Hi jsjs54,
[quote]I found a local manufacturer in LA after running into a mattress they had made at a local store and thinking it looked particularly well made. They are going to make me an all Tallalay mattress at a very reasonable price including a cotton and wool cover and a foundation.
I’ve read enough on this forum to know that you can’t advise me about what will feel right for me over the internet, but I’m curious to know if you think I’m making any obvious mistakes.[/quote]
Talalay latex is a high quality and durable material so I don’t see any obvious mistakes in terms of materials no (assuming that the mattress is a good match for you in terms of PPP) but other than that it would be helpful to know who you are dealing with. Who is the manufacturer?
I don’t think that different firmness levels on both sides would be useful anyway because you would lose the benefits of having a two sided mattress that you can flip (if you had two different firmness levels you would probably only end up using the one that was the best “match” for you). There is more about the pros and cons of two sided mattresses in post #3 here and the posts it links to.
[quote]He recommends the 6 inch core be a #32 and the 1.5 inch layer on each side be a #24 if I’m going to use Tallalay for the core. He actually recommends dunlop for the core but having spoken to the Berkeley fold, they say the dunlop cores are the only thing that has ever failed in their latex mattresses and that why they are all Tallalay now.
Does this sound like it will hit the “medium firm” mark?[/quote]
It’s always interesting to me because you will find many different opinions throughout the industry and with different manufacturers about “Talalay vs Dunlop” comparisons and there will be just as many that would tell you the opposite and others yet (which is closer to where I am) who would tell you that the choice between then is more of a preference than a “better/worse” choice (see post #7 here).
As far as how it would feel to you … there really isn’t any such thing as a universal “medium firm” because it will depend a great deal on your body type, weight distribution, sleeping positions, frame of reference, and individual perceptions and “medium firm” can be very different for different people. With heavier body types it may be a little closer to the softer end of the medium range (and I would probably use a firmer core) but with more average body types it would be reasonable to think that it would probably be somewhere “in the range” of medium firm for most people.
Phoenix