rocket29/Phoenix,
I actually just bought the bed and will be receiving it soon. I will post after I’ve spent a few nights on it.
Hi ATX2014,
It seems my previous “congratulations” were a few days premature … so congratulations once again 
Phoenix
rocket29/Phoenix,
As previously mentioned, I’m posting after sleeping on my new Pure Latex Bliss “Nature” for about two weeks. Very first impression, before even sleeping on it, was that it’s just obviously a high quality mattress. You can easily tell it’s very well made. “Next first impression” was that it’s firm. Comfortable, but firm. However, I expected that and knew it would take some time to break it in per my discussions with the salesmen during the buying process. I also new my body would take time to adjust to a new bed.
Both of those are happening more every night. My body has now acclimated and the mattress is definitely softening. There’s already a noticeable difference from the first night and I can tell that in the near future it will be perfectly broken in like the floor model I tested that convinced me to buy it. I’ve healed from a painful pulled lower back muscle from a few years ago, but my old mattress had become so soft that it absorbed me, didn’t offer enough support, and required enough effort to change positions that I woke up sometimes with soreness in my lower back. I haven’t felt that once in the morning over the past to weeks.
It’s also very comfortable from a temperature standpoint. Sleeps cooler than my previous mattress. I’m very happy overall. I really like the comfort, support, and definitely feel properly aligned on this mattress. Best of all, I know it’s only going to get better when it’s fully broken in and I’m confident it’s going to last a long time as they have the best warranty that I’ve seen. If you’ve tested out this mattress and liked it, I definitely recommend it. Feel free to ask me any questions and I’ll do my best to respond.
Phoenix - one last thank you. This site is a great resource.
Hi ATX2014,
Thanks for the update … I appreciate it
Phoenix
We are sleeping on a Pure Latex Bliss Beautiful and love it. Tried the Nature and it proved a bit too firm for our aging, side sleeping bodies! (even with a 2" topper on it). My friend the tummy sleeper thought it was just right.
Both sleep cool as you said… I used to get really hot each night on our Simmons Beautyrest pillow top… not the Bliss latex! Both hubby and I haven’t slept this good in years.
Our beautiful is king size and is breaking in really nicely, other than a “ridge” of some sort down the middle… which seems a bit firmer than the sides. I assume this is where the two sides are glued together? I don’t mind a bit of ridge, but hopefully it may start breaking in a bit… we are laying in the middle off and on to see if that helps.
Hi scubamom,
This is fairly normal with larger size mattresses because the center will soften and break in at a slower pace than the parts of the mattress you sleep on. Sleeping in the middle can even things out and if your bedframe makes it possible you can also rotate a king mattress 1/4 turn and this will help even things out as well (see post #2 here).
It’s also possible that it could be related to any flex in your foundation because a split twin XL foundation (which is used with a king size) will have less flex in the center where the rigid sides of the foundation meet than in the middle of each side.
Phoenix
As I remember, the Pure Latex Bliss foundation is now a solid top (I think that’s what they delivered).
Otherwise, I read somewhere that kind size latex mattresses are two twins glued together?? If so, would that create the ridge?
Hi scubamom,
As far as I’m aware … their foundation still has a cardboard surface over widely spaced slats. They apparently showed a new foundation at the last Vegas Show but with some of the issues they are working through with their bankruptcy I don’t think they’ve introduced them yet and your mattress probably wouldn’t have it.
Latex International has two mold sizes (twin XL and queen) so their King sizes are fabricated from two twin XL cores that are glued together. The glue they use is a flexible latex based glue so it doesn’t affect the feel or performance of the layer and it’s unlikely to be the cause of any ridges in your mattress.
Outside of the possibilities I’ve mentioned … it’s possible that there is a defect in the materials in your mattress and if there are impressions or dips in your mattress that are more than .75" deep then it would probably qualify as a warranty issue (you can see their warranty here). In most cases defects in a mattress will show up early in the life of the mattress.
