We gave up buying a mattress that works for us as all our our research (and probably some bias from AI) said “Its impossible!”. I was originally trying to build on a titan and then determined I’d destroy my spine layering a topper on top of the 3-5" foam it already had. Very helpful information here.
Anyway, M 320lb 6’9", Spine surgery’s and back issues. F 108 LB 5’2…
Current planned design:
1- 2" Soft 19 ILD Talalay Latex Mattress Factory
2- 2" Split, 1/2 Talalay Medium 28ILD, 1/2 Firm 38ILD Dunlop, SleepEZ (Need to confirm they can do that with 2", they said they could with 3")
3- PocketSpringStore 8" 14.75 preloaded spring Coils with 13.5" sides
4- Wrapped in SleepEZ Natural Cotton & Wool Zippered Mattress Cover
Seems like the best possible design I can come up with for our sizes- but can’t find any good info on the split size. M will just sink right through the 2" talalay, using the 2" dunlop for comfort and then backed by the coils. F will use the Talalay for comfort never seeing the springs at all. 3" is my understanding the max for comfort layers before you hammock, but 2" soft talalay will completely compress for M.
Any perspective helpful before I try to piece this thing together
Seems correct for his side, though the truth about what kind of base layer you pick will always be felt throughout the rest of the bed. Very interesting to think about how the whole thing affects the feel of the bed but it’s true. Latex has pushback so if you used a firmer spring it’ll have more stiffness to push back on. And with only 4" of material on top you will still feel the springs. So your side should have the 15.5g at most.
The difference between the 14.75g and the 13.5g is huge, but the difference between the 14.75g and the 15.5g is not near as significant.
My girlfriend and I use the 14.75g with the quadmini on top and 2" soft latex. She’s 5’3 105 pounds and I’m 6’0" 210lbs. It feels like a super supportive setup, but she still loves it. The quadmini is as supportive as a medium layer of latex, but is more conforming and less bouncy. I feel like we could have used the 15.5g as the base layer because we are side sleepers usually, so a king with a 14.75g on one side and 15.5g on the other with the quadmini, and maybe medium latex on his side and soft on your side would work. You could start with a 2" layer and sleep on latex sells 1" layers on Amazon if 2" isn’t enough.
Using a wool mattress protector or topper is a good option to add plush to the top, there are different thicknesses of toppers and covers. This way the feel can be personalized.
You could ideally sleep on the springs only if you couldn’t feel them, that’s what the latex is for.
While I understand the 14.75 vs 15.5 may not feel like a big difference, at 320 LBS, I will blow through the 15.5’s in a few years. I was even iffy on the 14.75s, but since they are preloaded I’ve read they should survive 8-10 yrs vs 2-3 yrs on the 15.5s. What you have me really rethinking is the quad minis. I could put those on top of the 320 and then go with a talalay/dunlop hybrid topper. I haven’t read much about the quad minis surviving the bigger weights but now I’ll go down that rabbit hole… Now I could probably lose a few, but getting under 280 is unlikely.
I think the sleep on latex 1" layers are Dunlop and not talalay, which may be OK but my wife’s favorite bed s 3" Talalay on 1" standard foam on Coils, and for someone her size that seems right- I thought about doing 1" dunlop on top of 3" of talalay for her and 3" of dunlop for me, but putting dunlop on top of talalay seems like its “illegal” haha… but it sounds like your girlfriend is about the same size as my F. I’ve not been able to find any place to “try out” dunlop for my wife but everything I read says talalay is the way to go for her, and she likes it… but I just bottom out. My thinking is the dunlop firm would aid on “bottoming out” persay even if I feel the coils.
Greatly appreciate your recos and experience! I’ve got a wool mattress casing in the plan, but I’ll look into adding a wool topper as well.
Ohh okay, yes for your weight the 14.75g is better. For a 110lb person, the 15.5g or even the 15.5g plush would be better. I have a nest and wild hybrid that uses the 15.5g springs but has 860 coils instead of the 1050 coils that are sold in the DIY models. He sells that for a large variety of customers up to 240 pounds. I’d say the 1050 count plush spring is about equivalent in firmness to the 860 count regular spring.
So basically the firmnesses go about like this
15.5g plush - 5/10
15.5g - 6.75
14.75g - 8
When I lay on the 14.75g it feels very solid. At 210lbs I barely flex the coils.
It seems like you mostly have it figured out. What’s great about DIY is you can get your bed exactly how you want it and usually save money.
