Can someone give me a starting point?

Hi All…

I read the overviews and checked out most sites from the members of this site, and I’m still at a loss. have a bed arriving in a few days, and a girl friend arriving in a few weeks, and still no mattress :frowning:

Basically, I’m down to latex or memory foam. I’m leaning latex because it seems it will be cooler, although I would prefer more responsiveness. My budget is about $900 to $1,200. And its important that it come compressed so i can get it up the stairs. A king size mattress that has traditional springs or wood or metal in it just won’t fit. I’m 5ft 6in, 145 pounds, like things soft and generally don’t have any back or joint issues.

I’m in the Providence, RI area. It seems that there was just one member anywhere near me, in Acton, MA, but they seemed to have one mattress in either natural or synthetic latex, so not much selection.

Any suggestions of where to look would be appreciated, thanks!

Hi skyjumper,

Hopefully you’ve read the tutorial post here which has a step by step approach that can save you a great deal of time and frustration.

It sounds to me that you have completed all or most of step 1 and step 2 and your next step is step 3 which involves identifying the better options and possibilities in your area and beginning your personal testing so you can translate what you are reading into personal experience.

Spindle mattress actually has two “basic” mattresses (one has two layers and one has 3 layers) but both of these have a range of options for many different layering combinations using different firmness levels for each layer so in effect each basic design is the basis for many different mattresses. They would certainly be well worth a visit to test a range of layering combinations for the types of Dunlop latex they use in their mattresses.

Some of the other options and possibilities in the Providence, RI area I’m aware of are listed in post #4 here.

Phoenix

Hi Phoenix and thanks for that great reply. I’ll check out the places listed in the post you linked. I just took a quick look and see several of the are big well known places, but the smaller ones I didn’t know about are worth a good look.

I just read every post the search feature found on the Spindle Abscond. They have another bed but the drop-down does not list king as an option so I assumed it was not available in king. This bed seems to have some of the features I need, most importantly that I can easily get it up the stairs to the bedroom and that it seems very affordable. Since they are about an hour drive I may be able to visit and actually lie on one, although I realize that may not be a great help.

It seems people have been happy with their Abscond mattresses so I’ll give these guys a call Monday. I sent them a note already asking about construction. I hesitate to call a salesperson unless I’m reasonable sure they offer a product I might buy, just because I don’t want to waste their time and mine, and get on their list.

However, from reading here and their web site, right off, I’m confused about something. So this mattress is 3 layers of latex. It seems there is no clear delineation between the “core” vs the “comfort top.” Is it all core and the 3/4 inch top supposed to be the comfort top? If so, it seems not thick enough to sink into.

If the top 3 inch layer is the comfort layer, then I’m also wondering if there is any benefit to making the top layer natural as opposed to synthetic.

Finally, they offer a 3 inch latex pad as an option. No one here has mentioned that. Would this be the comfort top layer?

Thanks again!

Hi Skyjumper,

Terms like “comfort layer” and “transition layer” and “support layer” are just terminology to describe the main functions of the different layers in a mattress. The upper part of a mattress (or a sleeping system in the case of a mattress/topper combination) contribute the most to the pressure relieving cradle and are the comfort layers. The deepest layers are primarily to “stop” the heavier parts of the body from sinking down too far and are the support layers. The layers in between them are “transition” layers that help with both of the two main functions of a mattress. There is no clear line of where a “comfort layer” or “support layer” begins or ends and in some cases all of the different vertical “zones” are not actually layers at all but different parts of a layer. There is more about this in post #2 here and in post #4 here.

In most cases it can take many years to understand most of the “theory” behind different designs and layering combinations to the degree that you could use this type of technical information to choose a mattress design and it’s much more effective to limit your “study” to a basic working knowledge of some of the concepts involved and then to use your own personal testing and experience and what your body tells you (in combination with the help and guidance of an experienced retailer or manufacturer) to decide on which type of materials and which mattress has the best combination of layers that works best for you in terms of PPP.

I would avoid trying to “design” your own mattress or “speculate” about which combinations may work best for you until you have more specific reference points based on personal testing and experience that can provide some meaning and context to the more technical information that can easily overwhelm or lead to “paralysis by analysis” and which really isn’t necessary to know or even helpful for most people

Phoenix

Okay thanks again Phoenix. You answered my question well and I appreciate it. I was not thinking of designing my own mattress, just trying to understand how the 3 x 3 design works. I’ll call them Monday and I’m sure they will fill me in on all kinds of details.

Hi Skyjumper,

I would contact KTT Enterprises, owned by husband and wife, Dick and Nancy Coffey. They are out of Hamden, CT. My husband and I just purchased a mattress from them last week and I am very happy with our purchase. They carry both natural and blend talalay latex foam made at Latex International (also in CT). Dick and Nancy were very knowledgable and friendly, and their prices are the best in the area! They took their time with my 1,000 questions and helped us find the perfect mattress for our needs. Good luck!

Can I ask how much you paid?

Thank you, I’ll do that!

[quote=“jankdc” post=31176][quote=“kmena” post=31150]Hi Skyjumper,

I would contact KTT Enterprises, owned by husband and wife, Dick and Nancy Coffey. They are out of Hamden, CT. My husband and I just purchased a mattress from them last week and I am very happy with our purchase. They carry both natural and blend talalay latex foam made at Latex International (also in CT). Dick and Nancy were very knowledgable and friendly, and their prices are the best in the area! They took their time with my 1,000 questions and helped us find the perfect mattress for our needs. Good luck![/quote]

Can I ask how much you paid?[/quote]

I don’t want to hijack this thread too much, but I recently contacted KTT Enterprises. They quoted me $199.80 for a 2" blended Talalay (Latex International Talatech) topper in queen, and $300.00 for 3". While I was on the phone with Nancy she said something about charging by the board foot. So I just tried to do a board feet calculation and it looks to me like they’re charging about $3 per board foot. If you saw the original version of my post that was up briefly before I edited it, I posted a value based on a miscalculation that was way off. I think this calculation is correct, but I’m not positive. In any case, you can email or call KTT to get definitive pricing information. I can second Nancy and Dick being very pleasant to speak with.

Re: the board feet, I used this calculator, but I didn’t realize the length value is supposed to be provided in feet, not inches, so I originally posted the result of a calculation based on a length of 80 feet! Once I realized the mistake I did it again with the correct length value. I also looked up a formula and did the calculation in a spreadsheet.