DIY Latex help

Hi gandis,

Welcome to the Mattress Forum! :slight_smile:

While I can speak of “how” to choose quality componentry, there’s simply too many personal preferences, unknowns, and variables for me or anyone else to be able to pick out a mattress or componentry layers that would be suitable for you, as the first rule in mattress shopping (and DIY building) is that no one else can “feel” what you feel, and you certainly will have very specific needs because of your activity in terms of comfort, firmness and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences). Unfortunately, there isn’t an algorithm or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more reliable than your own careful testing or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

With that being said, you certainly have chosen high quality and durable componentry. Post #15 here and the posts it links to (and option #1 and #2 as well) has some good information about the DIY process, just in case you haven’t read it yet.

As you’ve only slept upon our mattress as configured for one night, I would tell you to try and sleep on this configuration for at least a week to allow for your body to begin adapting to a new surface and lose some of its “learned alignment” from your old mattress. This will give you a better amount of data to draw upon should you still desire to make a change. Many people on the forum in similar situations have ben amazed at the difference they feel in a product after just a week, as their body adjusts to a new sleep surface.

The compression of each layer (mainly controlled by thickness, firmness, compression modulus, hysteresis, and position along with a few other specs) are what creates the pressure relieving cradle of a mattress in the top layers which re-distributes weight and pressure on the bony prominences and pressure points of the body while the resistance to further compression of the deeper layers is what “stops” the heavier parts of the body from sinking down too far and putting the spine and joints out of their natural alignment. The balance between the opposing needs of pressure relief and spinal alignment is the main factor behind all mattress design and theory and why different mattresses match the body types and sleeping positions and preferences of different people … or don’t. There is more about primary or “deep” support and secondary or “surface” support and their relationship to firmness and pressure relief and the “roles” of different layers in a mattress in post #2 here and in post #4 here that may also be helpful.

The most noticeable difference in comfort will come from changes made to the uppermost layers of a mattress, so in your proposed new configuration (assuming all layers are 3’ thick) the change of the second layer to the 28 ILD Talalay will be more noticeable than the change made to the bottom layer (replacing the 56-64 ILD Dunlop with the 44 ILD Dunlop).

The softer Talalay in layer #2 will allow the upper layer to “bend into” the second layer a bit more, but I don’t know that it will provide any more of a “slow recovery feel”. The change to the deeper layer will impact your deep support more and be felt a little less in your upper comfort, but it should still be noticeable. When making changes in a DIY mattress, it’s often advisable to change one variable at a time, so in your situation you may wish to start with changing the upper layer #2 first, and then perhaps the base layer after that, as you “seem” to be complaining mostly of surface comfort issues. Of course, this is my “theory at a distance” as I’ve described earlier in this reply, and your own personal testing and note taking will be the best indicator of guidance as you go through this process.

I know how important recovery and restoration are for you chosen sport, so hopefully you’ll be able to find a configuration soon that works well for you and hopefully also your body begins to adjust to your new sleep surface and to having better alignment.

Phoenix