foam source question

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

I have been reading for hours over the last few days on this site and have gathered enough info to now ask a question. :slight_smile:

What are some recommended suppliers for HR poly foam on the net? I have been planning on ordering medium and firm base material from foambymail.com for a king mattress that will be used under my talalay 3" soft 20 ild topper .

I also have a low profile talalay soft/plush pillow that is perfect unless I want to sleep under it, which I tend to do for some reason. That is one heavy pillow!

Here is what I was going to buy in King 3" sizes to have the softer ontop of the firmer foam for my base support.

and

I now am under the impression that these are not high quality but just medium quality foams.

Question: What are some different suppliers / companies that could you recommend to me for the purchase of base material? I want to sink into the bed a couple of inches and then be planted on a firm surface, so have I inferred correctly that I would be looking for a layered setup that has my comfort layer of 3" talalay 20 ild and then find a medium layer of foam for the support layer followed by another layer of firm foam for the support layer to go atop my solid base bed?

Let me know if I should provide more detailed info.
Thanks for your time!!!

p.s. I have come from a quite nice stearns n foster firm pillowtop that lasted a good 10 yrs and then hurt me for another couple of yrs. Last year I bought a memory foam mattress that was of decent quality but became too soft and not supportive. It also was really really really HOT to sleep on. I would sweat every night in a rather disgusting way. I am now sleeping on my futon instead of my bed because it is a cotton mat mattress that is very firm due to the nature of the material, but is better than the memory foam one because it doesn’t dehydrate me in my sleep. being only a couple of inches thick this mattress does lack some comfort that I would like to have in a future mattress. I have spent close to 30 hours trying out every mattress store in my town as well as other cities and have really liked the beautyrest black firm mattresses. /they are very cool to lay on and offer nice support if you don’t go for a plush version. I also like the feel of a stearns n foster mattress but cant find any good reviews since they were bought out a few years back. Too bad I can’t get a new version of my old mattress this many years later.

2

Hi yourconfused,

There are some sources for polyfoam in post #4 here.

I have no idea what Foam by Mail (FBM) really sells and it sometimes appears that neither do they or anyone else. They are certainly not a place that I would buy anything important from. More of my thoughts about them are in post #2 here and in post #2 here and in many other places around the forum.

There are really two ways to know the best layering for you. One is local testing with the help of good guidance on a mattress you end up buying. The second is to work with a knowledgeable manufacturer or source that sells mattresses online with specific combinations of layers and components and knows how every component interacts together and with different people. They will use a combination of averages, the experiences of their large customer base with their mattresses, and your own personal testing experiences to help you choose the best combination of materials and components out of what they have available. Some of the better choices I know of are the members of the site listed in post #21 here.

There are some guidelines in the mattresses section of the site (particularly in the “sleeping style, preferences, and statistics” pages and in the “putting the layers together” pages that can be useful as a starting point but there are so many interacting variables involved that it would generally take extensive testing or the help of an “expert” to make the best possible decisions about layering and components.

Just as an example … if you were to order a 20 ILD layer of “latex” from FBM and it was too firm … you would probably order something that was accurately listed that was softer and make a second “mistake” because what you originally ordered probably wouldn’t have been 20 ILD after all. You would have no accurate information to use a reference point for any subsequent changes.

If you choose to do it all yourself … it would take some extensive testing on different combinations of materials to give you some reference points and know how well they meet your specific and unique needs and preferences. Then you would need a reliable supplier to order materials that were listed correctly. There is more in post #15 here about the three main ways to choose a mattress (locally, through an online manufacturer, or completely on your own).

[quote] I have come from a quite nice stearns n foster firm pillowtop that lasted a good 10 yrs and then hurt me for another couple of yrs.

I also like the feel of a stearns n foster mattress but cant find any good reviews since they were bought out a few years back. Too bad I can’t get a new version of my old mattress this many years later.
[/quote]

The last decade has certainly resulted in lower quality mattresses made by major manufacturers. They now use some thick layers of low quality and low cost materials even in their high end mattresses that are the weak link of these mattresses.

