Hello all. Ok, so I’m fed up with my bed. Reading a lot of what people here have to say, latex sounds incredibly welcome. Durable, supportive, less ‘dead’ than straight poly foam (personal preference/description). Some places out there on the web have said latex is regarded favorably with heavier people (which I’m finding I’m a member of - news to me lol). So today I did some calling around and spoke with someone at spindle mattress. Very nice guy, gave me about 30min of his time. Not pushy at all and seemed really helpful, but here’s where the confusion comes in. During our discussion, taking my sleeping habits (stomach/side) and my weight (~200) into consideration he seemed skeptical if latex was the right way to go. He told me synthetic latex is less dense and wouldn’t hold up as well, that I’d be better off putting natural latex as a support and synthetic closer to the top for the feel. I was under the impression natural latex had better more lively ‘feel’ to it. For my weight, he didn’t sound so confident in the synthetic for support as a core/base (lower 3-6" on bottom) of a build and seemed a little skeptical about natural but suggested natural if that’s the direction I wanted to go. He also talked with me about DIY possibilities and said I was borderline needing 12" of latex due to my weight.
I’ve read and heard from lots of people that latex is very supportive and adaptive and that in the old days people used to use just 1 6" slab sometimes. That the softness on top coupled with the increased support as it compressed performed all roles. Maybe not a perfect solution, but doable. Now many places (SLAB, SleepEZ etc) say that 9" of latex is plenty to cover support below and cradling softness on top and anything more than this is just for looks. Now 9" might not be enough I’ll need 12"? The gentleman at Spindle said that with my weight, there’s a good chance of bottoming out even with firmer latex for support (35-40ild).
I’m not sure what the cause is for this worry of bottoming out - even the Spindle site says use a BMI calculator to help decide and anything over 31, move back to an innerspring. My BMI is around 30.8. Granted BMI may have it’s flaws, but from a mass calculation I can see where it would be useful. Regardless of whether I’m ripped like the hulk or out of shape, if my body dimensions weigh x amount then that’s the mass my body will put onto a mattress. Had considered the Abscond mattress with 9" of latex until he said I was on the verge of needing more and they don’t offer a thicker mattress. Back to DIY.
Earlier I got a chance to lay on one of those precompressed memory foam mattress in a box type setups and was able to have someone check my alignment. It felt off and it was. It was an earlier consideration and luckily had done some research on it so I at least have a base point. The company told me it was 6" of 24 ild 1.8lb poly with 3" 20ild 1.8lb poly and 3" memory foam (3lb) on top. Feels great in terms of pressure relief, but not enough support. I dipped quite a bit through the hip region, especially when on my side. (This bed is only 4mo old, so it’s not old and wore out by any means). However, unsupportive as it was, I didn’t ‘bottom’ out. How can low density poly foam in softer ild’s still keep me from sinking more than 5" or so? (3" of which is low density memory foam which has almost no ild). And yet there’s concerns that latex may or may not be substantial?
I guess what I’m getting at, is the bottom out worry with the dunlop due to the higher sag factor? That the layers will compress only so far and firm up so fast that they provide physical space between my body and the bed frame slats, yet feel like concrete? In other terms my confusion is knowing that cheap softer poly can hold me up somewhat (if not properly or completely), but latex maybe not - is like knowing there’s some flexing going on in a wooden foundation to a building, but being advised or cautioned against concrete. If the lesser structural ‘wood’ (cheap poly) is doing a moderate job, why wouldn’t the ‘concrete’ (latex) perform better? (not saying latex is hard like concrete, just more durable/substantial).
Something Spindle and I talked about was possibly being ok with 3-6" of firm (natural) 34-42 ild, with 3" of medium 27-33 ild and possibly another 2-3" of something for pressure relief on top. This sounds fairly firm compared to what I’ve seen many members here and others around the net talk about in terms of their setups. I get that I’m close to 200 (not sure specifically, maybe 190). But that’s not “a lot” I don’t think or out of the range of normal.
Phoenix, obviously everyone’s PPP is different and the details are fuzzy but I thought I saw a post listing your mattress construction being a flippable 2" 18-22ild on either side of a 6" core of ~35 ild talalay? I also know you weigh less and you’re taller, so your weight is spread out more evenly than my own - my point being talalay has a lower sag factor and yet it supports you, why only being maybe 30-40lbs heavier is denser dunlop being foreseen as troublesome for me? and in similar high 30’s to low 40’s ild?
P.S… I have a question regarding Mountain Top latex - In another post with sdmark regarding the tri-comfort, Phoenix you mentioned they don’t test their latex the same way as others so their ild’s may be off. I called Mountain Top today because I’d read something about different companies testing ild differently. The typical way of testing is x amount of inches (not positive if it’s 15x15, 20x20) by the height of the latex slab - say 6" for 6" cores and it’s taken at 25% height compression. Is this correct? So a 6" thick sample size compressed to 25% (1.5") requiring 30lbs of force would be labeled 30 ild. Spoke to a woman in their lab today and she said that’s how Mountain Top tests their foam for ild. I was concerned they might be taking an ild from a 40% compression, much the way some european methods do and I would be confusing their 30ild for 30ild measured at a more typical 25%. So is there something else in the way Mountain Top tests their ild that varies or might give different values and make it harder to compare their latex firmnesses to say that of latexco also using a 25% ild rating? Thanks