Mattress support cores - innersprings

[phoenix]

Hi JohnnyHay,

Welcome to the Mattress Forum!

I’ve stumbled across some innerspring mattresses with more than 1 layer of coils, and was wondering if there’s any advantage or disadvantage to that kind of build.

Using multiple spring units within a mattress has become a bit more popular lately with the proliferation of comfort layers using smaller pocketed springs, such as microcoils and nanocoils. These layers are generally meant to replace foam comfort layers and tout increased breathability and durability.

Some manufacturers will also “double up” in the deep support layers within a mattress and stack two innerspring unit atop each other. Quite often these spring units will be a bit lower in profile and each unit will have different characteristics to achieve a desired level of support/firmness/deep comfort.

Whether it’s a “disadvantage or an advantage” would depend upon the overall construction of the mattress as well as the comfort being desired. Some people desire the elimination of any type of foam within a mattress, so they prefer the use of items such as natural fibers and micro- or nanocoils in the comfort layers. Others simply prefer the unique feel that these products offer.

The same would go to the support unit. By combining two different support innerspring units, a different deep sport can be achieved by the mattress designers. The key thing, as in all mattress construction, would be to make sure that these units were assembled properly within the mattress to assure decent structural integrity.

Disadvantages could be that you may not prefer the feel of multiple spring units within a mattress, or there may be a difference in price versus the foam comfort layer(s) that the spring unit replaces, or the mattress may not be assembled properly using these multiple spring units. Much of this of course would be subjective.

My logic says that if the whole idea of pocketed springs is to have them isolated from each other, stacking them over another coil layer might be counterproductive.

Actually, in the deeper comfort layers, one innerspring support unit split into two units could have the ability to be more motion isolating, as the wire for each spring in effect would be snipped into two separate springs, one sitting atop the other, with the potential to distribute forces over a wider area. But there are of course more variables involved in a completely assembled mattress that just the deep innerspring unit when it comes to force distribution and motion isolation. Post #4 here speaks in more detail about motion “damping” within a mattress.

Phoenix