicals. Your only choice for a chemical free mattress is by prescription."

"Cotton burns at 255 degrees and untreated Wool burns at 600 degrees. The open flame test is 2,000 degrees for over a minute. It is scientifically impossible for a blend of untreated cotton and wool to pass the test."

Silica is not considered a chemical- therefore someone can say there are no chemicals.

“They do use a sand based material mixed in with their wool to help meet the flame retardant standards.”

Sand is Silicon (Si) which you can see on the CPSC table of chemicals used in beds When you melt sand it makes glass. This is the Silica Glass or simple glass that is in the fibers of “inherently fire resistant fibers” that they call viscose, Visil, or FR Rayon. It is an extreme respiratory hazard and known to cause illness and cancer. "

Formaldehyde is the most common FR chemical used in beds today, wool has a higher burning point than formaldehyde.  

The 1633 CFR regulations do not require beds to be flame proof, they just require a certain rate of heat release and rate of how fast the fire spreads.

If you took the same piece of wool and tried to light it on fire from the top down it would self extinguish; the fire on these tests is applied to the surface of a mattress not the underside. 

No company has ever claimed that wool does not burn, but the laws have never required beds to be completely fire proof to begin with.