Need some help with my DIY latex mattress

Good suggestion, and I’ve actually already taken advantage of Phoenix’s vast mattress knowledge base via the forum “search” function. Alas, there aren’t any retailers of non-mainstream manufacturer latex mattresses nearby. Anything available for testing is talalay smothered in poly foam.

I do have some samples on their way from Savvy Rest (FREE SAMPLES, PEOPLE!). I’ve also consulted with the “organic dunlop latex core” seller, and their opinion is that I should go with firm or extra-firm (for the support factor) and rely on my toppers for comfort.

Still mulling things over. And I’m waiting to hear from Jeremy at SleepEz. They’ve been the slowest to respond…which doesn’t exactly instill a lot of confidence.

In comparing dunlop toppers/cores from various manufacturers (lbs./cubic ft.), I’ve noticed that Latex Green’s dunlop is a bit denser than, say, Latexco’s dunlop. I tried a Latex Green “soft” topper ages ago and didn’t think it was very soft at all. Of course, it may be exactly what you’re looking for. It’s definitely not like talalay, however. I would always choose talalay over dunlop for comfort.

That’s weird. Dunlop and talalay are processes: it’s the exact same latex. You shouldn’t have a reaction to natural talalay if you’re fine with natural dunlop. Maybe you had a reaction to blended talalay? (Or, rather, a chemical component of the blended talalay).

That’s good to hear. I’m still considering the SleepEz mattress (if they ever get back to me about configuring the darn thing).

Hit the quote button at the bottom of the post you’re responding to. Add extra boxes by using brackets and “quote” around the text you want to box in (don’t forget the backslash in the final “quote” brackets).

SleepEZ slow to respond? Every single time that I have called, Shawn picks up right away…even in the evening! There were two times when I left a message and he called back in less than 5 minutes.

Do you mean that they are slow on returning emails?

[quote=“Sleep On Latex” post=27114]Also, just to respond to the original topic here. I think you should notice that the pictures on this listing are of different items. One of the pictures was stolen fromour website.

Almost all of the pictures on this sellers listings have simply been stolen from other websites. They could be selling what they claim they are, but I would be a bit cautious in buying from a seller who who can only provide conflicting pictures of the product which are stolen from other websites.[/quote]

If the pictures were actually taken at your warehouse, you can sue them for copyright infringement (assuming you’ve taken the precaution of having your images copyrighted). If the images aren’t copyrighted, sorry to say they’re fair game. The seller you’re referring to uses random images of products they sell (I’ve already had this discussion with them; I’d noticed that their listing for an organic dunlop core was headed by an image of a Durolux core). They’re not very meticulous about which images they use…nor do they seem to care overly much. I’m more concerned about the quality of the product and customer service than the quality of the images, to be honest. I’ve peppered them with questions and always gotten fast, informative, courteous replies, so that goes a long way in establishing trust, IMO. Others may have more exacting standards. shrugs

Yes, I contacted them via email. Maybe I should’ve called instead…? :huh: I’ve been doing all my mattress research at night, so that’s when all my mattress-related questions arise. If they’re there in the evening I’ll have to give them a call.

Hi nej,

This thread may be a record for the fastest moving thread with the largest number of posts in a single day. It took some reading to catch up to it :slight_smile:

All the components are good quality but I have no idea how they would feel combined together for you. You can read a little more about shredded latex toppers post #38 here and wool toppers in post #3 here but these are the types of more complex and unusual combinations that only your own experience can really know how the combination would feel for you. I would tend put the wool above the latex though so it’s on the top surface of the mattress and you can take advantage of it’s temperature regulating properties although this will also affect the ability of the shredded latex to “flow” around your pressure points. One good feature of the flobeds shredded latex topper is that you can adjust the fill of the latex in each section to customize it based on your actual experience.

This is by far the best approach for a DIY project IMO so you enjoy the process regardless of the outcome of any particular layer or component choice, are comfortable with any trial and error that may be involved, and aren’t overly disappointed with any “mistakes” you may make along the way.

You may have done this already but when you do a forum search on your city make sure you have changed the “find posts from” setting to “any date” because the default is a year and many of the forum lists were originally written more than a year ago even if they’ve been updated or edited since then. It may also help to put in the name of nearby cities or the nearest larger city because some of the lists have been researched to about a 100 mile radius.

