Hey everyone,
A few months ago I was in the market for a new mattress, initially I was looking at the Helix Dusk Luxe, but after reading more and more about how a lot of the store bought or bed in a box mattresses can develop sagging and how all the review sites are unreliable, I started to read Mattress Underground and think about building my own. What helped pushed me over the edge and decide to build my own, was I had stayed at an Airbnb in Montana with one of the most comfy mattresses. I contacted them to find out what brand it was and found out they had built it themselves. Hearing that was the final straw I needed to decide to dive in and build my own.
The Airbnb hosts had shared their build with me which was:
Top Layer is 3" Serenity by Tempur-Pedic Memory Foam Mattress Topper from Costco
Middle Layer is 3" Ultimate Dreams Queen 3" Talalay Latex Soft Mattress Topper ILD 19
Bottom Layer is a 3" Pure Green Natural Latex Mattress Topper medium firmness IDL 30
It was very plush and comfortable during our stay, but I felt for long term I wanted something a little bit firmer, aiming for the feel of memory foam but with around a medium firmness.
I started off buying Tempur-Adaptive Comfort 3" Memory Foam Mattress Topper as the top layer since I really wanted a soft memory foam top and this was one of the softest I could find from Tempur Pedic. It is the same material they use in the top layer (Tempur ES) of the TempurPedic ProAdapt Hybrid which I liked when I tested out different mattress feels at a mattress store. From searching online I saw speculation that the Tempur ES is 4.1lb/cuft and <14 ILD.
I then bought a Spindle 3" Dunlop Latex Firm layer (5.6 lb/cuft and ~30 ILD @ 25%) for the bottom layer. I chose latex for its durability. I chose Spindle, because at the time I ordered in September 2020 I believe Spindle was using continuous pour Dunlop which was supposed to feel like a cross between Dunlop and Talalay, however just checking their website it seems they have now switched to using molded Dunlop.
Then after receiving the top and bottom, I put them together. Resting on it felt good and I liked the feel, so in order to keep the same firmness I ordered another Spindle 3" Dunlop Latex in Firm for the middle layer.
For encasement I really didn’t like a lot of the encasements I found online which either seemed not suited to memory foam or didn’t seemed more like just a mattress cover/ticking and not sturdy enough to hold things together. After a lot of searching and even looking at sites like Alibaba to see if I could get an encasement, I came up with a hack of ordering a replacement mattress cover for a memory foam mattress. I Googled “replacement mattress cover” and found a couple that looked nice and were suited to memory foam. One was by Tulo (a cheap mattress by mattress firm) and another by Lull. I decided to order the one from Lull since it looked nicer. The Lull mattress is a 10" mattress and I had three 3" layers, so I ordered a filler 1" Latex at 20 ILD to get the mattress to the right height. I also ordered a Ultimate Mattress Encasement from Mattress Safe as a mattress protector which I chose because it had some fire resistance properties and I couldn’t find a fire sock to put the mattress layers in.
Now is when I finally put everything together. It was a bit firm at first, but I thought it would break in after a month. After a month it still felt firmer than I liked, so I ordered a Spindle 3" Dunlop Latex in Medium (4.6lb/cuft and 19 ILD @ 25%) and swapped out my middle firm layer for the medium layer. It helped a little bit, but still felt firmer than I wanted. I finally took off the Mattress Safe encasement which made a big difference, I think whatever fabric they had didn’t have any elasticity and was killing the feeling of the memory foam.
After those adjustments, I’ve been sleeping on the mattress for a few months now and I am really happy with how it turned out. Here is the final build.
Final Build (Queen Size)
Top: Tempur Adaptive Comfort Memory Foam 3" Topper - $350
Middle #1: SleepOnLatex 1" 20ILD Latex Topper - $110
Middle #2: Spindle 3" Dunlop Latex Layer (Medium) - $370
Bottom: Spindle 3" Dunlop Latex Layer (Firm) - $440
Lull Replacement Mattress Cover - $120
Total: ~$1400
Extraneous Expenses:
Spindle 3" Dunlop Latex Layer (Queen size, Firm) - $440
Mattress Safe Ultimate Mattress Encasement - $150
Extra Costs: ~$600
Lessons:
- Finding a good encasement for memory foam mattresses to hold all the layers was tough. I recommend googling “replacement mattress cover” and in particular I found some from Tulo and Lull that your can order. Tulo has online orders, but Lull required calling in and didn’t have an online order option. I told Lull I had just bought the mattress used from a friend and needed a new cover.
- The mattress protector can have a big effect on the feel. If you have memory foam, make sure to find one that works well with memory foam.
- Like the forum & guides warn, I didn’t save any money doing DIY vs buying a mattress. I spent total ~$2000, although it could have been done for $1400, but when building your own mattress it is likely you won’t get things perfect on the first try, and mattress pieces often can’t be returned once they have been opened.
- Overall I was happy with the outcome. I have a bed dialed in to the exact firmness level I like. I’m confident about the durability of the mattress and that I won’t need to replace it in a couple years. Even if one layer does wear out, I can just replace that layer. Finally, I found it a rewarding project doing all the research and building the mattress.
P.S. I still have the extra Spindle Layer (Queen size, firm) and the Mattress Protector. If anyone is interested in purchasing them at a discount, contact me. I live in Sunnyvale, CA if you want to pick up the latex layer (which I believe is continuous pour Dunlop from before Spindle switched over to molded Dunlop). Just email me, jwegan at gmail dot com
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