Mattress comfort layers - latex

[phoenix]

Hi Q8canuck.

Glad to hear that you “logged another month of sleep on your new” mattress with no major setbacks. It seems that your hubby still enjoys his well-crafted side but you still have some doubts as to your layering appropriateness.

I feel that I could be sinking too far into my middle layer of Medium Tallalay and wonder if changing to a medium Dunlop layer would make any difference. Would this be where the difference in ILDs between medium Dunlop and Talalay becomes significant? … Is this my imagination, or is there enough difference between the specs for medium Dunlop and medium Talalay to be noticeable?

Talalay will weigh less than Dunlop per cubic foot of material because it has more air in it and the same ILD Dunlop is denser than Talalay. This is the basis for the angel food cake vs the pound cake analogy on our site. It will certainly feel a bit more supportive to most people … with some more sensitive individuals reporting that this made just the right amount of difference to achieve the ideal softens/firmness for them, but of course, this is not an exact science because this is dependent on so many personal and other interrelated variables. The best way to ensure that this would work out for you is (…as you did) to “borrow” the medium Dunlop from your hubby’s side and test it for long enough to ensure that the signals that your body sends you are consistent before you decide on the new layer exchange. You do not seem to experience pains at this time but I always tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to support as a primary concern so it is nice to see that you are reassessing the support issue especially as you also added a pad…but I’d also keep in mind that sometimes our bodies take a little longer to “accept” a change and get used to it, but once again only you can be the judge of this.

I know the composition is different, but do the numbers indicate a significant variance? Do different retailers have different specs for their Dunlop and talalay or is this a standard industry specification?

There is no real industry standard as it comes to ILDs for the different types of latex, from different sources, which may also use different ways of testing it. When it comes to ILDs your own experience is much more meaningful than the ILD numbers (which by themselves can act just as pointers because other specs such as the thickness of the layer, compression modulus, point elasticity and more are just as important to how soft or firm a mattress feels than ILD specs alone). There is more about this in post #2 here and there is more about the different types and blends of latex in post #6 here All in all it is partly science and partly an art to “imagine” and predict how the layers of a mattress will interact together and with your individual body shape, weight distribution, and sleeping position. The good news is that you are already close enough to your ideal configuration and I’d make sure to seek a last word of advice from SleepEZ themselves as they would have all the information that would help make any meaningful comparisons between types of latex from different sources. (They have 4 different sources for their latex … and all would feel slightly different in the same ILD)

While my thoughts are of course generalizations and cannot replace your personal experience, I hope that they are helpful in deciding on this last eventual layering change. I am looking forward to any further updates you may have.

Phoenix