Phoenix,
Just want to say I have been reading your site and all the basics and the forum posts for a long time, I mean months, to try to figure out what mattress I want . Thank you so much for your care in replying to people and your breadth of knowledge which is awesome. I don’t think any of us can thank you enough for your help and information.
We have a 11.5 year old OMF orthopedic luxury firm mattress, for which I immediately needed a 2 inch memory foam topper as it was too hard for me when placed on our slatted platform bed. My husband can sleep on cement, but I can’t. At this point, it is worn out and does not provide enough support for me, especially since I have pretty severe lower back disc and pelvic alignment problems and associated hip pain. I know a new mattress will in no way cure this problem, but it might help a bit. We just replaced the slats on our queen size teak bed, which came from Denmark about 40 years ago, as they were too small and thin and constantly fell out, with very sturdy slats that are screwed in well and are 3 inches wide and 2.5 to 3 inches apart. There is a center support that runs the full length of the bed frame under the slats. An adult male can stand on these slats. The slats are also level. In terms of the weight on the mattress and support, my husband and I have BMI’s between 24 and 26, so we are not light, but not really very heavy.
After trying out a bunch of different types of mattresses in Raleigh NC at various places, I have decided on a pocket coil spring support with talalay latex over the top of it, and I am looking at Arizona Premium mattress company and Flexus , in particular. I now must decide if I want the soft or the medium talalay latex over the springs. I tried this very similar configuration (3 inches of talalay latex over a Texas Pocket Springs base ) at a bed shop and liked both the soft and the medium sides, which is not too helpful! I suppose for alignment and back support I need the medium latex .
At any rate, before I take the plunge, I was wondering if you thought it would be helpful for me to purchase a one inch coir bed mat. I noticed some of the mattresses at the mattress shop had those under the pocket springs. They run about $200,. but if they will help, I am willing to buy that piece. Both Arizona and Flexus do not seem to have much of anything but the fabric and wool cover under their pocket springs, and I wonder if the coils might sag into the spaces between the slats. Any advice you may have , or others may have, would be appreciated. I have lived with bad bed support for too long at this point and do not want to take any shortcuts. Thanks so much!
Generally speaking, sleep ergonomic research tends to lean toward firmer constructions when alignment is an issue, but I would first try to find out any information about the latex used in the products you tested (ILD) and if there was a difference in the spring unit in the plush and medium offerings, so you could relay that information to both Flexus and Arizona Premium when phoning them to help come up with potential configurations that might suit your needs.
Every mattress company will have their own specific recommendations for the foundations to be used under their mattresses, and some using a pocketed spring unit without a polyfoam base do recommend slat gaps as small as 2" (such as Savvy Rest with the ZenSpring model), so I think that a coir bed rug would be an excellent choice and certainly couldn’t hurt, even though your new “reconstructed” slat network seems to be very sturdy.
Thank you Phoenix, you are so prompt to reply!
It is good advice to know the ILD of the talalay latex foams I tried and I actually already know this, as I asked. They were side by side on the Texas Pocket Spring foundation which was zoned, I looked at it. I can relay that information when I speak to the two Mattress companies tomorrow.
I think I will go ahead and order the coir mat. Is there any place you think is best to get them? My guess is they are all pretty much the same.
After having slats falling out, for years, from under this elderly mattress I have now,
I’d feel better with more support under the new springs, even with sturdy slats. I have to wonder if the inadequate slats helped break the old springs down. I want to give a new marttress a good start…
Thanks again, Carolina Girl
I’m glad that you “took good notes” when shopping for your mattress!
As for the coir bed rug, that’s not something I typically keep a listing of here on the site, but Savvy Rest is brought up quite frequently here on the forum. I’m sure there are other sources.
@CarolinaGirl@phoenix resurrecting this thread. Did you put the coir under the coils INSIDE the mattress cover? I’m thinking of doing the same but wasn’t sure if the friction from the coir would damage the springs.
