How to... A Researcher's Guide to Mattress Wisdom

Community Forum (Help & Rules)
48

Hi piper.j,

Thanks for the nice words about TMU and thanks for the post. If one wants to eliminate all the possibilities or any allergens or particulates then clear polyethylene would be the only thing I know of that would stop anything from escaping. The membrane-type encasements would stop all particulates. Some people decide to go with the polyethylene for the long term if they need to prevent off-gassing or chemical leaching over a long period of time.

Generally speaking the Your Guide to Green does not have any red flags from people on this forum.

Phoenix

Note added later: We have noticed in the back end that you subscribed to the General Forum postings and also to the Naturelle thread. The email address you listed in your profile is returning the notifications as undelivered.for the following reason 550 Invalid recipient: xxxx (at) bell.net you may wish to update to a valid email address to receive new responses notifications. For now, we have unsubscribed from the notifications but you can resubscribe as soon as you update the email where you’d want to receive notifications

49

Done. Tried my best, my coffee hasn’t kicked in yet :S. Thank you

50

I apologize in advance, but since new topics are off, and no searches even mention them, I am going to post here, and find out if anyone has had any experience with SVEN & SON Mattresses and Frames? Like most people, I’ve spent to much time reading, and am totally in over my head.

They are only sold by Sleep Geekz out of Jacksonville, FL; and have admitted they are made in China; designed in the USA. The price on the set is really nice, so I’m wondering if it’s a to good to be true kind of thing.

My Wife and I are both side & back sleepers, Overweight (I’m 6’1", 250Lbs, wife is 5’9" and about 320lbs (i’m a good husband, I don’t ask) looking for an Adjustable Bed and “Soft but Supportive” Mattress. We are going through Jacksonville on the 7th of September, and will be trying the mattress but wanted to see if anyone had any experience with either company? So far, our favorite mattresses have been by Eastman House, the Grand Isle and Sanibel; which both have 2 sets of inner spring coils.

Here’s how it’s Listed on the Sleep Geekz Website:
Sleep System Set Includes a Luxury 14" Hybrid Luxury Cool Gel Bionic
Infused Memory Foam Mattresses Soft-Plush Feel. Bionic Cool Gel Infused
Memory Foam Supports your Full body eliminating pressure points on your
Shoulders & Hips and wisks away unwanted heat while you sleep in Gah
Gah Land- 2" Exclusive Air-Flow Gel-Memory Layer 2" Luxury Cooling Gel
is infused into aerodynamically designed Memory Foam to create a
luxurious cloud like effect.

Comfort Plus Support Foam adds another Plush layer of comfort to Gently
Cradle and Support your body - 1.8" Flex Support Foam layer to provide an
additional level of pressure relieving support and softness – 1.8"
Our Sven & Son Cluster Springs Isolate motion and support & align, your
back, spine, and Lumbar.

Double Jacquard Charcoal & Bamboo Knit Cover with Our premium knit
cover. Double jacquard fabric is designed to provide advanced breathability
and comfort. With Charcoal to absorb moisture and Bacteria, Bamboo
keeps you cooler, is softer than cotton and hypoallergenic. Slip resistant
mattress bottom and allergen resistant Cover with zippered bottom

The CertiPUR-US® program is administered by a USA nonprofit
organization and is the most rigorous and comprehensive certification for
polyurethane foam.
Sven & Son 10 Year Warranty, We have your Back for 10 Years of Blissful
Sleeping Comfort matched with our 120 day Comfort Guarantee! Get the
Sleep you deserve with a New Sven & Son.

51

I’ve never heard of this brand until your post, but have done some quick research on it for your consideration. The first thing I noticed is that no densities are specified for the foam used, and with the significant amount of foam in this design that would be a major concern for the durability and longevity of such a mattress particularly given your weights (no offense intended, I’m 6’4 and 300lbs myself!) Second regards their pricing, which for example the Queen size is shown on their site at $1,200 but says to call for best pricing. I see the same product being sold by them on Amazon for $727 with free shipping, and unfortunately in the mattress industry such a pricing strategy is pretty common. The product description states that it’s a hybrid design with springs, yet the image showing the construction shows all foam with no springs. On Amazon the reviews seem to be very positive (for whatever that’s worth) yet they seem to be about an adjustable base and not the mattress.

So to sum up I see a lot of red flags about this mattress, and particularly given your size I’d be very hesitant to recommend such a design as being suitable. I don’t think it is likely to hold up over time, and question if it will provide the needed level of support to avoid alignment issues. Of course you can try it out and see what you think, but if you like the feel I’d suggest getting specific foam densities and clarification about the hybrid construction which conflicts with the image shown.

