Reading Slats on a Trade Spec Sheet: What "40 — 20 Per Side" Means

Slat count is one of the easiest specification points to state vaguely, and one of the easiest to check properly if a supplier gives you the full figure. Here’s what a complete slat specification actually includes.

Why a slat count on its own tells you nothing

A bare number like “20 slats” doesn’t tell you whether that’s the total across the whole frame or the count on one side of a two-piece frame — and the difference matters, because a two-piece frame’s slats are split left and right rather than running as a single set. A complete specification always states both: the total, and the per-side split where the frame has one. Anything less is a number you can’t actually compare against another supplier’s.

Total and per side: the count for each of the six sizes

Here’s the full breakdown, total first and per-side split second where it applies:

• Single: 23 slats (one continuous set — no per-side split, see below)
• Small Double: 46 slats — 23 per side
• Double: 40 slats — 20 per side
• King: 40 slats — 20 per side
• Super King: 40 slats — 20 per side
• Emperor: 48 slats — 24 per side, the most of any size in the range

These figures aren’t standardised across sizes to hit a round number — they follow from each frame’s construction, which is why Small Double and Emperor don’t fit the same 20-per-side pattern as the three sizes in between. The full table with dimensions and pricing is below.

Sprung birch plywood, 8 × 53 mm — dimensions and holders

Every slat is sprung birch plywood — laminated birch plywood bent into a curved profile, which is what gives a slatted base its flex rather than the rigid feel of a solid board. Each slat measures 8 mm thick by 53 mm wide, and is supplied with holders for fitting rather than as loose boards. This construction is consistent across all six sizes; what changes between sizes is the count, not the slat itself.

The Single is the exception: one continuous slat bed

Single is the one size in the range built as a one-piece frame, and its slat bed follows the frame — one continuous set of 23 slats rather than a left-right pair. There’s no per-side figure to quote for Single because there’s no centre split to divide it across. Every other size, from Small Double up, is a two-piece frame with slats split accordingly.

Three questions to put to any supplier’s spec sheet

When you’re comparing a slat specification against ours or anyone else’s, three questions cover it:

1. Is the number given the total, or one side of a two-piece frame?
2. What’s the slat made from, and what are its actual dimensions — not just “sprung slats”?
3. Are holders included, or supplied separately?

A supplier who can answer all three in one line is giving you a real specification. One who can’t is asking you to take the rest on trust.