What would the best DIY layers to recreate the feel of the Zinus memory foam mattress, but with higher quality materials? Does anyone know what kind of firmness layers from foambymail (Is this still the recommended source for memory foam?) feel most similar to the Zinus? I’ve seen that density and firmness aren’t necessarily correlated so given with DIY returns aren’t as easy I’d like to know if anyone has experience with the 4lb or 5lb memory foam being a similar firmness to that of the Zinus.
We’ve had the 12" memory foam mattress from Zinus since 2016, it’s finally time to upgrade to a King so I decided this was the time to rabbit hole and in doing so realized that there were softer areas of the mattress where we sagged into when we slept. TMU has been an incredible resource and after visiting 10+ different mattress stores and trying 20+ different mattresses we ended up trying out a SleepEZ split latex Dunlop/Dunlop/Dunlop then swapped for Dunlop/Dunlop/Talalay bed because everyone was very pro latex here. At the end of the day though I think I just much prefer the feel of memory foam and of the memory foam mattresses we’ve tried, the Zinus has been by far the favorite, it just doesn’t last and I can’t swap individual worn out components. Side note, ordering and interacting with SleepEZ for layer swaps has been great.
Love the sustainability and durability aspects of latex but prefer the hug of memory foam to the feel of being pushed out of the bed that we get with latex.
5’11" 180 and 5’4" 130
M/M/F and S/M/F layers currently
I tried the Serenity foam 3" Temperpedic memory foam topper from Costco on top of the M/M/F latex setup and it feels waaay softer than the Zinus, I just fall all the way through. If I just sleep on the Talalay/Dunlop/Dunlop M/M/F my alignment seems to be fine so I don’t think this is just a support/transition layers issue given the Zinus also theoretically has 3" of memory foam at the top based on the materials section of the naplap review: Zinus Green Tea Review - 10 Objective & Data-Driven Tests - NapLab. If this is just an issue with memory foam on top of latex, what hd foam layers might most closely mimic the Zinus feel?
Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated!
Hi there memFoamPreferer.
Welcome to our Mattress Forum! 
You may have seen us say this before in the forum, but approximating the feel of another mattress is usually a frustrating experience that we don’t recommend, because a very small change in something as basic as the ticking can cause two otherwise identical beds to have totally different feels.
Rather, we recommend DIYing something that feels comfortable for you and meets your support needs!
That’s a pretty long time. Are you replacing because the materials have finally worn down?
No shame in the memory foam game. A lot of people prefer it! And, to be fair, by nature it’s not going to last as long as latex. The fact that it lasted 7 - 8 years is pretty good. Many people are replacing memory foam beds around the 10 year mark…so even with the most durable foam, that’s probably the lifespan of the bed you’d be DIYing (at least the foam component).
Keeping that in mind…it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if you chose to buy the bed you know you like. Have you looked to see if Zinus sells toppers that you could use to create a more swappable DIY re: replacing layers?
NikkiTMU
That’s a good point about not trying to exactly recreate the feel, I guess I should have focused instead on trying to find a similar firmness memory foam.
I’m replacing the bed because we’re upgrading to a King size and in reading through mattress underground, finally realized that even though it wasn’t visible, the areas we usually lay in have softened significantly more than the other areas of the bed. On reflection the occasional back pain we’ve gotten in the mornings was probably not just from working out and related to the lack of support in the bed. Now that I’m better informed, I’m looking to get something more durable and long lasting.
I hadn’t though to check if Zinus sells the topper separately and it looks like they do! I’ve seen a bunch of reports that the mattress feels different than it did before given how long it’s been and knowing that density is not necessarily correlated with firmness, I was hoping to find a similar firmness foam at the 4lbs+/cuft density mark so that I don’t need to swap it out as much but this might be the best backup option.
Also, after going back and testing more combinations with the costco memory foam just on the floor and on a medium dunlop layer, it’s not so much that I’m looking for memory foam envelopment but more just to dampen the bounciness of latex as I sink in much more to the costco/dunlop/floor combo than I do into the Zinus. We just got an eightsleep topper which seems to be moving the needle in the right direction since it’s almost an inch thick, but to further improve motion isolation, would a memory foam topper be more effective or would swapping out one or both of the bottom layers of latex for HD foam be more effective?
Great question.
I think you might find some success in creating better motion isolation with the HD foam or by using split slabs of latex or whichever foam in your base - actually in theory if you split the slabs down the middle across the mattress, and then put them in the same encasement, you’d likely create the greatest motion isolation you can since the foams would be separated.
The current setup is a fully split king with three 3" layers of latex on each side. It’s not so much the motion isolation from my partner, it’s the motion isolation from myself I’m looking for, I guess the better term for this is lower responsiveness.
What are the benefits of having a full latex mattress over say 6" of HD foam and then a 3" latex layer on top of that assuming same ILDs for all of the layers? Latex is more durable than HD foam but the base layers are rarely the ones that wear out anyway so that probably isn’t super relevant. Aside from the all natural/organic materials, is the benefit of all latex vs hd foam with a latex top layer mainly increased responsiveness?