Good luck in your search, and hope I was able to help a bit!

  • Bill
52

Hi kpsyran,

Welcome to our mattress forum :).

Thank you so much @Sweet Dreams, I really can’t add anything to your suggestions, lot’s of red flags, no densities. You summed it up pretty well.

Thanks again kpsyran and let us know if you have any other questions.

Sensei

53

Hi howyes,

Welcome to the mattress forum :), and thank you for the nice summary of the personal sleep history you provided, and doing it low of caffeine too!!
I’m sorry to hear about the mattress issues, spasms, and pains that you’ve had in the last 7 years.

Given that you have very specific back spasms you most likely need a much better quality mattress that fits your specific needs, which may be quite difficult to find for a budget under $200.00.

I’m not sure what you’ve read since you found the site but just in case you haven’t read it yet … the first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.

Two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read are I bought the wrong mattress, help! post #2 which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and mattress value post #13 which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.

[quote]Where can I get a mattress that stays firm without breaking the bank? Is it me? Has anyone been getting good results from these mattresses? Am I buying too cheap?
One common factor all these beds have is they’re compressed into a box. Are beds in a box inferior quality? Do good quality regular mattresses still exist?[/quote]

Many consumers have had good experience with BIB companies. Being in a box is does not correlate with bad quality, using low quality and unsafe materials in a mattress is correlates to bad quality. Once you have a chance to go through the readings I suggested above you can always look at our trusted member mattress manufacturers and retailers listing and let us know if you have more specific questions.

Phoenix

54

Hello,
I’m trying to figure out if I can use this box spring with a 9" latex mattress. It is the Triton Foundation by Simmons and came with my Westin Bed ten years ago. It seems to be made from wires and wooden outer frame beneath a sturdy fabric. Here is a link to the box spring:
http://www.simmons.hk/en/hospitality/triton-foundation.html
It is a split king (two halves).

The other related question is about the bed header being higher than the new mattress. We have an heirloom sleigh bed that we intend to keep indefinitely. Our box spring and mattress are currently a good fit. The box spring is 9" high and the mattress is 10". If we get a 9" latex mattress and replace the box spring with a lower foundation, what do you do about the gap between the top of the mattress and the bottom of the headboard?
Thanks in advance. Awesome information provided here.
Dcfas

55

Hey Dcfas,

Welcome to the mattress forum :).

You definitely can use that box spring. That seems like a nice unit, if it’s still in good condition, it will work perfectly fine, I am assuming you know the weight of a 9" latex mattress? If you keep it with the 9" latex same height. No reason to get a low foundation, no reason to have the gap, maybe 1" gap…8/9 inch, both are common industry heights. The mattress should look right on a heirloom sleigh bed, right?

Thanks
Sensei

56

Sensei,
Great! Thank you for your response.

57

I’ve been shopping for a new mattress and I was hoping to get some advice.
Our personal preference is a hybrid mattress with a traditional pillow top feel with no synthetic foams (i.e. polyurethane and memory foams etc.) We also prefer a higher mattress height 10" and higher.

We tried out the Firm Bloom latex hybrid mattress from Brooklyn Bedding and were ready to purchase. Unfortunately, it has a 1" layer of high density foam on the bottom, which is the only factor keeping us from buying this mattress. We’re trying to minimize off-gassing. Are there any other mattresses that are similar to the Bloom?
Things we really liked about the Bloom:
Pillowtop- 1.25" Joma Wool and cotton quilted top (We love the feel of the top of this mattress, we’ve tried others, but this feels great for us)
The height- I believe it’s around 13.5"
Firmness-3" Talalay latex (customer service claims an ILD of 36) and Leggett and Platt coils.

Things we don’t like:
Certipur certification. We prefer GOTS, GOLS, and Greenguard.
But I guess since they have the high density foam they wouldn’t receive this certification. They claim that have Class 1 Oeko Tek certification for the latex.

Runner Ups:
Sleep EZ Luxerion
Things we don’t like:
Again no GOTS, GOLS, and Greenguard. Only Certipur certified, which I under is by the polyurethane industry. Not sure if there are more synthetics hidden in the mattress.

Reviews complaining that their latex is lighter than other companies and therefore less durable.

No pillowtop.
Mattress height is only 10"
Latex is softer, but they did offer to customize

We are also thinking about checking out the Estate 5000 and St. Regis mattresses at Charles P. Rogers.
But again, they are certified by Certipur, which we feel isn’t enough for us personally.