Phoenix
Hmmm… we stripped the 2" bliss topper off and down to the mattress and can visually see a definite ridge and two dips on each side where we sleep! Dips are now 1/2" deep.
The ridge in the middle is definitely hard and not giving. Wonder if it is the foundation?
I KNEW I should have had a platform bed made a few years ago!
Hi scubamom,
You could try the mattress on the floor for a few nights to see if it makes a difference.
Phoenix
We turned it 180 degrees, took the topper off and while it still has the ridge and dips, will try it tonight. Next week when we remake the bed, we’ll drag it off slightly and look at the foundation. From the looks of the top of the bed, it appears that it MUST be the foundation. I’ll also call the company we bought it from and ask them how the foundation was made.
IF in fact it is the cardboard (cardboard? You must be kidding, right?) top of the foundation, then I guess the best solution is to build or find a WELL MADE solid top foundation. Any suggestions? Seems like the tempurpedic we tried had something like that?
Hi scubamom,
Cardboard is fairly common in lower budget mattress foundations.
There is more about the types of foundations that are most suitable for different types of mattresses and some good sources as well in the foundation post here. In general the most suitable foundation for a heavy all latex mattress is a solid non flexing slatted foundation that has slats that are less than 3" apart so that there is some ventilation under the mattress.
I would make sure you have confirmed that the foundation is the source of your problem though before replacing the foundation.
Phoenix
OK… we pulled the Pure Latex Beautiful mattress off to look at the foundation.
It has the usual two twin frames shoved together which DOES make a ridge in the middle. The 2 1/2" slats (could not tell what they were made of) are 9 NINE inches apart with NOTHING inbetween - air space under the foundation cover! I put my knee on one of the slats and it didn’t sag, BUT that’s a lot of empty space on the bottom of the mattress.
Meanwhile, we looked at the latex mattress back on the bed. There is a definitely hard ridge down the middle as expected where the two foundations come together, but now over a 1/2" sag in the middle of either side… almost 3/4"!
UGH! So, what do we do now? The business we bought the $4200 set says they cannot even get Pure Latex Bliss to answer their phones. (due to “reorganization”). No help there that I can see.
For a temporary fix, wonder if we could shove two bungee boards under there?
There is a local mattress company (Cantwell) who still makes Latex beds (we still have two of them - 40 years old and still going strong) - I might be able to buy whatever foundation they use for their latex beds.
On the other hand, if it is a combination of the foundation AND the mattress… ???
P.S. any chance you can pull this thread part that I started off to a new thread and maybe rename Pure Latex Bliss problems?
Hi scubamom,
Done
[quote]For a temporary fix, wonder if we could shove two bungee boards under there?
There is a local mattress company (Cantwell) who still makes Latex beds (we still have two of them - 40 years old and still going strong) - I might be able to buy whatever foundation they use for their latex beds.
On the other hand, if it is a combination of the foundation AND the mattress… ??? [/quote]
If you can I would suggest sleeping on the mattress on the floor for a couple of nights to see whether that resolves the issues you are having. If it does that would confirm that it’s your foundation.
You could add a bunkie board (see here) or even plywood on top of your foundation to create a more evenly supportive surface (although I would probably cover it with fabric to reduce the chance of sharp edges or splinters harming your mattress). While I’m not a fan of solid support surfaces (see here) … for the short term or if there aren’t any other risk factors for humidity it would probably be fine.
Assuming you’ve confirmed you foundation is the issue I’m not sure what PLB would be able to do even if you were to reach them unless your foundation is defective or they have introduced a new foundation and were willing to replace it but replacing it with a suitable foundation from Cantwell (or any local store that sells a suitable foundation) or with one of the foundations that are listed in the foundation post here would probably be a good idea in the longer term.
