Help with Latex Bed on a Budget

[phoenix]

Hi DanJamPer,

I tried out the “firmer” side last night and didn’t find it quite as comfortable. I also noticed more profound ‘bounce and roll’ effect mentioned previously. Could this be caused by the softer latex underneath? Going to stick with the medium side which is very comfy.

Yes … the softer layer on the bottom could be a contributing factor.

I picked up my frame and (what I’m calling) a boxspring from a garage sale. Its not a foundation box comprised of wood beams. Its supported by metal inners which have a bit of flex to the rods. I’m guessing there are no actual springs inside, but the metal rods have a spring effect. Would this be considered a foundation or boxspring? Its manufactured by SpringAir if that helps at all.

I don’t know the specifics of your foundation but if it has any flex or 'bounce" then it could be part of the overall effect you are experiencing. It could either be a box spring that used coil springs (like this) or torsion springs (like this), or it could be a semi flex or limited deflection foundation (like this) that only has minimal flex. Whether it’s called a foundation or box spring is less important than the amount of flex it has and more flex will affect the “feel” and performance of the mattress more than less flex.

Given this info, do you think a firm layer of polyfoam would help the bounce effect? I’m assuming that a “firm” polyfoam base layer would at a minimum help with the bottoming out effect, even if it doesn’t remediate the bounce effect? Thanks for clarifying the difference between density and firmness in polyfoam.

A firm layer of polyfoam and any other “active” layers would become part of your “sleeping system” and thicker mattresses or sleeping systems would be less likely to feel like they are bottoming out yes (see post #14 here for more about the effects of thickness).

Let me try to describe the ‘bounce and roll’ effect I feel a bit more so that I’m understood. In addition to general bounciness, if I were to turn on my side, from one side to my back, or one side to another, there is momentum generated from my body weight, which sort of pushes me towards the direction I’m moving my body. This momentum is a stronger force than my own body movement. So if I simply wanted to turn from my side to my back, there would be a slight roll to the opposite side before leveling off on my back. Sort of hard to explain but there it is, I tried.

This sounds like you are describing the “feel” of latex itself. Any other active layers that are also highly resilient (such as springs) could also be part of the overall effect you are describing as well.

If you have any recommended budget suppliers or particular products that’d be appreciated. I’m thinking 1 or 2 inches would suffice.

I don’t have any specific recommendtions other than the list of suppliers that are in the component post here. I would choose based on the type of material each of them have available and on how they compare in terms of price for similar materials.

I’m sharing all this not to say that I’m dissatisfied at all with my mattress, I love it and I’m sleeping wonderfully! But if you think a polyfoam base layer would help with any of the above, or some other idea I’m not thinking of, based on my bed setup, then I’m all ears.

The opposite of resilience is hysteresis which is how much energy a material absorbs (vs stores and returns). The material that has the highest hysteresis is memory foam so you could also experiment with using a thinner layer of memory foam either under or over your mattress which my have a greater damping effect than polyfoam. It will also depend on the type of movement and the weight of the person and on where you use the memory foam because with larger movements or with deeper compression you will still be compressing deeper layers under the memory foam which would then “bounce back” but with smaller movements or lighter body types the damping effect would be more noticeable. The memory foam would dampen the materials or components underneath them more than the materials above them.

Phoenix