We also tried the Avocado and wanted to love it, but even the firm was too squishy feeling and bouncy for us.

Would anyone have any recommendations for us? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

58

Hey shch,

Thanks for the post.

The Bloom Latex Hybrid, in different firmnesses, is a nice feeling line of mattresses, I was able to lie down on these at the last Las Vegas mattress market. Yes this Talalay is Oeko Tex certified, I do know this is a fact.

I understand your comments on Certipur, all of the decent foam guys have this certification, run by polyfoam companies, etc etc etc. Also noted on “minimizing off-gassing” and noted hybrid preference.

Not sure if you have read all of the certification threads, but there is a good mattress certification posthere.

All the latex you are likely to encounter (either Dunlop or Talalay that is made with either natural or synthetic rubber or a blend of both) will also have a reliable certification such as Oeko-Tex, Eco-Institut, Greenguard Gold or C2C and based on actual testing I would consider any type or blend of latex (regardless of whether it is synthetic, natural, or blended) to be a very “safe” material in terms of harmful substances and VOC’s (offgassing).

IMO, by choosing a hybrid with only 1" of poly below the coils, you have certainly minimized off-gassing, but of course, this is a personal decision and preference for you. But if your room is properly ventilated, airflow, etc, you would have a very low emmision rate with the Bloom.

Have you asked any of the Mattress Expert members if they have the coil unit with no polyfoam base layer? I know most of these units have the stabilizing base foam below them, not all of them of course.

Thanks,
Sensei

59

Since I can’t create my own topic, could one please be created for me:

Zinus 12" Queen Green Tea mattress, middle sagging after 6-8 months (did I get a bad mattress?)

Hello all. I suffer from a chronic sleep issue for over 10 years and also fibromyalgia like body pain and pressure points. Last December after finally being sick of the Sleep Number C2 queen I’ve had for a number of years, I extensively researched online and bought a Zinus 12" Green Tea Mattress, Queen (Amazon.com). At first, I had no complaints with it. However, within 6 months I definitely noticed that it started to not keep it’s firmness in the center middle and sags in when I lay down for awhile.

I’m the exact opposite of what you’d call a heavy-set person (Male 36, 5’11’ and 165 lbs) and am using the base of the old C2. If I move to the sides I can feel the firmness/support of what it originally was. I’ve even tried readding the 3" thick-4 pound foam topper I had bought for the Sleep Number (Amazon.com) to see if that would fix it, but that only pronounces it more.

I’ve been just dealing with it for the past few months but it’s only getting worse and I have to believe this isn’t normal. I want to start a warranty claim with Zinus but I just cringe at having to go through all of this.

I’m just wondering, was I just unlucky and get a bad pick of a mattress? Has anyone else experienced this? Any and all comments & suggestions would be appreciated!

60

Unfortunately what you’re describing is not that uncommon with lower cost mattresses which make use of low density foams. The warranty will only cover a depression of 1.5" or more measured with no weight on the mattress. A loss of support or softening of the foam is not covered under most mattress warranties.

So the question is whether there’s a visible depression when under no load, and if there is and it’s a minimum of 1.5" then you may have a valid warranty claim which could be honored with a repair or replacement of the mattress. Otherwise it’s generally not considered to be a warranty issue. :frowning:

61

Hi sleepsFire,

Welcome to the mattress forum :). I moved your post to its own thread, thanks for asking about that.

Thanks for your post … yes you bring up one of the most important topics concerning mattress durability and even more, which is also succinctly pointed out by @Sweet Dreams, is the lack of transparency regarding the materials and components used in the mattress.

We are often seeing people having similar complaints. Did you buy “a bad mattress?” Hard to say with certainty but clearly, it has durability issues and it is not a good fit for you. Generally speaking, without knowing what is inside (The density, IFD, quality, safety etc of each layer and component) is hard to make an informed decision. As seen from the specifications on their website (pasted below) there is no real meaningful information that would allow you to assess how well and for how long you can sleep on this mattress. Sweet Dreams already addressed the warranty … it can be an uphill battle to succeed with a warranty claim and I certainly understand your feeling of “dread”.

The specifications from the website (mostly marketing nonsense)

I’m not sure what you’ve read since you found the site but just in case you haven’t read it yet … the first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.

Nothing can possibly be more reliable than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see this post about what mattress is best for me?).

