Need to tweak my latex mattress

[phoenix]

Hi Kristin,

Adding plywood. Shaun had encouraged me to add a 3/4" plywood sheet to the top of the foundation. I originally purchased a 1/8" plywood cover for my old foundation, and I put that on the new foundation and lay down across it and it seems to be sturdy enough. I didn’t feel it sagging anywhere. So I put the latex mattress on top of that. Do you think its a mistake to stick with the 1/8" cover, and should I purchase a 3/4" plywood cover for the foundation?

This depends on the support underneath the plywood (which I know is your CPS foundation) but 1/8" would be on the thin side for my liking … especially over time even if not initially. While it seems to me that what is underneath the foundation is OK (your Ikea iron bed with the 3 bed beams which should be plenty strong enough to support the foundation itself), the bigger issue for me would be any sagging on the top of the foundation with fewer slats and possibly softer wood. If it does sag, then 1/8 inch plywood would be much more likely to sag along with it over time although it would make the slats stronger than they would be by themselves by spreading the weight out. There really is no “right” answer to this though … only the degree of risk you are comfortable with and the heavier the weight the greater the risk of a foundation sagging. My tendency would be to use thicker plywood if I did go in this direction at all.

I would personally go with the extra slats that koala mentioned in the other thread rather than a sheet of plywood … more comments about that there.

The mattress feels much firmer on top of the foundation (back on the bed frame) than it did on the floor with no foundation. This makes absolutely no sense to me, so I think it must be in my head…unless you have an explanation for it.

I also can’t think of any logical explanation for this either. This would seem to me too to be subjective but only because lI can’t think of anything else to account for it

My next step is to purchase a 3" 20ILD Talalay topper from FMB. My thinking for going with the 20ILD is to add the softest layer I can find at the shoulder which should help me sink in more. Will it just exaggerate the current problem of being too firm at the shoulder and just about right at the hip? If so, how would you suggest I tackle that problem?

I think this would be a mistake for a couple of reasons.

First, I don’t believe that FBM sells 20 ILD talalay latex … although they say they do. Before buying anything from them, I would read post #2 here and the posts it links to.

Second, I think that any 3" topper may be too thick because you already have 3" of soft latex on top of your mattress. If you need more pressure relief, then the thinnest layer possible that would do the job would generally be better for alignment. The closer to the firmer support layers you are, the better they can hold up your heavier parts and maintain your best alignment. I would consider an inch or at the very most 2" as a topper that was being used on 3" of softer foam. The more soft foam on top of a mattress … the greater the risk of misalignment and sinking in unevenly (heavier parts sinking in further while the lighter parts were being “held up” by the lower ILD foam).

Regarding the 3" topper from FBM, and considering I have a protect-a-bed mattress cover (the slip over elastic kind that only has the rubber at the top), should I buy a separate cover for the topper layer or just put the latex on top of the existing mattress, and put the protect-a-bed cover over the top of it?

I would make sure that any latex topper includes a good quality fabric cover to protect it from damage. Latex can degrade more quickly with longer term exposure to Ozone and Ultraviolet light and a good cover is always important. Your mattress protector would go over this but it’s designed to protect from moisture, body oils, stains etc.

Phoenix