I would keep in mind that natural rubber has a higher density than synthetic rubber so a blended Dunlop will have a lower density than a 100% natural Dunlop in the same ILD.

A phone call will bring much faster results with most smaller manufacturers and email isn’t particularly effective for questions that have more than a single sentence answer, any “it depends” in the answer, or needs a more “nuanced” answer.

@buttercupbetty

Besides the method nej mentioned … you can copy and past the words you want to quote from another post and then highlight them with your mouse and click the quote icon (the wrd bubble) in the top row above the emoticons it will show up as a quote.

An electric knife with a straight edge of some kind as a guide works great. You can see some pictures of some more complex cuts here with the latex squeezed in between two boards.

I think you got “caught” in one of the forum settings I use to help guard against spammers who post many posts in a very short period of time. It’s set for 1 minute in between posts as a minimum :slight_smile:

Phoenix

Hmmm…is this my issue? I thought that Latex Green was in Sri Lanka and that Latexco is selling their product in the US. If everyone labels their latex differently, how will it be possible to order online or special order in person?

Hi buttercupbetty,

Latexco sells a range of latex products. They are a distributor for Latex Green 100% natural Dunlop, Latex Green organic Dunlop, Radium Talalay, and their own blended Dunlop latex including Puralux which is a blended continuous pour Dunlop.

The Dunlop they sell from Latex Green would be the same as any other Dunlop from Latex Green of the same density but they test the ILD for the Latex Green products they sell with their own equipment so the ILD ratings don’t come from Latex Green itself. If another supplier was selling Latex Green that came from a different source then they may not have actually tested the ILD or in some cases they may “assign” an ILD rating that may not be accurate.

Phoenix

JRC:

Could provide some advice regarding where to buy quiltable latex? You indicate that you have tried multiple quiltable latex thicknesses at the top of the mattress. I have not been able to find a source to buy quiltable latex online. Thanks.

Hi Toto,

I don’t know of any sources where you can buy quiltable latex directly from a supplier. It’s usually purchased in rolls by a manufacturer and then quilted into the covers by either the mattress manufacturer or by the manufacturer of the cover.

Foam Order sells a cover with 1" of quiltable latex and fiberfill here.

Phoenix

Phoenix:

Thanks for your reply. I am experimenting with softer materials in the top layer and quiltable latex sounded interesting.

If the pictures were actually taken at your warehouse, you can sue them for copyright infringement
[/quote]

Much easier said than done…

Not true…but I don’t think anyone in this forum wants to hear about copyright law

If you check the link that you posted earlier, you will find that the listing has been removed due to copyright violation.

If you trust them despite this and are ok with it, go for it. Maybe you can save a few bucks. I do think that you should consider that supporting sellers who are selling through shady tactics such as this only encourages other sellers to take up shady dishonest tactics. This hurts consumers and hurts honest sellers.

[quote=“Sleep On Latex” post=27231]Not true…but I don’t think anyone in this forum wants to hear about copyright law
[/quote]

I’ll admit that I initially thought you came here to trash your competition by making a hyperbolic, dramatic claim about “photo theft”. Personally, I don’t like to see competitors air their dirty laundry in front of the entire world and sincerely wish people would sort out their issues in private (seeking legal recourse, if need be). The whole thing smacks of playground squabbling and doesn’t reflect well on either party. That being said, I hope that if you own exclusive rights to the photos (as opposed to leasing stock photos, which you don’t have the right to use exclusively, regardless of website copyright), memoyfoamlatex doesn’t put you through this ordeal again. Did you inform them of the alleged copyright violation? I’m just wondering if you know for a fact that they removed the listing because of the photo. There were problems with the ILD ratings and they may simply be in the process of revising the listing.

And why should anyone believe your account of this story? What evidence is there that copyright infringement took place? Why shouldn’t we question your motives? See, this is what happens when you hurl accusations at a competitor in a public venue. It usually devolves into a he said/she said affair that could potentially damage your reputation as well as your competitor’s. Of course it hasn’t gotten to that point because the accused hasn’t even been given the consideration of defending their actions.

I guess I didn’t think of it as talking trash about a competitor. You asked for an opinion on that particular listing. I was simply pointing out that the pictures were inconsistant and one of them was taken from our website. I thought that would be relevant information if you wanted to evaluate the credibility the listing. Other people pointed out other relevant problems with the listing.

The whole thing is really a moot point now that the listing has been removed. It was not removed voluntarily by the seller. If you really want proof of this, PM me. I don’t think anyone else is interested.

