DIY Latex Bed w/ Adjustable bed is shrinking

Mattress Talk General Mattresses Questions
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Hi everyone,

Earlier this year I built my own Queen mattress using 6" Bolsa coils for the core (from Mattresses.net), a 3" Talalay Latex SuperSoft (from SleepOnLatex), and a 9" Bamboo cover/encasement. I have a Member’s Mark adjustable bed from Sam’s Club. I watch TV in bed every night with the head elevated. This pushes the mattress down and into the bar on the adjustable bed (as designed), but the problem is I think either that bar is condensing my bed or just the raising of the head of the bed. I’m not sure which. But I do see the bar on the foot of the bed pushing into the coil portion and now the top layer of latex is longer than the coils and hanging over. It’s really uncomfortable. At one point recently I actually did something bad and cut off maybe an inch or 2 of my latex to stop some of the overhang. I’m regretting it now, but what’s done is done.

Out of curiosity I opened the encasement today and measured the coils and they are at 74". So a lot of latex overhang. I took the coils out of the encasement and let them rest, and tried stretching them out. I was able to get them to about 78.5". It will go right back down over the next day or two though.

Anyone have advice? I’m wishing I got a latex base instead as it doesn’t seem like it would condense or stay that way. I bought the coils for better airflow as I sleep really hot. Is this a problem with all coil base mattresses and adjustable beds? It seems like physics just work against this combo. Of course all the information says the coils work with an adjustable bed because they do bend nicely. Or is this just a problem with a DIY bed with coils? I could probably attempt to glue them together a bit, but I’m not sure how safe that is. And it would defeat some of the purpose of getting the natural Talalay and Bamboo cover.

I’m at a point where I’m ready to buy a new mattress. If I hadn’t cut the latex, I could have just ordered another base, in latex this time. But now the base would be 1-2" longer than the topper.

I’m open to any and all suggestions!

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Hi DarkHelmet.

Hmmm. That is a strange dilemma indeed and I’m not sure I’m understanding it entirely. Is the mattress only experiencing the issue you described when in the adjusted state? Or is it sustaining some sort of permanent damage overall?

It does sound like there is some misalignment in your build as well which I imagine could be part of the issue. Could it be that the mattress is too tall for the base’s recommendation?

If everything is fitting properly in the encasement, glue really isn’t necessary.

Hopefully some of our DIY gurus will read your scenario here as well and offer what solutions come to mind.

NikkiTMU

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Foams , latex or polyfoam are easily repairable!!!
If you cut the latex off at the head end, you can just fix it & just flip the fixed end to the foot & put cover back on & you’re back to original size & you won’t notice a seam at the foot, especially once in a case.

The fix is relatively easy, you just need the right stuff to fit it, which is latex/foam cut to proper size & compatible spray glue, & about 15-30 minutes of time.
The spray glue I have used with success many times in multiple furniture builds on heavily used sofas is 3M 77, you can find it local at Home Depot/Lowes/Menards.
There are other brands of spray glue, but you usually need to order online & have shipped or buy from an upholstery supply shop.

Both foamorder.com & also diynaturalbedding.com will sell you a piece latex cut to any custom size in the thickness, length/width & firmness you need.
DIYnatural bedding has a clearance section on their site where they sell pieces they have cut off from their own mattress builds & you may save a few bucks checking them out.
Foamorder will cut to ANY size you need-any foam or latex you want.
As to firmness-you’d at least get a close match from either site-they both have wide selection of latex ranging from soft to extra firm/hard.
I’ve had great experience with foamorder.com over the past several years & they also sell a spray glue you can have shipped to you, which I have also used & works just as well.

If it is just the 2-3-4 inches-you will not notice a slight variation in firmness if it is not a perfect match, as long as the length/width/depth are correct if you place the repair seam at the foot end of your bed.
If by chance you saved the piece you cut off, you could use that & just buy the spray glue locally at say Lowes or Menards

Since this is your topper, if you are wanting to just bring it back to original size, you could even go the budget route just use a piece of polyfoam purchased at a Joann fabric type of store as long as the length/width/depth are correct, you will have a quick budget repair & you are done.

If you need to clean up the raw edge you cut to make it easy to glue the repair-all you need to make a good cut is an electric carving knife, it is what I use for cutting foam-& works like a charm.

You will need to take the topper out of the case, have a completely level working surface (a floor without carpet is best) & lay down some paper/plastic under & aounds to catch any overspray.
You spray a light mist on BOTH the raw edges you wish to join, let them sit apart a few until they are no longer sticky (touch with finger to check if ready to join-once it leave no residue, & is just tacky-it is ready)-once ready-you just slide the glued parts together, hold for a few seconds, let sit for 15 minutes & you can then put it back into the case & you’re done!
***Note-the only somewhat difficult part is that you’ve got 1 shot to do this right-once you join them-they are staying together-so sliding them together on a level surface is important so it all lines up perfectly.
This is a permanent fix-they are now permanently bonded.
Here is a link to the proper spray glue for the job, I can’t figure out how to load pics