Many of the more premium mainstream mattresses have a great showroom feel but unfortunately they all tend to use some lower quality materials that are the “weak link” of these mattresses and because you don’t know the details of the layering … they are also not very useful in helping with deciding on the type of materials or layering may be best for you. Even the few they make that do use higher quality materials are generally very poor value compared to other mattresses that are available and in most cases you still won’t be able to find out any meaningful information about what is really in them. At best they can provide a very general sense that certain generic combinations of materials can be comfortable for you in a showroom.

Phoenix

3

quick reply didn’t show up, but if it does then this will be a double post. :silly:

I read or am reading the links you have provided and now have a twist to my initial question.
Being that I am needing to retain money for some up-coming medical expenses, I am going to be cutting my budget a little short.

So here is the proposed change: Buy foam for a temporary solution to a sleeping platform.

I was looking at buying a slab or two of HR foam from A1 foam and fabric. At a later date, like say within less than a year, I will be able to buy a nice all latex sleep solution. At the point in time I would then re-purpose the HR foam for use in the guest bed so the money invested would not be wasted. The guest bed only sees guest a few times a year so the foam should then last a long while in that environment.

Does this sound like a viable plan of attack, being that the initial purchase would not be wasted, but just reinvested as the guest bed.?

Thoughts? Ideas? Is this stupid?
It seems like a logical solution to me if I find what I like. It also would be kind of a learning step as to what levels of firmness that I like and what may potentially work for me in the future when I would be spending a substantially greater amount of money.

Thanks again.
Shaun

4

Hi yourconfused,

Hmmm. I just tested it and it seemed to work so I’m not sure what happened here. In any case … your post only showed up once.

I think this could be a good solution. If you are looking for something that only lasts a year … then you may even want to consider HD polyfoam in the support layer which would certainly last that long. The trick would be to choose the right layers (either in a single layer or a combination of layers) that would give you good pressure relief and support/ spinal alignment. If you do want to spend a little extra on a multi-layered approach … then higher quality materials in the top few inches (such as HR polyfoam) would be more important than in the support layers because they will perform better and also be more durable. The comfort layers are the part of the mattress that is most subject to foam softening and wear.

Of course you will also need a good cover to enclose everything.

So yes in your circumstances this could make a good solution that would certainly last you a year … and actually considerably longer. I would talk with them about the possible firmness levels that may be best for you. They will probably have a good idea of the type of layers that would be suitable for your height/weight and sleeping positions.

Phoenix

5

When attempting to order faom in eastern king size I was told that this is not possible from a1foamandfabris.com.
here is their response: :frowning:

[i]I am very sorry this large of piece of foam cannot be shipped via UPS. We have not found a shipping company that will ship this large to your area. We can ship from San Diego to Los Angeles in California.

Our apologies.[/i] :frowning:

I live in/near Austin Texas.

Do you have any thoughts on this?

Thanks for your generous time. :slight_smile:

6

Hi yourconfused,

Most of the foam suppliers only ship through UPS because shipping through truck freight is just too expensive. This means that outside of locally or regionally, they can only ship foam of a certain size or thickness for it to be economical. some of them though do have a machine that will compress the foam before shipping and these ones can ship larger sizes through UPS and stay within the size restrictions.

At this point I don’t have a list of which is which because polyfoam is not a commonly ordered material as separate components and in most cases there are local foam shops where this can be purchased but over time as I find them I’ll list the ones that are knowledgeable and sell good quality foam and also have the ability to ship any size across the country for those that want to order foam this way. Some of the ones on the list may be able to do this although as you discovered A-1 isn’t one of them. Latex and memory foam layers are much easier to order in larger sizes.

One way around this as long as the layer isn’t too thick would be to order two twin sizes instead of a King but again if it’s too thick then it may also not fit inside the UPS size restrictions.

There is a list of the better manufacturers and retailers in the Austin area in post #2 here. These are mattress manufacturers and retailers though that have better quality, value, and service but if you are looking specifically for polyfoam layers they may not supply these. I don’t know of any local foam shops in the area but I would imagine there are several that a google search would turn up if you are looking to buy plyfoam instead of a mattress.

Hope this helps

Phoenix