I hear you. The importance of the āhands-onā and experiential factor (as opposed to just the theoretical) in all this is becoming much clearer to me!
Samples would be excellent. Iāll shoot you all an email.
So, on the third day my husband started having mid back painand numb hands. I took off the cover and put everything on the foundation without the cover. I then had him get on the mattress and really looked at what was going on. The 3" layer of firm talalay seemed to stop the coils from engaging at allāthey did not compress. I removed the 3" layer of talalay and added a 1" layer of dunlop as the transition layer. I then added a 3" medium (28 IDL) and a 3" soft (15 IDL), then zipped everything up in the bamboo/wool cover and added a Cozy Earth bamboo mattress pad (really thin more for coolng and protection). This has created the MOST amazing mattress weāve ever slept on. It is soft and cushy, but very supportive. I think by using a thinner transition layer we are getting the full benefit of the Quantum Edge Elite coils. Our BMIs seem high, he is 5ā10"/190 lbs and I am 5ā4"/160, however we are both devoted gym people so we are a smaller size with lots of muscle mass, with broader shoulders. I think this was why the 3" soft over 3" firm was not giving us the countouring we need to keep from aggrevating our shoulder and hip pressure points. Thank you again for all your help. I wanted to give you additional feedback in case you have customers who are more muscular like we are.
Michtx, I have a couple of questions, if you donāt mind?
What firmness is the 1" dunlop that you switched out?
Adding up your layers, is your final mattress height 15"?
Finally, can you tell me where you got your bamboo/wool cover?
Thank you!
-The 1" is a firm dunlop from Sleep on Latex, Iām not sure what their IDL rating is for firm. I did have a 3" firm talalay (IDL 36)
-Yes, the final mattress height is 15 inches. I was worried about having such a tall mattress, but I purchased a low-profile foundation (5") from Arizona Premium Mattress as well. My total height from the floor to the top of the mattress is approx. 27-28" which is a good height for us to be able to sit on the side of the bed to put on shoes, etc. (7" metal bed frame, 5" foundation, 15" mattress).
-The cover is a 15" Bamboo/Wool cover from Arizona Premium mattress. I really love this cover! It is so soft and cool that I want to sleep on just the cover:-) I put the cozy earth mattress pad on it simply to protect the mattress. Luckily it has the same cool feel as the mattress cover, but you do lose just a tiny bit of the plushness from the mattress pad when you have a the cover on it.
That looks like a good set-up. Iām looking at doing something similar but canāt decide between the height of the layers. I was also thinking of using HD foam instead of the Dunlop, but I wonder if the Dunlop would work better. I need the support for my hips and back, but have quite a bit of shoulder pain.
I currently have a bed with a headboard, sides and footboard that has itās own slates. I want to just take the current slates out and put the mattress inside the bed frame, but wasnāt sure how to get the height I needed with just a foundation and mattress. A metal frame makes complete sense!
Michtx
Thank you kindly for the update! We are happy to hear that you have found a configuration that is working for you! Please donāt hesitate to reach out anytime should you have additional questions.
Latex Mattress Factory
Glad you figured it out. This is the hard part of doing a DIY mattress (ie understanding why itās not performing and knowing what to do to correct it). The key is as you found opening up the mattress and really looking at whatās working and what isnāt and then making those adjustments you need (in your case it was clearly a contouring problem since you both have more curvy body shapes).
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What is/are the benefit(s) of putting a less dense foam under a firmer one? Is the lower layer dense foam properties a little sacrified if put under a higher density layer?
Well it depends on the circumstances, but I can give you an example, for sure. So letās say someone sleeps on soft Talalay over medium Dunlop over firm Dunlop and itās too soft. Some customersā first thought is to change the top layer from soft Talalay to medium Talalay, and for the sake of the example, weāll call that a ābigā increase in firmness. If they only need a moderate increase in firmness, I would actually recommend they rearrange the layers to soft Talalay over firm Dunlop over medium Dunlop. This will give the sleeper a good middle ground between initial setup and changing the soft layer to a medium layer.
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Thank you!
Is that a technique to lower the cost of the initial purchase ? Does the soft layer actually soften the medium layer on top (here i mean the feel of the bed). Would that change the feel of the bed other than the softness?
Also, With the same example ,What would you recommend to someone that would need to start from scratch (but only with latex). Would that be a base dense layer ,then a medium layer, than something between medium-soft at the top?
In this example, itās not about cost, itās just a way to make a small change instead of a big change. Latex contours to whatever itās resting on, so having a soft layer in the middle affects the way you contour into the medium layer, so itā makes for a softer feel than having another medium layer under the top medium layer, for example.
We normally make recommendations based on a personās height, weight, and whether they sleep on their side, stomach, or back.
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