Hi TMU Community,
First post ever. Been following some of the conversations as i have been doing my research for my DIY project. Still unsure of my idea and thus needed advice from the community. Here goes:
Myself: 44 yo, 160 lb 5’7, side sleeper. prefers med/firm
wife: 39 yo, 120 lb???, 5’2, back sleeper, prefers soft/med
Our 5 yo boy sleeps with us . Not sure if this should be a consideration. Combinational sleeper (back and side).
Qn 1. thickness and # of layers
We have shortlisted the following configurations:
i) 6" med
ii) 3" soft or med + 3" med
iii) 3" soft or med + 3" med or firm + 3" firm
iv) 3" med + 6" firm
Between option i) and ii) and of option iii) and iv), does it make a difference to have 1 layer of 6" med for example vs 2 layers of 3" med instead. Will the performance, durability and quality be compromised if i choose to stack 2 layers instead of going with a single core layer. The reasons why we are considering 2 layers instead of 1 would be that it gives us some flexibility to reconfigure the mattress in the future as well as the fact that its lighter to handle by breaking it up into multiple pieces.
Qn 2. sleeping position.
Read somewhere that a recommended comfort layers for side and back sleeper would be a thicker and thinner comfort layer respectively.
Given that my wife and me have different sleeping position, would it be OK if we were to go with 3" instead of say 2" for her? Would going for 3" affects her quality of sleep?
Grateful for your comments and welcome any suggestions to improve my construction!
Cheers!
Ed
Hi Ed.
Welcome to our Mattress Forum. 
Thank you for sharing your stats and shortlisted configurations.
Children and adults do tend to have different needs from a mattress as children are still growing. There are some general firmness guidelines for children in post #2 here, if you’re interested.
Like you’ve already mentioned, the separate 3" layers give you more wiggle room in terms of layer re-configuration. Also, should you find that 10 years down the line the top 3" needs to be replaced, you could very likely do so without having to replace the bottom 3".
No, no worries there.
Most side sleepers will fall in the range of from 2" - 4" - generally, 3" is an ideal starting point and then depending on weight, body shape, preferences, and the firmness of the support layers, to go up or down from there. A good starting point for a back sleeper is 2" of softer material on top of your mattress and then increasing or decreasing from there depending on other factors like weight, preferences, or other sleeping positions.
That’s hard to know for sure since neither you nor I can feel what she feels while sleeping on a mattress. It’s possible 3" is fine. It’s also possible 3" is too much. Another potential configuration you could consider is:
3" base (same firmness)
1" transition (firm for you, med for her)
2" comfort (med for you, soft for her)
1" can be quite difficult to find, though, at least in terms of latex. So, you may also wish to consider a 2" transition layer.
We have a number of experienced DIYers in the forum who frequently give great advice. I hope one (or all!) of them come across your thread here as well and chime in with their thoughts.
NikkiTMU