Its been a year since I was mattress obsessed and in physical pain from an old mattress situation. My old one was a memory foam pad on top of an ancient cratered Searsopedic – a recipe for disaster. In January I bought a new latex mattress but still had problems – due to my shoulder/back not yet having healed and not having the exact right foundation and comfort layers.
It was hard going, involving some problem solving analysis and trial and error, but finally I arrived at a configuration that wasn’t perfect but good enough to allow my shoulder and everything else to heal. Recently, I just added one more layer - the finishing touch – to my bed and am happy to report that I have finally achieved mattress nirvana. My pain is gone and I have that pleasant cozy feeling in the morning of liking my bed and not wanting to get up.
The configuration now looks like this.
Original mattress from Beloit Mattress Factory - 6 inch 36 ild + 2 inch 24 ild Talalay + wool padding/cotton knit cover.
Next layer - waterproof mattress protector (my geriatric cat hasn’t peed on the bed yet, but Im sure she would have without that mattress protector)
On top of that – wool + cotton Natura mattress pad
On top of that the finishing touch - an all cotton quilted pad
All cotton flannel sheet
Oh, one really significant step was getting rid of the box spring that had been sold to me with the latex mattress and setting it on a flat wood platform that was about 1-2" smaller than the mattress all around. Even though this was a a pretty heavy duty box spring (called power stack) it was still creating this feeling of the mattress being hard around the edges, but soft saggy in the middle. Having the platform be slightly undersized allows the periphery to have more give and so now the feeling of the mattress is that it is uniformly firm
One other thing – I remember some discussion about “pushback” and people having problems with latex and just wanted to offer the suggestion that while some people may like to sleep directly on foam, for some of us it just doesn’t work and so the answer is not to reject the whole idea of a latex mattress, but to modify it so that there is some distance between you and the latex. Before ending up with the approximately one inch of cotton/wool padding I am now sleeping on, I was experimenting with various thicknesses and types of foam and just could not find a happy medium between the mattress being too hard (like sleeping on a giant pink rubber eraser) and it being too soft and memory-foam like.
The thing is - with even this much cotton/wool padding, I still feel the latex supporting me underneath which provides a kind of smooth, luxurious comfort that you cant get from springs.
Thanks again for the great forum and assistance - one great thing about having gone through this learning process is now I will be able to pretty much duplicate my same mattress if/when I ever have to get another one.
So how was your overall satisfaction with Beloit Mattress? They are one that I was considering, but it seems like they may be a bit short on comfort layers up top. Seems that you have discovered this as well.
Looks like you got a Nature Rest level 2 with a firmer comfort foam up top?
Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and bring all of us up to date
Your journey highlights some really important issues including the value of making sure that your final choice is not too soft so that you can do some fine tuning afterwards along with the difference that the foundation can make in some cases (and of course working with a good manufacturer).
As you mentioned … your experience also is a great example of the difference it can make for some people to use a lower resiliency material on top of latex for those who prefer this.
Perhaps most of all … it goes to show that even in difficult circumstances some relatively minor changes can change things from “OK” to “mattress heaven”.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your experiences and providing such great feedback. I think they will prove valuable to many people who read it in the future.
I’m thrilled that you ended up with such a great outcome!
Hi TD, yes I started out w the level 2 w/ 14 ILD and then had them change it it to 24 (you are allowed 1 comfort adjustment) I would recommend Beloit and would do it again but I wouldve ordered 24 ild from the start - I knew from testing it in the store that 14 was too mushy and the others too hard, but for some reason I had the idea that I had to order the same configuration as one of the models. Or maybe I would have done 2 inches of 28 ild + 1 inch of 24 on top - if I remember correctly I think they can do custom work but don’t quote me on that.
The Nuform model I tested was not bad - actually rather comfy if on the firm side (they estimated it to be around 28 ILD) but I shied away from it having had such bad experience with memory foam - nuform is said to have some characteristics of memory foam ie responding to body heat, although I’m not sure what that means exactly -its nowhere near as mushy as real memory foam. I was just scared of anything with the words “memory foam” in the description!
The craftsmanship of Beloit’s mattresses is excellent and for what you get the prices are great (comparable to online and around $1000 less than Madison WI prices) so yes definitely - I would suggest at least checking them out. Good luck to ya!.
Thanks for the feedback. I’m still riding the fence. I’ve become a bit gunshy due to my past experiences. I’ve given Beloit some definite consideration, but it’s 4+ hrs maybe even 5 for me to get there.
I’m really looking at going with something that has a zip open top. I’m pretty certain that I will break down my comfort layers over time so I’m thinking I’d like to have the ability to R&R a single layer and start over when things start to compress. I also think I’ll need more layers up top to do the comfort and pressure relief than what Beloit typically does. This sways me more to the Bliss product line.
Another issue that I face is that I really should be visiting the chiro soon. It’s been a couple.few months and I’ve been meaning to go, but recently had a surgery my under arm so I haven’t gone waiting for it to settle down. I fear I’m on the verge of being messed up again and this can make bed shopping a real pain – literally.