Phoenix
Thanks for all the input! I went by the local mattress place and looked at Bunkie boards but these flex a bit, so that’s probably no help. We rotated the bed 90 degrees to see what it looked like and yep, there’s still a ridge down the middle and two sags on either side (except sideways now). We’ll try to sleep on it tonight and see what happens. Definitely looks like a mattress failure along with a lousy set of foundations. Will report back on how we sleep.
Hi scubamom.
I would give it a few nights at least to see what happens because it may take some time to “even out” if the foundation is the issue. Putting the mattress on the floor which would be a more even and solid support surface may also be a better way to test how much the foundation is affecting you although turning it sideways for long enough for the effects of the foundation to “come through” would also give a good indication about the effects of your foundation.
I would think that the odds are higher that the foundation is the main source of your issues than the mattress but of course anything is possible. It also wouldn’t be considered to be “defective” by the warranty criteria unless there was a visible impression that was 3/4" or more (see the warranty here).
I’m looking forward to your updates.
Phoenix
We can’t put it on the floor… no room, plus my husband and I could probably never pick it up off the floor! Weighs far too much for us.
I’m working on a set of solid foundations so we never have to change them again, despite whatever kind of mattress goes on them. The mattress store suggested the solid top Tempurpedics - I’m also looking into having Cantwell mattress making a set.
Meanwhile, we are pretty sure it is the mattress too… the first month was great… good support and contour under our side sleeping bodies - foam comfortably “soft”. Now when we lay sideways, it’s like the foam under our hips, shoulders, and upper legs are hitting the firmer sections below - feel like we have a brick under that whole part of our bodies.
I guess the best way to describe it is that the foam is losing buoyancy and compressing… enough to still be leaving an indention without springing back when we get out of bed.
Hi scubamom,
[quote]Meanwhile, we are pretty sure it is the mattress too… the first month was great… good support and contour under our side sleeping bodies - foam comfortably “soft”. Now when we lay sideways, it’s like the foam under our hips, shoulders, and upper legs are hitting the firmer sections below - feel like we have a brick under that whole part of our bodies.
I guess the best way to describe it is that the foam is losing buoyancy and compressing… enough to still be leaving an indention without springing back when we get out of bed. [/quote]
Some degree of softening is normal with all soft foam materials (the firmness of a foam material is also a factor in durability) and as the cover loses some of its initial stiffness … particularly over the course of the first few months when the materials are “breaking in” … but if there are no defects in the materials and they are high quality it will “stabilize” when the materials have broken in evenly in the parts that you sleep on less frequently or that have less weight on top of them. There is more about this in post #20 here.
Of course it’s also possible that the materials are defective and if the visible impressions (on a flat surface) are more than 3/4" then you would qualify for a warranty exchange as long as there are no stains on your mattress.
Phoenix
Maybe I should put our size here - I’m 5’9" and 155# - hubby is 6’3" and around 200#. It’s not like we are heavyweights on this mattress.
It’s gone from 1/2" of sag to a definite 5/8" in two weeks - we use a 4’ straight edge to measure… took pictures today to send them… it’s not just one place but pretty much head to toe on each side.
The foam over the middle (where the foundation comes together is a noticeable hill and hard as a rock compared to the rest of the mattress. We did not feel any of this the first month… top uniform visually and comfort wise.
If we are going to have yet another bed with two canoes on either side (as we did the two Simmons Beautyrest World Class ones - it makes me wonder about the state of the mattress business! Mattresses didn’t used to do this… at least not in two years (for the Simmons) and 3 months for the latex (remember I still have two 40 year old Latex mattresses in this house that are perfectly level and comfortable - we’d been sleeping in those but they are double size).
Anyway… since I bought two of these - one for our main home here (having all the sagging problems) and one for the family second home (which arrived far softer than the one here - figure that one out)… I am still within my 30 days to do a comfort exchange on the one up there. I think I’ll do that option on it and figure out what we are going to replace these things with.
I’ll call the dealer tomorrow and have a talk with them. After another sleepless night, no doubt! 