We’re looking to purchase a mattress for our new platform bed, from a dealer located in LA. I have asthma and we both suffer from allergies. We’d like the mattress to be as chemical free as possible, and certainly without any PBDE’s.
We would like queen size, and both sleep mostly on our sides and a little bit on our backs. We’re 5’10" (170) and 5’7" (120).
We’ve looked at the RoomandBoard mattresses and are considering the Natural Encased Coil. I’ve read in another post of yours that the latex is more durable than the foam alternatives… Are there any other retailers we can consider in the LA area? What about trying to DIY something online? We know we like a medium to firm feel, and thought the encased coil would be great to reduce motion transfer… Also, we’re trying to find something that will be good quality without the $1800 price tag. Any suggestions?
I certainly understand your desire to have a chemical free mattress. While PBDE’s are no longer used, many other chemicals still are.
Latex as you mentioned is definately more durable than other foams and because it can be made in a wide range of firmness/softness options it can be used in both comfort and support layers. The RoomandBoard mattresses you were testing are made with Dunlop latex which doesn’t have the same range of softness options as Talalay latex but both can be very high quality materials.
There is some very good quality and value available in the LA area which means that the uncertainty of a DIY mattress would not be necessary. When possible … it is always more accurate to test a mattress locally and then purchase the same mattress that you have tested if the value warrants it rather than taking on the variables in “duplicating” a mattress you have tested.
There is a list of Los Angeles manufacturers in this thread. The first place I would visit is Flexus Comfort. They are a manufacturing member of The Mattress Underground which means that if you register on the forum and make a single post under your username … you will be entitled to an additional 5% discount for any mattress you purchase. All you would have to do is tell them you are a member and your username on the forum.
In terms of fitting a mattress to your specs … Flexus is good at this and can also do a side to side split if your needs are different. You may for example need slightly softer foam to achieve good pressure relief because of your lower weight. Of course actual mattress testing and preferences also plays a role here and is always more accurate than “theory at a distance”. Side sleepers typically need slightly thicker/softer comfort layers than other positions to accommodate their pressure relief needs. In your cases (both of you), the thinnest comfort layer that worked well for your side sleeping would be best for alignment when you are on your back. This would likely mean a comfort layer in the range of 2-3" depending on the firmness of the support layers underneath it. Most of the “firmness” that people feel on their mattress (and the ability to support the heavier parts of your body and keep you in alignment) comes from the deeper support layers under the comfort layer and the comfort layers are the part that provides the pressure relief. In other words a mattress needs to have a combination of both softness and firmness in the different layers.
Encased coils certainly reduce motion transfer but so does latex and even polyfoam in the support core of a mattress. Most motion transfer comes from non pocket coil innersprings in a mattress.
For most people … the value at Flexus and other factory direct manufacturers would certainly be better than RoomandBoard using the same or better quality materials.
Thank you so much! This is exactly the information I was hoping for. While we really liked the RoomandBoard mattress, the price tag was making me hesitate, and after reading through some the articles on your website, I felt we could do better.
We’ll make a trip out to Flexus Comfort, and some of the other retailers you mentioned this weekend, and test out what they have to offer. We’re really looking forward to getting this resolved, since our current mattress is quite old and not of great quality.
If you do decide to make a purchase from Flexus (or any of our members) … make sure you register on the forum and make a single post under your username as that automatically makes you a member here and entitles you to a 5% discount at any of the manufacturing members of the site
This topic is much older than it appears but the last post is showing up as being made today as a result of a forum bug.
I went through many forum posts today that included “Room and Board” and edited them to say “Roomandboard” so they would show up on a single forum search for “roomandboard” but I believe that it also changed the dates of any “anonymous” posts as well to the time of the edit instead of the time and date they were originally posted (this is the bug).
It has been years since the forum settings allowed for anonymous posts (because of spammers).
For the sake of any others that may read this … post #3 should be post #1 (the original post), my reply in post #1 should be post #2, post #4 should be post #3, and my reply in post #3 should be post #4.
