First let me say THANK YOU for this forum and for all your countless replies. Everyone has been helpful in some way.
Here is our situation. My wife and I have been sleeping on a very firm king Serta Perfect Sleeper. We purchased it right after hurricane Katrina (2005) from SAMs club. It was an impulse buy to replace old bedroom set. We are at a point now where we are tired of the aches and pains and lack of sleep. I am 220lbs side and back sleeper and she is 130lbs side and back sleeper.
After countless forum post reads and research, we decided on latex, king and maybe an adjustable foundation. Latex because we need the pressure relief and do not want the heat of memory foam. Our budget is @ $3500.
Our plan is to purchase the foundation from adjustablebeds.org http://www.adjustablebeds.org/leggett_and_platt_shipshape_adjustable_base_-_base_only-9352.aspx and the mattresses from sleepez.com https://www.sleepez.com/latex-mattress-9000.htm .Unless sleepez.com can recommend a foundation that is close to the price/features.
Can I purchase 2 twin xl’s and put them into foundation? Is that how the split king works?
Our last step is to visit more showrooms to find out what level of firmness is best. We know we want something soft(er) than what we have. It will be tough to determine what is best than to translate that to the configuration options that sleepez.com offers. Any advice on that?
Hi Bweezee,
Yes … two twinXL’s equals an Eastern (regular) king size base. The advantage of this is that you are able to adjust each side of the adjustable foundation independently with the “tradeoff” of having a split mattress and a slightly higher cost vs a single unit king size with a side by side split construction.
Bear in mind that 22 - 24 ILD talalay latex may be a little firmer than a “typical” mattress for people who are used to an “average” firmness but you are already on a very firm mattress so your own personal testing would be the best reference point. A 2" comfort layer will also put you closer to the middle layer and you would feel more of the firmness of this than you would with a thicker 3" top layer. Also bear in mind that Dunlop feels firmer than the equivalent Talalay (it gets firmer faster with compression) and Talalay is a little more “springy”. The advantage of a 2" top layer as well is that it’s easy to add a topper for fine tuning if it’s a little too thin for your side sleeping.
As you say though … it’s much more accurate if you have a reference point from some local testing even if it’s not exactly the same. I’m not sure where you are but if you let me know the city you’re in I’d be happy to look and see if there are any local outlets where you could do some testing. Pure Latex Bliss has a retail outlet finder here and their mattresses use various thicknesses of 19 ILD latex on top with different ILD layers below it. Jamison also uses 19 ILD on top and they have a retail outlet finder here as well if you are in the Southeast. Ecosleep and Gold Bond also use Talalay latex in the 19 - 24 ILD range (some of the gold Bond mattresses are firmer but they list the ILD’s as well). There are also lots of natural sleep shops around which can give you a chance to test various firmness levels of Dunlop latex. Hopefully there are some good testing options near you.
Phoenix