Looking for Advice - Latex Mattress or Topper

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
21

Hi Clawdia,

All your “logic” makes perfect sense to me and all the factors that you are considering are part of what I encourage people to consider when they are putting together their “personal value equation” and assessing the “value” of a purchase.

Based on all your feedback … it certainly seems to me that the Perfection 20 would be a great choice and have great value as well based on your criteria (which certainly all make sense to me).

You would have a high quality chemical free mattress that you have tested for PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) that has good options after a purchase at a good price. To me that’s the definition of “good value”.

I’m looking forward to your feedback on your visit and when you decide to “pull the trigger”.

I hope you get a free pillow as well :slight_smile:

Phoenix

22

Phoenix - will try to make long story short here, because at the end I’m in search of a little advice/help . . .

I decided to go with the Perfection 16 from Sleep Essentials, after spending all Tuesday afternoon there. Every time I tried the Perfection 20 for more than 10 minutes or so, I found myself gravitating back to the 16, where I couldn’t deny I was more comfortable. My spine did seem to be in alignment even on the softer Dunlop mattress.
Lee recommended I go with the 16, and also recommended that I not add a mattress cover to the bed, but sleep on the cover that was provided around the bed, with the simple addition of a sheet.

It was delivered Thursday night, and the delivery guys set the bed up completely. Best I could get on the pillows was that I bought 4 pillows at half price (never saw my husband light up over a pillow before, so he got a pair). All well and good so far - great, even.

I was exhausted that night after a frantic four hour’s notice of when the bed would be delivered, and having to take down a queen waterbed in that length of time, so I noticed I slept well but did feel a couple of places in the new mattress that didn’t feel right. Spent all day yesterday at a doctor’s appointment, and didn’t have chance to check the mattress out further until last night. I still love the way it feels . . . but - except - there’s a space of
about 4" wide down the vertical middle of the mattress where there are several of what I think must be defects. About a half dozen very hard raised pieces of latex can obviously be felt thru the mattress cover, and unzipped the “real” cover holding the mattress together and had a good look - you can obviously see the hard pieces of raised Dunlop, not really in a straight line, but in that 4" or so wide section of the comfort layer of latex. In addition to the raised pieces , which are about 1/2" of latex, there are also two areas roughly 2"X3" big where the latex is obviously a much firmer density than the vast majority of the mattress - hard enough those are that I rolled over on one and it woke me up. You can run your hand across the latex itself and feel the distinct variation in density in those two small areas - wouldn’t be a problem if they weren’t where I like to sleep, perhaps.

We tried to get in touch with Lee at Sleep Essentials today, since he lists Saturday hours, but perhaps he wasn’t in as we never got an answer. When I lifted the cover off and looked at this piece of latex, the first thing that came to my mind was that it looked like I might expect a second quality piece to look like - but I’ve never seen what I should be looking at, I guess - I do know I felt all over the mattress in his display room and it was just as smooth as smooth could be, no raised hunks of latex or firm areas, or else I’d have questioned what I felt on the display. You can see the hard raised
areas of latex in that one area, and definitely feel the small denser areas of the bed in a couple of places. The latex on one bottom corner is a bit roughed up, slightly torn, but that in itself isn’t anything I’d bother about, but added to the other just makes that pieces of latex look even worse.

So - is this “normal” for a new mattress I just paid $1800 for? Does it sound defective, or is this what people expect from Dunlop latex? I’d never even have looked at it except it has places that feel bad to me. Do you think it would be unreasonable for me to simply explain why I am unhappy with it, and expect him to replace that comfort layer free of charge?

I’m upset that I was too busy with a doctor yesterday to deal with this, and I thought the mattress store was open today - and while it’s no problem for me to sleep on it for a few more days, I’d like to feel better knowing just how what I now see as a problem is going to be resolved so I can stop worrying about it, because right now, I’m really worried about it.

23

Hi Clawdia,

It certainly sounds “odd” to me as well. I don’t know what the explanation is but I would certainly talk to Lee and bring it to his attention to see what he says and possibly bring in the layer so he can see it as well.

