Your build sounds good so far! The latex should be supportive enough for your ‘pointy bits’ as well as the as filling the recessed areas of your body. As for the transition layer it’s not really necessary if you find a good balance between comfort and support.…every layer of a mattress will affect every other layer and the way the mattress will perform for you to differing degrees. (They don’t act “discretely”).
The top zone is the pressure relieving zone and is the part that you sink into, forms a cradle and relieves pressure. This is most of what most people “feel”, at least initially. The bottom layer is responsible for support and for keeping your spine in neutral alignment in all your sleeping positions. A transition layer has the role of secondary support for the recessed areas of your body and lends some of its qualities to the comfort layer above. Support and transition layers are responsible for “stopping” your heavier areas from sinking in too far and causing you to sleep out of alignment.
It really all depends on your testing in the shop, your BMI and particular stats. Heavier people have trouble finding a good balance of support and comfort with only a 2" or 3" latex comfort layer. A transition layer will keep them from compressing a soft latex layer too much and ‘bottoming out’ on the support layer below which can be uncomfortable due to the pressure points. For lower BMI individuals…too thick of a comfort layer can cause misalignment of the spine especially when sleeping on the back or front. Side sleepers need a bit more cushioning, though and can do well with adding and inch or so to the thickness. It certainly looks like you are ‘almost there’!
@Hester, thanks for your comments and sharing your experience !
My shiki is on a coconut coir pad. This provides some air circulation underneath the shiki. It is only 1", so i guess ‘on the floor’ is the closest answer. I have no trouble getting up, as I’m abnormally flexible. lol. My total set up is about 7" off the ground. Maybe 8 including height of pad.
Thank you, it was very helpful to have all the key points explained so clearly. I’ll get the transition layer to make sure the set up is correct and supportive.
I just came up with one more option (aka migraine) for the comfort layer.
A: 3’’ soft (19) blended tatalay
B: 2’’ soft (20) dunlop + 1’’ soft (19) blended tatalay.
I think that I gravitate towards 3’’ soft blended tatalay.
After I make a decision and try the mattress, I will update you.
Finally I have time to update the mattress.
I have tried different variations.
Top to bottom: • 3’’ soft latex (ILD 20) / 4’’ HD36
My back, hips, and thighs still hurt + nerve pain
I missed the memory foam’s conformity.
• 3’’ soft latex (ILD 20) / 3’’ 40D HD memory foam (I had this already) / 4’’ HD36
Not working, maybe slightly better.
• 3’’ 40D HD memory foam / 3’’ soft latex (ILD 20) / 4’’ HD36
Much better but I felt that the memory foam was too dense.
• 3’’ soft latex (ILD 20) / 3’’ 40D HD memory foam / 4’’ HD36
I just wanted to try it but as expected, I needed the sculpting of the memory foam on top
• 3’’ 5LB ViscoMAX memory foam / 3’’ soft latex (ILD 20) / 4’’ HD36
This combination works best. Although it wasn’t perfect at first, it was the most comfortable option.
Now that it’s been a few months, I think it’s really good.
I think 2’’ soft latex or 1’’ medium latex could work too. But I already bought the 3’’ soft and it passed the 30 day return policy.
It turned out to be much heavier than I hoped for, almost 100 pounds. The super had to help me flip the bed after I had put all the layers inside it. That was also hard.
I bought 3’’ soft latex and a cover from SoL. Latex smells incredibly strong even after a month. In the cover, all layers are fine as long as memory foam is layered over latex. SoL was generous and sent me a queen-size cover after the cover shrunk so much. Size up if you buy a cover from the company. The height can be the same.
