Hi, I’m a male 6’2" and 175 lbs. My wife is 6’ and 180 lbs. We are side sleepers.
Our previous mattress was some 6" firm foam from Knox Foam on plywood. It was great but after about 10 years it became extra firm so we added a 3" Intellibed topper. That made it pretty good again.
Now I put together an all-latex mattress, mostly from Sleep On Latex:
2x2" firm
3" medium
2x2" soft
We have found it mostly comfortable but I can feel that there is too much force on my shoulders and hips - they don’t sink into the mattress enough for my back to be aligned properly. I can feel soreness and pain in my arms and back that I am pretty confident are from sleeping on this mattress.
I tried removing and rearranging layers somewhat but didn’t find any configuration that felt better than what we have now.
I am considering a few options:
If the Intellibed buckling gel toppers were available, I probably would have bought another one, but Purple doesn’t sell them.
Add 2 or 3" of memory foam. I think it would help but I’m not really sure what would happen.
Replace some of the bottom layers with a HD foam that is more compressible than the latex.
Replace some of the bottom layers with springs. I am looking at Texas Pocket Springs 15.5 ga. At the moment I feel this is the best solution but I am wondering how to know if this is likely to be good for us before I order something that is non returnable.
I would like to hear any thoughts or suggestions on these options, Thanks.
There are a couple of options you could explore. Substituting a zoned layer for the 3" medium latex layer could be an effective solution for improving comfort and pressure relief, particularly for side sleepers, such as one from @FloBeds that would offer a more plush shoulder and hip solution.
A second option would be to speak with @PCS and replacing the 3" medium layer with a micro coil spring layer. A microcoil layer could potentially soften your mattress and provide better pressure relief, especially for side sleeping. It adds a level of cushioning while maintaining support and improving breathability.
I would tend to avoid the gimmickry solutions. Grids, gels, some memory foams, may offer a temporary solution, but the grids do not instill a lot of confidences the way they tend to break down over time. Quality memory foam 4 or 5lb could be a good solution to replace one of the two soft layers, to offer you some additional sinking and pressure relief at the shoulder and hips, but not always a great long term solution. Memory foam for some, might be a bit annoying as you sink in and get locked into place and it is not so easy to roll around on the mattress.
Always check your pillows and be certain you are loft is correct and it is not causing your shoulders to dig into the mattress, by being too shallow.
You might consider replacing the support layer with springs, but another effective option could be using a microcoil layer for improved contouring and pressure relief in place of the middle layer. If you choose to replace the 4 inches of support layer with springs, you would still have 7 inches of foam above the spring layer. This amount of foam might limit the effectiveness of the springs, as your body could end up relying more on the 3-inch middle layer for support, potentially leaving you in the same position you started from. Unless you adjust the middle layer along with adding the spring support, you could end up needing to make further modifications. At that point, it might be simpler to start fresh with a new mattress design.
Hopefully, this will give you a couple of ideas to work around.
Good luck with it and keep us informed with the progress.