Small tears and defects in appearance are normal with natural Dunlop latex but it doesn’t sound like what you are describing is “normal”. It’s possible that there were larger voids in the latex that were repaired (which is also not unusual) but that the repairs weren’t done well…

The only other possibility I can think of is that it may be connected to your foundation (which may have a raised center piece in the middle that makes the center feel firmer) but you could test this by putting the mattress on the floor and seeing if the same issue exists. It doesn’t sound to me like this is what you’re describing though.

From the sounds of it (and bearing in mind that I can’t see or feel it) it sounds like it’s something outside the “norm”.

If there is something wrong or defective with the layer then it’s not unreasonable at all to ask him to replace it.

Phoenix

24

Thanks, Phoenix. I really do think there’s something wrong with the piece of latex.

Lee did return the phone call yesterday, but had a bad connection. I think he’d probably decided not to work in the store yesterday and was up at the lake, which he’d mentioned liking to do on weekends. He said he’d need to come and look at the bed, which is fine with me, altho I’d have preferred a bit of reassurance that, as you say, it didn’t really sound “normal”, and if there was a problem he’d take care of it. He told my husband he’d call today or Monday, and we’ve not heard from him today; hopefully, he’ll call tomorrow without having to be reminded. The whole thing’s making me nervous.

Definitely has nothing to do with the foundation - just pressing my hand very lightly over the areas in question reveals the difference in density. The problem is in that top piece of latex.

I’ve just been worrying myself half sick all weekend. I’d have actually felt better if he’d just said he’d bring down another top piece, and swap them out if he saw there was a problem (hard to believe anyone could feel one of those half dozen knots of hard latex and think there was no problem, altho I could see someone who knew what they were doing being able to very gently shave those flat - it’s the 2-3" in diameter places that just feel a much harder density that bother me more, since I can’t see an easy fix for those without swapping out the top piece of latex.

I do love the feel of the dunlop mattress (with those exceptions). It’s supportive and yet has just the right amount of sinking in sensation for me. Every time I’m tempted to 2nd guess myself for not at least looking at Talalay, I remind myself that I’m pretty sure which of the PLB models I’d have liked, it would have been the Beautiful, and I’d have spent $1000 more than I did spend. I even have brief moments of missing my previous waterbed with the feather topper - but then I snuggle down into the new bed and can’t help but feel I made the right choice in firmness for me.

I’d be perfectly happy with the whole experience, except for what I perceive as defects in that top piece of latex, and the worry that I may just end up being told I bought it - I live with it, unless I want to pay $375 to replace it, which is what half price for one of his queen sized toppers turned out to cost. For what I paid for this bed, I just think I deserve to get something as close to perfect as there is - and from all I’ve read here and elsewhere, without seeing anyone say a word about a Dunlop mattress that seems to have these problems, I just don’t think it’s what I should have expected.

Did I mention Murphy’s Law has haunted me all my life? :frowning:

25

Hi Clawdia,

I’m looking forward to hearing what Lee has to say and the outcome of the “mystery bumps” when you have the chance to talk with him.

Phoenix

26

Don’t know at this point if the mystery, such as it is, will ever be solved. My husband called Lee again today when we hadn’t heard from him by late afternoon. At first, he asked if we could take pictures of the raised bumps and email them to him. Sure, we could do that - but no way to take a picture of the two smallish areas that feel too dense and hard to me.

Then he suggested I just turn the top piece of latex over and just use it that way. No - I don’t want to do that, just on principle. The bottom of the comfort layer isn’t the same as the top - doesn’t look the same, doesn’t feel the same. Don’t know how it should look - it’s more solid, the air holes don’t go all the way through to the other side.
I should be able to sleep on the side that was meant to be used for sleeping, even if it would feel almost the same. (Should the reverse side look so different on a piece of Dunlop?)

At that point, he said he’d just switch out the top for another piece of latex, which was all I’d wanted in the first place. He said that his delivery guys would come down and switch out the layers Wednesday evening, their first opening. I don’t know how many delivery guys he has, the two who came down and brought the bed were just as nice as could be, but dead-dog tired - this is their evening job after they work all day at another job.

I’ll be sure and check the new latex piece before they leave - need to make sure I don’t end up worse off than I start out being - and I wasn’t clear if he planned to ride down here with them. Fine with me, if he does. I’m obviously not trying to get anything I didn’t pay for, and I really hope that what I got isn’t the gold standard for the comfort layer of Dunlop latex. I don’t see how it could be, since I got poked by one of those raised pieces of latex through the mattress cover and two bottom sheets last night.

I love my bed - I just hope I can love it unconditionally by Wednesday night. I sleep much better, toss and turn much less, and wake up without any hip or shoulder pain, and with no numbness in any of my extremities such as I was having before. I’m so glad I listened to Lee when he suggested going ahead with the 16 Perfection model, since I don’t think I’d have been happy at all with anything firmer than this, whereas I feel like this is just right. (And we love the pillows, which doesn’t really make a hill of beans.) :slight_smile:

27

Hi Clawdia,

I’m glad to hear that things are about to be resolved.

Most Dunlop has some defects or even repairs and you can see some examples here … but not to the degree that it would affect how it feels or performs.

Let us know how it goes :slight_smile:

Phoenix

28

Lee from Sleep Essentials sent one of his great delivery guys down yesterday to swap out the top layer of latex for a new piece - he looked at what I considered a problem and said that no, it shouldn’t have those denser areas in the mattress, altho the raised bumps were the result of the manufacturing and could be shaved. Pretty much what we figured. He put what seems a much nicer piece of 3" Dunlop in the top of the mattress to replace the problematic piece.

I tried the bed with a mattress pad I already had - didn’t like it. Returned to just putting a soft bamboo bottom sheet on top of the mattress cover, then adding my regular Tencel bottom sheet - a little extra protection, but nothing that interferes with the feel of the latex. Might add a St. Dormeir pad at some point - might not. Guess it depends on how paranoid I get about protecting the mattress. I sure don’t want anything to happen to it, but I also want to be able to feel the latex when I lie down.

The whole bed seemed to sleep better last night. I love it, and love knowing that if at some point in the future the Dunlop seems too firm for my old bones, I can add a 2-3" soft Talalay topper. Then again, I know I’m still in the adjustment period for a new bed, especially since getting basically a 2nd new bed last night, so it’ll take a while for me to know if this is as perfect long term as it seems short term. As it is, I’m very happy to have chosen the Perfection 16 model, and think it was the right decision from several different directions. I’m not in the least concerned that it may be too firm for me.

I did have chance to see that the mattress tags say Latex Green, Sri Lanka. I hate I had to spend $1800 to get what I think is a great mattress, but glad that I was able to do it. I think I managed to get great value for my money with a wonderful feeling Dunlop latex mattress that has a cover on it that I love.

I appreciate having been able to deal with a local company, especially one that provided good customer service with free delivery and set up, and ensured after the fact that I was satisfied with my purchase. I bought the bed a week ago this past Tuesday, had it delivered two days later, and even though there was a problem with the mattress initially, within less than a week it was resolved to my satisfaction. I’d certainly recommend buying a mattress from this source without hesitation.

I’m the happy owner of a new mattress - thanks for all the help here. I’ll be back in a while to say how this works out long term, or sooner if I need help/advice with any problems that might arise.

29

Hi Clawdia,

I’m glad to see that you didn’t need to worry and that everything worked out great. Better manufacturers will usually give you an honest assessment if something is “not right” with the mattress although it’s natural to worry that they won’t see things the way you do.

I have a 'feeling" that after the adjustment and initial break in period that you will be sleeping just as well as you are now but I’m looking forward to your comments after you’ve slept on it for a while.

Thanks for all your comments, questions, and feedback along the way. I love happy endings :slight_smile:

Phoenix

30

You mention air holes not going through to other side. Is that ok for them not to?

31

Hi Lkhall1,

The pincores in a latex mold are used to transmit the heat to cure the latex and are attached to the top and bottom of mold but they only go part way into the mold so depending on the thickness of the layer and on where it was slit from the original 6" mold it’s normal that the holes they leave after the latex is cured and removed from the mold don’t go all the way through a layer.

Phoenix