1 Like

It kind of became a catch-all DIY thread :slight_smile: Lots of interest in latex DIY mattresses, I guess.

Thanks for the good reading! I didn’t know the LaNoodle topper existed, so now I’m also curious about that one. My primary concern is getting that support my lower back needs without compromising pressure relief. I guess it’s anyone’s guess whether the regular latex or shredded latex would be better.

I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I have to say that I’m getting closer and closer to calling SleepEZ and letting them sort the whole thing out for me. It’s more $$ than I wanted to spend, but I’d rather get it right the first time around.

Oh! I thought the only all-natural dunlop they sold was their own brand, Naturalux. Now I’m wondering if Latexco dunlop I’ve seen listed on ebay is Naturalux or Latex Green…

[quote=“Sleep On Latex” post=27246]I guess I didn’t think of it as talking trash about a competitor. You asked for an opinion on that particular listing. I was simply pointing out that the pictures were inconsistant and one of them was taken from our website. I thought that would be relevant information if you wanted to evaluate the credibility the listing. Other people pointed out other relevant problems with the listing.

The whole thing is really a moot point now that the listing has been removed. It was not removed voluntarily by the seller. If you really want proof of this, PM me. I don’t think anyone else is interested.
[/quote]

I think you might be wrong about that. It’s your choice, but I would question the wisdom of making accusations about a competitor’s “shady tactics” without offering sufficient evidence to back up those claims.

Hi nej,

In most cases the Naturalux is Latex Green. It’s their tradename for the 100% natural Dunlop that they supply.

In reference to some of the comments about the ebay seller 2ezMemTex … they have had some history of inaccurate listings on their ebay site so there is a good reason IMO to use caution with the products they supply and verify that their listings are accurate. They do supply products that come directly from Latexco (and other products as well) but they are not always accurately described so I think Karl’s comments are fair and helpful. He is not the only one that has noticed some of the discrepancies in their listings.

Phoenix

I think you might be wrong about that. It’s your choice, but I would question the wisdom of making accusations about a competitor’s “shady tactics” without offering sufficient evidence to back up those claims.
[/quote]

This is what I was going to PM you. Hopefully we can just leave it at this.

I was using safari on the last post and could not attach the file for some reason. Hopefully this one will show.

Hello Everyone,

I’m back from a few days away. Spent one day visiting mattress/foam retailers in the Seattle area.

So far, everyone’s SOFT felt pretty SOFT to me, in a good way :cheer: . This was helpful because I was unsure whether I wanted SOFT or EXTRA SOFT. I think SOFT will be right on the money. Now for the confusing part…

The Friendly Foam Shop identifies their SOFT as 75D (100% natural dunlop). Foam Rubber City identifies their SOFT as 28-29 ILD. The topper on my bed right now is labeled 75D (aka 24 ILD). And it feels too firm for me.

(I have a concern with Foam Rubber City (FRC): while inquiring about prices, which seemed challenging, he asked me: “do you REALLY need 100% natural dunlop?”…I ABSOLUTELY want 100% natural dunlop. And I’m not interested in ordering from anyone that might get my order mixed up with a blended product. Going on a gut feeling that ordering from them is riskier.)

On a positive note, FRC is able to cut our 6" FIRM core into 2 x 3" layers for a small fee. This could solve my firmness issue with the addition of a 3" soft topper.

I also visited Soaring Heart (SH) & Bedrooms and More (BNM). Both were wonderful, inviting showrooms. SH is all organic (I think) and I loved their latex/wool topper. The price is beyond our budget, so probably won’t purchase at this time. BNM uses Vietnamese latex. and offers “finished” mattresses. I have read online to avoid Vietnamese latex, but I can’t remember why??? I was mostly visiting BNM to “feel” lots of quilted mattress covers. I must say, I really like the feel of their 1" quilted wool sleeping surface. (None of these covers were removable, by the way.)

SleepEZ is offering toppers with covers at a very reasonable price. Might be a limited time special, I’m not exactly sure. They are offering a choice between their 60/40 cotton rayon or cotton/wool quilted covers. I have heard positive reviews about both. If I ordered a SOFT 3" Eastern King topper, maybe I could sweet talk Shawn into splitting it :wink:

As dn and I chatted about earlier, this will give me many possible configuration options. So we are getting close to making our “final” purchase :cheer: