About to be married, need help buying mattress!

[phoenix]

Hi typesomethingwitty,

Wow, you must be getting tired of all my questions! Thank you so much.

I’m happy to answer as many as I can. For every question you have … there will be many more reading (hopefully) with the same question so the more that are asked the more helpful the forum will be. Eventually many of the forum posts will be “revised” and aggregated into articles on the main site so people don’t have to do quite as much searching and the information will be more “categorized” and organized.

Such mattresses exist?? I love this idea. The notion of having a mattress we could open up, her side of the bed having several layers of differing firmness levels and my side of the mattress having its own layers of differing firmness levels is highly appealing. If I wanted it softer and she wanted it firmer, we could swap a layer. I like this idea.

Yes, there many manufacturers that specialize in mattresses like this where you can “choose your own layers” and have each side of the mattress made differently. The link in my earlier post includes several like this which specialize mainly in memory foam and post #21 here lists the 5 manufacturing members of this site which specialize in shipping mattresses across the country with different types of “exchanges” available. 4 of these are “choose your own layer” types of mattresses with zip covers … one that focuses on innersprings/latex and the other 3 mostly on all latex layers. There are differences between them in terms of differing levels of customization and different types of standard layering and the “degree of accuracy” that can be achieved but all of them have great value in their price ranges and they are an ideal choice if there are no local manufacturers in an area that offer similar value.

They also give people a chance to become more involved in the design of their mattress depending on the degree of research, testing and “risk” they are comfortable with. Some of my thoughts about the choices and tradeoffs that are involved in buying a mattress this way are in the last part of post #12 and in post #16 in this thread.

On the list of online resources you wrote in another thread that offered mattresses with interchangeable layers, would one make more sense for me than another? Sleep EZ’s Select Sleep 10,000 latex mattress offers three 3" layers for $1,995 in a King. Overnight Mattress.com offers a wide array of memory foam and latex mattress (although their memory foam only is 4lb density), with their latex offerings ranging from $1,199 to $1,799 in King sizes. But, you can “only” interchange the top layer.

Just for the sake of clarity … overnight mattress offers 3 different memory foam densities for the comfort layer of their mattresses (3, 4, and 5.3 lb), 8 different Talalay latex firmness levels, and a gel memory foam option (similar to the iComfort). Any of these can be exchanged for another at no cost after purchase.

The one that would “make the most sense” is the one that is most suitable for your personal PPP (pressure relief, posture and alignment, and preferences) in terms of layer thickness and layer firmness levels. Some general guidelines for different weights are here and for different sleeping positions are here. Of course all of this needs to fit within your preferred budget. Even the best mattress in the world may not be suitable for a particular person because of all the individual factors that make one mattress suitable for one person but not another.

SleepEz and the other “choose your own layer” types of mattresses that are available through the members of this site all offer different designs and degrees of customizing their mattresses. The different approaches involved in going in this direction are to A) either do enough field testing and research into layering schemes and how they interact with different heights, weights, sleeping positions, and preferences that you in effect design your own mattress and tell them what you want or B) go by their recommendations which are based on “averages” that people with similar body weights and shapes, sleeping positions, and preferences tend to prefer or C) a combination of both.

This is probably a “duh!” question, but the $700 is for the mattress only, right? Do latex mattress need box springs? What kind of foundation do they go on?

There’s no “duh” questions … only unasked ones :). Yes this is mattress only.

Do latex mattress need box springs? What kind of foundation do they go on?

Latex mattresses will do best on a firm, rigid, and supportive slatted or grid base unlike most innerspring mattresses which do best on a shock absorbing type of base like an innerspring or semi-flex base.

If the base is a foundation with wood slats … the slats should be a maximum of 3" apart (preferably less).

If the base is a metal wire grid, then the grid should have a close enough pattern to support the mattress without the latex sinking into the grid.

There’s more about some less expensive options in post #2 here and there’s also a link there to a more detailed post with a wider variety of options.

As a couple who (as you know) is used to sleeping on 30 year old and 35 year old, respectively, coil mattresses, if we like the feel of latex we’re likely going to LOVE this mattress if it’s as good quality as you say. Should I just go this route and forgo the customization* (at higher price points) options in the mattresses we talked about above?

I think this depends entirely on the many factors in each person’s “value equation”. This is certainly a good option as long as the mattress is suitable for each person who will be sleeping on the mattress but the more customizable options can also be very desireable to many people because they they allow for a much wider range of layering and combinations of pressure relief, support, and preferences. How good is good?

In the end you are at the point where all your options are good ones and they really involve a choice of how many of the benefits that are available to you are important vs the price in time and money they will cost. At least with the online options there’s little travelling involved (except perhaps for some local testing if you want to become more involved in the design of your mattress) and you can do your mattress shipping on the phone talking with some great people who are more than willing to share their skills and knowledge with you while you sip on your coffee

Phoenix