You are certainly not alone in this and there are far too many people who had similar experiences. I’d do a hard reset and with a bit of reading on our site take a better look around along with a better understanding your own needs and preferences. Outside of whether a mattress is a good match for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) … a mattress is only as good as the quality of the materials inside it so regardless of the name of the manufacturer … For any mattress you consider you’d need to know the specifics of what is inside any mattress (see this article about the Mattress specifications you need to know). If you can list the specifics of the layers inside one of their mattresses you are considering then I’d be happy to make some comments about the quality of the materials inside it or whether it has any obvious weak links in terms of durability.

Once you had a chance to do a bit more reading you can ask any of the Mattress Expert members, they can certainly assist with finding a suitable mattress for you.

Phoenix

62

Hello- I’m feeling a little dense and am typically quite savvy with message forums. I can’t figure out for the life of me how to post a general information question on the forum? I read through the thread below and am acutally more confused than I was when I first started trying to figure it out.

Is there a step-by-step somewhere on how to post a question?

63

Hi lheitzman,

Welcome to the forum :). Sorry about that we have turned it off for now.

What would you like the subject to be - the same mattress for 4-yr old son? Or you can just get information from the expert forums, as you have asked MGM, LMF, and SleepEZ.

Let me know, and we have no issue starting a new thread for you.

Thanks,
Sensei

65

Thanks for the response. I’m seeking information on the true differences between 100% Natural Latex and GOLS Certified organic. I see many of the trusted members offer both and I’m seeking to determine if the differences are worth the extra cost.

66

Hi lheitzman,

Thanks again for the post and I started a new thread for an alway important latex question. We have a lot of content about this so you will be able to search and link to quite a few posts.

The USDA “organic” certification is a certification that has to do with the agricultural raw latex used in a latex core. For the raw latex to be certified as organic, the plantation has to be free of pesticide use for a number of years (in the surrounding area as well) and they have to follow organic farming methods. The organic certification process is very stringent and expensive so a product that uses it will be more expensive just because of the costs involved in certification not necessarily because the ingredients in the latex are any different.

Having the raw material certified though doesn’t mean the latex core that uses this certified raw material is certified organic. For this to happen then the factory and methods of foaming and production also have to be certified organic. Until recently this didn’t yet exist (only the raw latex was certified as an organic agricultural product). Latex green, however, was the first certified organic latex core rather than just being a latex core that uses certified organic latex. Each step of “certification” involves a cost both at the factory (which has to separate non-certified materials and production runs from certified ones and follow certain other procedures) and with the certification process itself. Since this time there are now other GOLS certified producers (currently 4 in total) and if you register on the Control Union site, you can do a Control Union Certification Search.

You can also read more about organic latex certifications here.

All of this is to say that “certified organic” can mean a more expensive product that may not have a significant benefit in terms of performance, safety, or even “purity” over 100% natural latex. There are a large number of consumers however who will willingly pay for the “certified organic” label because they prefer to support more organic and sustainable farming methods.

So it’s up to each person to decide whether the “organic” label is worth any premium it may have over an equivalent but non-certified material and this would be a personal and lifestyle choice. Wool can be the same and some of the best and cleanest, most “natural” wool made from the “happiest sheep” in the country and using all organic farming methods are not certified organic because of the expense of the certification process itself.

I personally would lean towards 100% natural Dunlop without the certification as being better value (it is usually a lower cost) but that’s just my own “personal value equation” and there is also a good argument that the extra cost of “certified organic” materials is worth the peace of mind that the certification brings with it.

Take a look around more and let us know if you have more questions.

Phoenix

68

I’m a new member seeking advice. We’re looking for a new mattress for my college-age son. The main issue is finding a mattress that will work on an old IKEA bunk bed (constraint: mattress no higher than 8"). The metal foundation frame has a grid, not slats. One possibility we are considering is the SleepEZ Select latex 7" (2 layers of 3" natural latex + 1" wool cover), but aren’t sure if the frame would support the weight of the latex mattresses. Is this a good choice? Are there hybrids out there that could work (we like the Luma Sleep hybrid, but it’s much too high)? Do you have other suggestions?

He is 5’7" and 125 lbs, sleeps in all positions, prefers a medium to firm mattress, and has chemical sensitivities (one reason we’re considering natural latex and staying away from foam).

Thanks in advance for your help.

69

Since posting my set of questions above, I poked around your site to look for info on hybrid mattresses, and I think I found a mattress that looks like a good match–the Kiwi Bunk Bed mattress from My Green Mattress. So, if it’s made for a bunk bed, the weight should be OK? (I have no specs for the weight limit on this bunk bed, so I’m being cautious.) Is there anything else I should take into consideration?