I’ve been on this site many times and it has tons of great information. I’ve found some really good mattresses in fair price ranges but the best seem to max at 10". At little history about the “sleepers”: Husband is 6"2" 260lbs, I am 5’7" and 105lbs. We have had traditional high end, very expensive mattresses in the past and nothing is comfortable after the first year. I’m tired of sleeping on the hill afraid to roll into the pit lol. And tired of replacing so often. We have one of the Brentwood Home Bamboo Gel beds in our RV and find it exceptional to sleep on occasionally. It is very firm but I find it nice for my spine. No pain when I wake up which is refreshing. The specs on it are ambiguous and it may not do well for an every night bed but is fine for its purpose and the price was right. I’m looking for something like this with quality that will last, but hoping for at least a 14" profile. Is there such a thing or should I look at keeping the traditional box springs and adding another box between them and a 10" mattress. Looking for opinions and suggestions.
Thanks
Hi Splendid,
Many of the so called “high end” mattresses in the mainstream industry use thicker layers of lower quality materials to add to the thickness and create the “illusion” of “luxury” which can create an even bigger issue with premature foam softening and breakdown than mattresses that use thinner layers of lower quality materials.
The most effective way to avoid this is to make sure that you can find out the type and quality of all the materials in the mattress (see this article) so you can make sure that there isn’t more than “about an inch or so” of lower quality and less durable materials that would be a weak link in the mattress in terms of the durability and useful life of the mattress.
There are also some guidelines in post #3 here that will be helpful for those that are in higher weight ranges.
I would be very cautious about Brentwood mattresses or the specs they provide since they seem to change their mind about what they are when they answer different questions for different customers. The specs I’ve seen that add up to the shipping weight of the mattress (which means that they are more likely to be correct) seems to indicate that they use some lower quality/density materials in their mattresses that would be a weak link in terms of durability.
[quote] I’m looking for something like this with quality that will last, but hoping for at least a 14" profile. Is there such a thing or should I look at keeping the traditional box springs and adding another box between them and a 10" mattress. Looking for opinions and suggestions.
Thanks [/quote]
There is more about the different ways that one mattress can “match” another one in post #9 here but the only reliable way to know whether one mattress is similar to another one in terms of “feel” and PPP would be based on your own careful testing or personal experience when you sleep on it.
Once you know the specs of one mattress then you can make sure that another mattress uses the same or higher quality materials if you are trying to “match” or improve on the durability of a mattress
There are certainly memory foam mattresses that have a thicker profile in the range of 13 - 14" or so but the thickness of a mattress by itself is really just a side effect of the design and by itself means very little (see post #2 here). If you have a thinner mattress that is a good match for you in terms of comfort and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) and if you just want some additional height to raise the level of the sleeping surface then you can always use a higher bedframe or foundation or add some very firm polyfoam under the mattress. I wouldn’t add a second foundation.
There are also some latex mattresses that are thicker as well (up to 15") but it’s very unlikely that you would need anything more than about 12" of latex and possibly less.
If a memory foam mattress achieves a certain thickness based on the thickness of lower quality materials that are more of a “filler” than anything else then it would be an even bigger reason to avoid it but if the additional thickness is from thicker layers of good quality memory foam then while it wouldn’t be an issue concerning durability … it’s very possible that the mattress may be too soft for higher body weights such as yours and could be risky in terms of alignment.
Phoenix
Great idea on the polyfoam! And yes, most of the higher profile mattresses I’ve found add a poor quality pillowtop or lower quality components in general. I need the height otherwise the mattress would get lost in the bed! Thanks!
To boost the profile of the mattress do you think 6", 1.8lb density foam would work?
Hi Splendid,
Yes it should work but I would make it as firm as possible so it has the least possible effect on the feel and performance of the mattress (probably 50 ILD or higher).
Phoenix