I am trying to help my uncle create the most comfortable mattress that is between 4 and 6 inches in thickness. The reason it needs to be this thin is that he is in a wheel chair and the lift used to put him in bed does not go high enough. He uses an adjustable bed and it can not be lowered any more, because the lift foundation needs to travel under the bed.
I have visited all of the mattress retailers in Missoula, MT. I have looked at a ton of postings on this site. The best thing I can find is the do-it-yourself layering systems. I was thinking maybe a latex foundation with a comfort topper. He did sleep on 4 or 5 inch foam piece before. His present mattress is about 9" and it is about 2.5" to 3" too tall. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Is there any foam mattresses that would meet this challenge.
Thanks,
Jim
Hi Jim:
I don’t know from your post what size bed is needed but here are a couple of options:
You might want to consider the 6" special from SleepEZ which starts at $595 (Shawn is very helpful and likely be able to answer all of your questions especially in regard to adjustable foundations):
or Mattresses 24/7 on eBay offers several 6" options (very similar to SleepEZ’s) here for slightly less:
See my post below about Mattresses 24/7 for more info on my experience with them:
Hi morning kinks,
There are some hi-low adjustable beds (which are also position adjustable) here which go as low as 7" and have up to 19" of travel. I’m suggesting this just in case they may offer an alternative that would work with the lift better.
Kopavi has already suggested a couple of very good options (thank you :)) for 6" or less of latex and there are also a few more in post #4 here.
If I was limited to 4-6" then it doesn’t leave much room for separate layering and if 6" is possible then that would certainly be better. I would tend to use all latex either Talalay or Dunlop both for performance reasons (it will have a greater range of softness to firmness in a thinner core) and for durability reasons. Which firmness level or combination was best would of course depend on your uncle’s weight and the outlets that I linked to would provide good advice to help you make the best possible choices.
With a 6" mattress … then a single 5.5 - 6" core of Dunlop would work well because Dunlop has a higher sag factor (it gets firmer faster with deeper compression) so a softer core would still provide good support as it was compressed. Alternatively a progressive layering of Talalay (3" of softer over 3" of firmer) can also provide for a softer layer on top and a firmer layer below so this would be equivalent to a higher sag factor as well if he liked the feel of talalay better.
You have some good options and I would talk with the manufacturers that offer what you are looking for to get a sense of the layers (and of course the cover) that may work best for you.
Phoenix
Thank you Kopavi and Phoenix!
I think we are on the road to figuring out my uncle’s mattress issues. We ordered a 4 layer set of latex from Valerie at Mattresses 24/7. She was very helpful. She encouraged us to order one soft, one medium, and one firm. This way he can experiment with which of the 2.8 layers he likes best to make a mattress a bit under 6 inches. She is going to ship the fourth layer later after we have a chance to experiment. The other two layers are going to become a futon mattress or additional bed in my house.
Now…
I am continuing the search for my ideal mattress. I am discovering that if I am patient, cruise this site, and ask questions on here, the best value ideas appear. My thought right now are to visit two manufacturers in Spokane, Wa to test ride their latex mattresses. I am presently sleep on an ol’ king bed. I am torn wheter to get a queen or split king. My thinking is that some day I may want to add an adjustable foundation, when the additional funds become possible. I was researching possible permanent foundations this morning and came across this…
I kind of got excited, because I could order two of these to make a split king and could afford it now.
Does anyone have any experience with these? It seems too good to be true.
What options would a person use below this to raise the beds higher?
Finally, I was told at the box stores I went to that to make a split king is two twin XLs. I’m thinking this adjustable foundation is not quite an XL. I don’t really see any problem with this set up, but know that I am probably missing something:) Your thoughts out there???
Once again thank you for your kind help,
Jim
ps- this site is incredible!
