Hi there and thanks for the terrific resource you provide here. I can honestly say this site has helped me comparative shop for a new mattress more than anything else I have done. (with the one possible exception of whatsthebest-mattress.com)
I live in Boise ID and here we have a local manufacturer that I’ve seen mentioned only one or two times here, Leisure Industries (www.leisuremattress.com). I have done some shopping locally (Denver Mattress, Mattress Firm, Sears, Macy’s) and determined that if I’m going to buy a mattress locally, it’s going to be from Leisure. Their service and expertise and material quality far exceed anything I’ve seen at any other retailer.
I am currently considering a couple different configurations and wanted to get some input. I am looking to purchase a king size mattress. I am about 5’9" and my wife is about 5’8". I am about 170-180 lbs depending on the season and my wife is approximately 40 -50 lbs lighter than I am. We both sleep in various positions but find ourselves waking up mostly (almost exclusively) on our stomachs. We are both fairly young, 33 and (almost) 30.
The mattress configurations available from Leisure are not necessary my ideal, but they are pretty good, IMO. The standard configuration of a bed we liked is (bottom to top) 2" of 1.8lb polyfoam, 5" of 2.5lb poly foam, 2" of latex approx 30ILD’ish, 2" of 5lb memory foam. (A variation of this model includes 3" of memory foam instead of 2") The price for this with the foundation is about 1500 - 1650 depending on that extra inch of memory foam.
So, I have a couple questions:
1.) Is the 2" of 1.8lb poly on the bottom of the bed anything I should be concerned with (thinking longevity)? Does it even need to be there?
2.) I see very few other mattresses being offered with memory foam over latex. Is that something I should be wary of?
Leisure Industries hasn’t been mentioned a lot in the forum but they are a good choice IMO and they are certainly among the best value in the area. This thread has more feedback about them (which I suspect is the one you’ve seen).
With you sleep in a mix of sleeping positions that includes stomach sleeping then “just enough” in terms of thickness and softness to relieve pressure in your most pressure prone position (usually side sleeping) is always best for alignment when you are sleeping on your stomach because stomach sleeping has a significant risk of sleeping in a swayback position where your pelvis sinks down too far and can cause alignment issues and lower back discomfort and pain. I would always choose comfort layers that were slightly thinner and firmer over thicker and softer in this case all other things being equal.
No this would not be a concern for me at all. The bottom layers of the mattress are not nearly as subject to durability issues as the upper layers and a bottom layer of very firm foam of this density can help even out the support surface of the mattress on a foundation and protect the foams above it from sinking in to any gaps and provides more even support for the layers above it as well. It can also act as a “stabilization” layer in preventing side to side sway and can also help with the handling of the mattress when it is being constructed. This same type of layer is often used under an innerspring to provide it with some shock absorption and even out the surface the springs rest on. It doesn’t need to be the same density as the higher density and higher performance foams above it and using these would tend to add more cost than value … it just needs to be firm and durable enough for the application.
No … quite the opposite as a matter of fact. I’ve mentioned on quite a number of occasions that a mix of a thinner layer of memory foam and a thinner layer of latex is one of my favorite comfort combinations (with either one on top depending on preference) and has a rather unique feel which is a combination of the resilience of the latex and the slower and soft feel of the memory foam. It is also a much less “risky” combination than thicker layers of memory foam where you sink in more deeply and is more “movement friendly” than thicker layers of memory foam as well. You can see a little more discussion about this type of layering (thinner layers of memory foam over more resilient layers underneath them) in this post about the Tempurpedic weightless line and in this post about this type of layering in general.
Based on all of this as well … if everything else seemed roughly equal and pressure relief was good in all your sleeping positions I would tend towards the slightly thinner comfort layer which would put you a little closer to the latex and could be a little less risky.
Thank you for the very, very prompt and thoughtful reply. I don’t know how you find the time to answer all the questions people bring you on this site.
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No this would not be a concern for me at all.[/quote]
That’s a huge relief. I was a little concerned that this material might just be a filler to get the mattress to a certain thickness.
Thank you for the links to the in-depth discussion about this! You’ve been extremely helpful.