My wife (5’ 7" ~290, second trimester pregnant) and I (5’ 11" 280 male) are in search of a new king size bed. We both sleep on our sides. She has curvy hips. I have wide shoulders and a bad lower back.
Our current Wink mattress started sagging under my hips in under two years, and we want something that will hopefully last longer. I had been sleeping with a wedge pillow to elevate my torso to help with snoring, and that in combination with being on my side put more weight on my hip area I think. I no longer sleep with a wedge pillow nor an overly elevated head/torso.
LMF looks great and I think we want to create a custom mattress, but I am interested in any recommendations. I’ll note that my wife is biased against a fully “memory foam” mattress currently, despite my best efforts to explain that latex foam is very different from my old cheap mattress. So she’d prefer a hybrid with a spring support layer. That said, if there’s a strong reason to believe it wouldn’t be the best for us, I think I can persuade her to do what’s going to be best.
For a custom build, I was thinking of the following:
Bottom: 6" pocket mattress coil layer
Middle: 3" X-firm dunlop layer (maybe just firm?)
Top: 3" Firm talalay layer
My concern here is the coil layer wouldn’t be supportive enough given our weights, or it would wear out more quickly than the other layers. If we went with an all latex build, I was thinking the following:
Bottom: 3" X-Firm dunlop layer
Middle: 3" Firm dunlop layer
Top: 3" Firm talalay layer (maybe medium?)
I don’t know if we would need a 4th layer of 3" x-firm dunlop underneath. Can you provide any guidance or make any recommendations? Thank you in advance.
We sincerely appreciate your inquiries and engagement!
To address your first concern, it’s indeed accurate to assume that the pocketed coil configuration may not offer sufficient support given your respective weights. Typically, we don’t recommend pocketed coils for individuals weighing over 250lbs.
Regarding your second configuration, you’re right on target! Based on the valuable information you’ve shared, I propose a configuration featuring a 3" layer of Medium Talalay atop 3" of Firm Dunlop, topped off with 3" of Extra Firm Dunlop. Given your primary side-sleeping preferences, the Medium Talalay layer will furnish the necessary contouring and pressure relief, complemented by the underlying firm and extra firm Dunlop layers delivering gradual and comprehensive support.
I recommend dividing the layers to enable personalized comfort adjustments on each side without affecting your partner’s side. For instance, if one of you requires more substantial support, simply unzip the quilted cover and shift a firmer layer closer to your body. Here’s an illustrative example: moving the extra firm layer to the middle and placing the firm layer at the bottom (M/XF/F). As the firmer layers approach the mattress surface, you’ll experience increased surface-level support.
Should further queries arise, please feel free to reach out at your convenience. Once again, thank you, and may you enjoy a splendid weekend!
Thank you so much for your response! I now wonder, given these firmness levels, if we would be okay to get the Firm Luxerion Latex Mattress. As far as I can tell, it would save us about $450 (which could go towards a foundation) and the only difference between that and the recommended configuration is the 3" layer of medium-firmness latex on top would be Dunlop instead of Talalay. How much of an improvement would that extra $450 (Talalay top layer instead of Dunlop) provide? We might still opt for Talalay if the improvement is substantial I think.
I have a couple more question that are only tangentially related to my initial question . First, do you take the old mattress away on delivery? Second, if I add all of the components for a custom-built mattress to the cart and order it, will it come assembled or will we have to assemble it?
Thanks again for your guidance and repsonsiveness!
There is a noticeable difference between Talalay and Dunlop, and it’s not really that Talalay is softer than Dunlop. Most people and companies say Talalay is softer just because that’s an easier way to explain it. You can actually have a soft Dunlop layer that’s softer or firmer than a soft Talalay and a medium Talalay that’s softer or firmer than a medium Dunlop, etc. The real difference comes down to how they react when being compressed. Talalay is bouncier and springier and is generally better at contour and pressure relief on your hips and shoulders. Dunlop is denser and firmer and is generally better at support and maintaining proper spinal alignment so our most common configuration is Talalay for the top layer and Dunlop for the bottom 2 layers. We will recommend Talalay for two or more layers for customers that have things like fibromyalgia, shingles, chronic hip pain, chronic shoulder pain, or anything where they’re sensitive to pressure, or for customers that just prefer a bouncier / springier feel. Outside of those circumstances, a combination of Talalay and Dunlop offers the best chance to be successful for the average person. Again, the best way I can summarize the differences would be to say that Talalay is better at pressure relief on your hips and shoulders and Dunlop is better at maintaining proper spinal alignment and avoiding back pain. However, Talalay can also be helpful in avoiding back pain because it provides more of what we call secondary support. Secondary support fills in the gaps between your body and the mattress. For side sleepers, this is normally the area between a person’s ribs and waist. For back sleepers, this is normally the area between the small of your back and the mattress. If these parts or your body aren’t being held up by the mattress, your muscles will work all night to hold those parts of your body up, which can lead to back pain. Aside from that, women tend to be curvier, especially around their hips, and having a top layer of Talalay can help avoid hip pain and keep the mattress from pushing their hips up, which can also lead to back pain. As such, most of our customers definitely benefit from having one layer of Talalay on top, and Dunlop for the rest of the mattress, but it’s completely up to you what you would like to order.
We deliver via FedEx and they won’t remove your old mattress, of course, but we can set up a service that will do that for $120. Or, we can set up a service to deliver and assemble the new mattress AND remove the old mattress, and the price for that is $199. In my experience, though, the quickest and cheapest way to get rid of a mattress is to list it for free on Facebook Marketplace, Offerup, Craigslist, etc. and mention that whoever wants it has to come pick it up. You should have someone there the same day or next day to pick it up.
For both custom-built DIY mattress and the Luxerion mattress, we install the bottom layer in the cover before it ships, which is really the most important step. Once you get the bottom layer lined up with respect to the cover, the rest of the layers follow suit pretty easily. So you’ll just install the top 2 layers in the cover and zipper it up.
. First, do you take the old mattress away on delivery? Second, if I add all of the components for a custom-built mattress to the cart and order it, will it come assembled or will we have to assemble it?