Dear Mr. Phoenix...

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

I have spent a few hours reading the blogs, and have read your advice in the past. Also went to your ‘old’ site and observed a few mattress surgeries. (I actually operated on a Sealy once. The patient did not make it.) My brief mattress story might help someone, and then I have a few questions for you,if you can indulge them.

I have added foam (poly) to mattresses for years, before natural latex caught on. In my quest to sleep better, I tried the Select Comfort, and then a Sears, and yes, back to Sleep Number (who does THAT twice)…and realized I would have to go rogue, and build my own. I bought 3 layers of Tally/Dunlop and arranged in what you refer to as a “Progressive” type set up.

One problem … I did not have a cover/case. I bought the foam layers through Habitat. I knew enough by this point that I did not want anything but a stretch cover (no wool, no cotton weave, NOTHING that could not conform). And, I am not a fan of memory foam. took months…but I got up the nerve to call Temper-pedic to see if they would sell their zipper cover. (a few on Amazon were cheaply made). And thankfully they did! Made a fine mattress. And I built the slats foundation (actually, my husband got the wood, and the screws, and the drill…but I was the engineer).

I am now seeing that a little more plush…to adjust for a side sleeper (aka your article) would be really nice with foam. This great bed will replace a guest bed. I will either get a mattress with foam in it. or a firmer spring and add the Talalay top, or build another duplicate of what I have.

One question has to do with memory foam. I do not like the creepy feel on the surface, but you make some points (as the salesman did) for memory foam as pressure releaving. Mattress store had Scandinavian brand models, and the two simpler ones had a more resilient type memory foam. And, one model uses plush quilted to a latex layer. (However, they may be selling out…so who knows).
Any way, I wondered about your take on the air vents in those mattresses…do they really make a difference? Do you feel the layers they pile together now will keep me from getting bruised by a Pea? Do you like the role of the memory foam in these beds (they are all quite similar…but seem like they would hold up. ) Lastly, is there another product similar to Scandinavian that you would suggest?I looked at Jamieson, and that is like what I already have…nice, but nut as cushy.

Thanks. And allow me to say you are some kind of brilliant when it comes to disecting a mattress!!

2

Hi Princess and Pea,

That’s interesting … and good thinking. I didn’t realize they would sell their covers separately. There are also some good sources for stretch knit covers in the component post here.

They would probably make a small difference in airflow but the limiting factor would probably be the foam inside the mattress and whether they had any channels that allowed airflow to reach the outside of the mattress to go through the air vents in the first place. You can see an example of what I mean with the Tempflow mattresses here.

This is something where your own testing will tell you more than I could (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here) and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved to use a formula or “theory at a distance” to predict what someone else may feel on a mattress that can tell you more than your own personal testing. I don’t have any personal experience with their mattresses so the only thing I can really make any meaningful comments about is the quality of the materials they use.

The role of memory foam is to relieve pressure (just like other comfort materials or foam) and is the same in every mattress that uses it but whether any combination of materials is a good match for someone really depends on how well they work for that person in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) and this really depends on each person’s body type, sleeping style, sensitivities, and preferences. A certain combination of materials in one of their mattresses may work well for some people but not for others.

Both memory foam and latex can be very pressure relieving in the right softness level and design but they have a different “feel” and respond very differently to pressure. You can read more about the differences between memory foam and latex in post #2 here but this is really a matter of personal preference not a “better/worse” choice.

Some of their mattresses on their site list the foam densities and some don’t but if you can list the specifics of the layers in any of their mattresses you are considering (see this article) I’d be happy to make some comments about the quality of the materials but since I’ve never tried them I don’t know how they would feel for me so I really couldn’t even guess at how they may feel for someone else.

Post #9 here has more information about trying to “match” one mattress to another one and there are many mattresses that use the same or similar materials (memory foam, polyfoam, latex) in various combinations and layer thicknesses but it’s unlikely that you would find another mattress that used the same design (same type, density, thickness, and firmness of all the layers) so the only way to assess how another mattress that has a different design may compare in terms of PPP for you would be with your own personal testing.

I wish I was “brilliant” enough to know how a mattress would feel or perform in terms of PPP for someone else … but unfortunately that’s not possible for someone else to know with any certainty with all the many differences between people and different mattress designs so that’s the one thing that each person needs to assess for themselves based on their own testing or sleeping experience.

Phoenix