Hello!
Thanks to the help of all the resources here, I’ve narrowed down my search fairly well. I’m looking for a Queen size mattress in San Francisco and have a couple places in mind.
First, I went to foamorder.com’s store here and lay on a few latex mattresses. Foamorder sells mostly all dunlop mattresses and only sell others on special order. They offer either 6" or 9" thick dunlop in either two or three layers. Over all, I believe that either 3" of medium-firm (around 31 ILD I believe?) over 6" firm (ILD 36), or firm over firm would work fairly well for me. However, the reason I went there is that I had originally chosen some layers on their website (https://www.foamorder.com/latex.php) and the price was around $1500. But in the store it was about $2000. When I asked about this, they told me it’s because their “NaturalSense organic case” is $593, and that I hadn’t added that in on the site. They also mentioned that their other diamond pillowtop case option isn’t the “organic” one and would have fire retardant added, unless I’m misunderstanding.
My questions about this are 1) Is $500+ a reasonable price for something that will just encase my latex layers? And 2) why would I have to buy an “organic” case to avoid fire retardants? I’d be getting the same latex mattress either way so this is confusing to me. I do want a natural and chemical free bed because I’m very sensitive to scent and offgassing, but don’t want to pay a high price for a case unless it’s the norm. I just need something simple and can add my own mattress pad or whatnot later for added comfort.
Another place I haven’t been to yet but am highly considering is European Sleepworks. Their mattress-only queen is $2000 (Latex Classic | Berekeley CA | European Sleep Works) but consists of 2" talalay over 6" dunlop. Since it comes with the case, this would be about the same price as foamorder’s (but 1" less latex). However, their “complete system” is more, at $2500.
Right now I just have a mattress on the floor, but I was planning on buying a bedframe that comes with some wooden slats that lie horizontally across the bed (I’ve had this type of bed before but sold it). Is this enough to support a lone latex mattress like this, or is it necessary to have a special slatted box support or separate box spring mattress? The reason I ask is 1) I want to keep cost as low as possible and invest the most money into the actual mattress and 2) I want my bed to look sleek, since I like the minimal contemporary look.
There’s one third option I’d like an opinion on… I haven’t yet tried out any pocket spring mattresses that have 1.5 - 2.0" of latex on top. These are much cheaper (check out the Alpine ES at Sleepworks). If I get time to make the trip there I’ll check them out, but I’m wondering if anyone else can describe their opinion of the difference in comfort between solid latex and spring + latex, and if the cost is worth an extra 40+%. And does spring + latex still benefit from resistance to dustmites, etc (since they can’t penetrate the latex).
Thanks for everything, Phoenix!