Hi everyone,
I’ve been reading this forum for a long time, but this is my first post.
I’m in the process of designing and building a new mattress, and also trying to improve a formerly built DIY mattress. We are both back and (sometimes) side sleepers.
Let’s start with the previously built one, which was a Queen mattress for a guest room. Everything was from Foam Factory. The layers are, from bottom to top, 5 inches of https://www.foambymail.com/LR_2/lux-r-foam-mattress.htmlLUX-R poly foam as a support layer. This foam has a 1.8-pound density and has an ILD of 50. Next up was a layer of 5lb https://www.foambymail.com/V_5/5lb-memory-foam-topper.htmlViscoMax Memory foam, 3 inches. This combo didn’t work because although the 5-pound memory foam is very nice, we would bottom out against the very firm poly foam support layer. We then added a 2 inch soft Talalay latex memory topper underneath the memory foam which improved things but still we ended up bottoming out. After discussing this with the Foam Factory, they pointed out that we probably made a mistake by starting with the Lux R foam, and suggested we buy a 5" piece of their https://www.foambymail.com/HDHQ_2/hd36-hq-foam-mattress.htmlHD 36 HQ foam, which has a softer feel with an ILD of 35 And a density of 2.8.
Here’s my question: although I am sure that buying the softer support foam would hopefully fix the feeling of a hard bottom to the mattress, it means tossing out a perfectly good piece of support foam and spending more money. I’m curious if anyone has any good ideas about an intermediate layer of foam which would sit between the 3" 5-pound memory foam on top and the very firm support foam on the bottom. Options might include a two or 3 inch https://www.foambymail.com/LTX_T/dunlop-latex-foam-topper.htmlDunlop latex layer, or perhaps a medium firmness regular poly foam in a two or 3-inch layer. Obviously, the poly foam would be much less expensive. Or should I just toss the firm support foam and start with the medium support foam?
The main bed build will also source most of the components from the Foam Factory. It would start with a 5 inch layer of medium firm poly support foam, the HD 36 HQ foam with an ILD of 35.
The challenge for this mattress is that it needs to work for a 205 pound 5 foot nine man as well as 115 lb. 5 foot three woman. So it might involve some split layers.
The transition layer might be 1 or 2 inches of medium firm Dunlop latex, with an ILD Of 29. This should allow the heavier one of us not to bottom out against the support foam. Input as to whether one or 2 inches would be preferable would be great. I’m not sure that 1 inch would be enough of an intermediate layer to stop me from bottoming out.
The top comfort layer could either be a simple 3-inch layer of 5 pound Visco memory foam, or could be two individual 2" layers of 5lb and 4lb Visco memory foam. The advantage I see of splitting the comfort layer into two layers is that they could be swapped from up and down to change the firmness slightly.
All of this will go into a mattress case with the zipper. Initially I would build this as a single, un-split mattress, but if necessary would cut some of the layers longitudinally to allow some customization for each sleeper.
Any input would be great. I know this is a little bit complicated, but I like to fiddle, and having tried a variety of other bed in the box memory foam mattresses that friends have purchased, I haven’t been impressed with most of them. I also like the option of replacing foam layers, especially in the comfort layer zone, as they wear out, rather than having to toss an entire mattress.