I just read the following post:
https://forum.mattressunderground.com/t/ikea-sultan-laxeby-slatted-base
Phoenix,
In this post you said, “I don’t think they are the same quality as the slatted foundation that BE outlets sell”
I could not find the company that BE stands for. Help please.
thanks,
Jim
Hi morning kinks,
BE stands for Berkeley Ergonomics which is a mattress manufacturer that sells some high quality and value mattresses through a small group of sleep shops around the country. SleeplessinDallas has one of these and was using their flexible slat base under her pocket coil mattress (and ended up changing it for a solid base rather than a flexible one). You can see their tension adjustable base here. It would be roughly comparable to the Ikea Laxeby except you would also need to buy an Ikea bed for the Laxeby while the Berkeley Ergonomics model is a “stand alone” foundation that can go on any bedframe. BE doesn’t sell them by themselves though as far as I know and they are an optional part of the sleeping systems that they sell.
The Ikea slatted adjustable bases (both position adjustable and tension adjustable) are very good value but they need to go on an Ikea bed which they are designed for. If you wanted to use them without also buying one of their beds … then you would likely have to make sure first of all that it would fit the bedframe you were using you would probably also need to make some custom adjustments to your bed to make sure it was secure and well attached.
This is part of the “making it fit” and sizing issues that you face with Ikea. They design their products to use other Ikea products and there can be some issues if you want to use them in other than their designed combinations. In the case of the Langhus, they only make it in a twin size … not the XL that you would need for half a king or even in full or queen sizes.
Phoenix
Hello. I’m looking for a mattress and have seen a mattress system on the internet called Reverie. Can you please tell me if this is a good system and why?
Thanks!
Hi BellaGirl,
A mattress is only as good as its construction and the materials and components that are in it (the brand is not so relevant) and is only as good for each individual as it’s ability to provide the needs (pressure relief and posture/alignment) and preferences (temperature regulation, motion isolation, sleeping “in” or “on” a mattress, overall subjective feel, springiness, and many others) that are most important to you.
The Reverie mattress is a very interesting construction. It uses high quality materials (latex) and is somewhat unique in it’s construction because the cylinders they use can be customized for each person’s body type and sleeping style. The value of the mattress though would depend on how well it “fit” your needs and preferences, what you paid for the mattress, and the importance and necessity of it’s features as part of your personal “value equation” (the things that are more or less important to you compared to other mattresses that use similar materials).
I also like the Reverie adjustable bed (I own a Reverie Deluxe) and IMO they have very good value compared to other types of adjustable beds but this would also depend on the price you paid. There’s more about this in the adjustable bed thread here and in post #2 here.
So overall … IMO Reverie is a good company that makes good quality products that has been very responsive in answering any questions I have had when I talked with them. The only down side that I can see to the “sleeping system” (disregarding any pricing factors) is that it is (or at least was when I last talked with them) only available as a system rather than separately and the extra cost of the adjustable base for someone who only wanted the mattress and didn’t want or need the adjustable base may be prohibitive. If the mattress is available separately or if you wanted to buy both a mattress and an adjustable base anyway … then it’s value would depend on the price you were paying, the “value equation” of each person, and how the extra price for the mattress over the base alone (which is available separately) compared to adding a different but similar quality mattress (that also met your needs and preferences) to the same adjustable base.
Phoenix
NOTE ADDED: They have since provided the complete specs of all of their mattresses (see post #6 here) and they are also available separately and they have also become a member of the site as well.
My wife purchased King Contour mattresses last month and they are really comfortable. They are made up of 7" Dunlop latex and having very good stuff. These are very much suitable for back and stomach sleepers.
Hi KarlPT,
I’ve switched all your posts to this thread once again because they were not relevant or connected to the thread you were posting in and on the edge of trolling (repeatedly mentioning a brand or generic “recommendations” with no context or specifics). I have also seen you doing this in other forums and it can be disruptive to the flow and context of a thread.
In future I would appreciate it if you kept your posts to this thread unless you have meaningful or specific information to share or they are directly connected to the topic at hand.
Phoenix