Hi there! On your advice we have been shopping at Quality Sleep Shop in La Grange. We are considering a variation of their MiComfort Best mattress, which has 11 inches of 2.8-lb poly foam base, 1 inch blended latex, 3 inches of 3.5-lb gel memory foam, and 1 inch blended latex on top.
First off, you’ve recommended 4-lb density of memory foam, but QSS said that 3.5 pounds is the best they can buy in the gel memory foam. Thoughts?
Second off, we’re considering have them stitch the comfort layers (3 inches of memory foam sandwiched between an inch-thick layer of blended latex) SEPARATE from the poly base. This way we can rotate and flip the comfort layers in the hopes of extending the life of the mattress. What do you think of this idea?
The 4 lb guideline is a “safe” generic guideline (that has fuzzy edges) that I would use in general but there are also other factors that can affect durability and two things in particular in this case that will both increase the durability of the material. The first one is that the Gflex they use is a liquid gel (not a particle or microbead) which forms it’s own polymer matrix and can increase the durability of the memory foam vs having a more “neutral” or negative effect. The second is that there is also an inch of a high quality resilient material on both sides of the memory foam and having the memory foam a little deeper in the mattress will also reduce the compression forces that reach it and the wear and tear on the material and increase its durability. There is more information in post #2 here about the different types of gel memory foam and post #4 here has more about the factors that can affect the durability and useful life of the mattress.
One other thing that I like about this mattress is that it uses thinner layers of memory foam (vs memory foam mattresses that use thicker layers of memory foam) with a more resilient material over and under it which can reduce the softening of some memory foam materials as it reacts to continuous pressure and heat over the course of the night so there is less chance of starting off the night in good alignment and then waking up in the morning out of alignment because the foam has softened under the heavier parts of the body. While it’s also a preference issue, I also personally like the “feel” of a more resilient surface layer over memory foam because it has a more resilient surface “feel” and is easier to move and change position but still has much of the feel and response of the slow recovery memory foam underneath it.
It’s interesting to talk with Tim about this because he has taken all of this into account in his mattress designs but the short answer is that there is no obvious weak link in the mattress in spite of the 3.5 lb gel memory foam being slightly under the “normal” guideline that would apply to most memory foam materials.
I think this could be a good idea and I even called Tim to talk with him about it and he thought so as well. It would have it’s own separate compartment and it would allow the comfort layers to be flipped and rotated which would extend its useful life and it would also make it easy to change out the material if your needs or preferences changed down the road and would also allow you to replace just the top section of the mattress if it softened faster than the rest of the mattress (which is likely for any comfort layer) without having to replace the entire mattress.
