New Mattress or Topper? Uneven floors and mattress is too firm

Hello everyone!

Thank you to Phoenix and everyone else who has contributed to this site, the wealth of knowledge and support here is invaluable for those of us looking to make an informed decision when it comes to purchasing a mattress. For some time now, my partner and I have been sleeping poorly, which has led me to think about investing in a higher quality mattress. Currently, we have this mattress:

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Sarah-Peyton-Firm-Support-10-inch-Queen-size-Memory-Foam-Mattress-with-Pillows/4141883/product.html

which I purchased in August of 2009. Both of us agree that the mattress sleeps hot and is too firm. But beyond this, the apartment we moved to last year (right around the time our sleeping trouble became acute) is an older home with extremely uneven floors. In our bedroom, the difference from spot checks with a level is up to 3.5 inches from one side of the bed to the other. I think this is causing an uneven platform for our bed, which is leading to heightened discomfort sleeping. I know this isn’t a forum of engineers, but I’m wondering if anyone has heard of this problem, if you think that the floors could be contributing to unsatisfactory sleep, what steps we could take to address the issue.

In terms of purchasing a mattress, I am hesitant to make the investment if the floors are really the problem and would likely get a topper to hold us over until we decide to move. However, if our sleeping situation could be significantly improved with a new mattress despite the floors, then we would buy now–luckily we live in Boston and have read about the many reputable stores in this area.

I don’t know if this is relevant to my specific question but I noticed that lots of people leave their weight and sleeping preferences, so I’m 5’4 120lbs and my partner is 6’1 175lbs. I move around a lot in my sleep, so stomach, back, and side. He sleeps on his back primarily, sometimes on his side.

Hi gracemarie,

Your mattress only has 2.5" of 4 lb memory foam and if this has softened to some degree (which would be fairly normal after 4 years depending on your body weight) you may be feeling too much of the firmer base layer underneath it. If there is no sagging or significant soft spots in the mattress and it is still even on top then a topper may help extend the life of the mattress and give you some additional pressure relief. If the top layer has softened too much then a topper will just follow the sag. It really depends on whether you are dealing with mostly a pressure issue (pressure points usually in the hips and shoulders) or an alignment issue (most commonly discomfort or pain in the lower back).

Like you are doing … I would first make sure that your uneven floor isn’t the cause of any “symptoms” you have on your mattress.

It would probably help to know more details about the support system you have under your mattress. Do you have a platform bed, a steel bedframe and a foundation, something else?

As you probably know the goal is to have a level and evenly supportive non flexing surface under your mattress that doesn’t sag or dip in any areas under the mattress. It may be an idea to create a custom platform on the floor using two sheets of plywood and then supporting it in a level position from underneath so that your whole sleeping system has a level base underneath it and all the load bearing surfaces are evenly supported to the floor on the sides and center of the platform from underneath.

If your support system has legs to the floor (such as a steel bedframe or wooden bed) then you could put something solid under the legs that need them when your support system is level such as some kind of custom sized wooden risers under each leg including any support legs in the center.

Phoenix

Thank you for your reply, Phoenix! I think we’re experiencing an alignment issue, since we both wake up with sore backs. I often feel discomfort in my shoulders when sleeping on my side, but I think this is due to the firmness of the mattress…perhaps it’s a combination of both. I looked at some of the websites for toppers recommended in another post and found this one:

These guys say that 25 ILD is considered soft, but I read on sleeplikethedead.com that 19-22 ILD is considered soft…so maybe this one is good spot between soft and medium? Having slept on an overly firm mattress, I don’t want to end up on the other end of the spectrum and since there’s no returns on this particular topper maybe it’s not our best bet. I’m not clear on the different between the rejuvenite (Latex Mattresses On Sale - Latex Mattress Toppers - Phoenix, AZ) and this “All Natural Talalay” topper (3 Inch All Natural Talalay Latex Mattress Topper, 3 Inch All Natural Talalay Latex Mattress Topper, Save Big with DIY Latex Mattress Components, Latex Mattresses-Talalay and Dunlop).

As for the support system, we have a platform bed, it’s wooden with four legs and has slats every two or three inches. When I bought the I read some information online, maybe on Overstock, I’m not sure, that advised two pieces of plywood on top of the slats to create an even surface. So, that’s what we have: a platform bed on legs with two pieces of playwood on top of the slats. So it sounds like wooden risers or something like that would work, I’ve thought of it before but the idea of my bed being on stilts kind of scares me!

Now I’m thinking that a new bed might be the first step, one that is truly a platform bed in that it sits entirely on the floor, versus being supported by legs. That way, we could even out the surface with some kind of plywood wedge, instead of trying to prop the bed up on stilts, like I said before. I know I’m kind of all over the place right now…I guess my fear is that we’re going to be throwing money at this problem only to figure out that uneven floors equals poor sleep no matter what we sleep on. Any advice on what would best fix our problem? In a perfect world, we’d just get the whole kit and caboodle–new bed, new mattress and be done with it. But alas, life as a graduate student doesn’t afford such luxuries.

Hi gracemarie,

It sounds to me like it’s a combination of both. The back issues (if they are in the lower back) are typically alignment and the shoulder issues are typically pressure.

Softness and firmness are subjective and what is “soft” for one person may feel medium or even firm to another depending on body type, sleeping positions, and personal sensitivities. All of these though would typically be considered to be in the soft range and there wouldn’t be a huge difference between them. 19 would be “more soft” than 24 - 25. Medium usually starts around 28 ILD although ILD by itself can be misleading.

Talalay latex comes in two versions (and several softness levels in each). These are blended Talalay (which uses 30% natural rubber and 70% synthetic ribber) and 100% natural Talalay (which has no synthetic rubber in the foam). Talalay latex is either one or the other (a blend or 100% natural rubber) regardless of the name. Both of these are very similar in terms of "feel"and performance and you can read about the difference between them in post #2 here. Rejuvenite is just a tradename for toppers that use blended talalay latex and have a cover. I’m not clear from the description if the second one you linked is blended Talalay (in which case it would be the same type of material as the Rejuvenite) or 100% natural talalay (which is very similar but a little bit more costly than the blend). Rejuvenite is usually sold in either a soft version of 19 ILD or a medium version of 28 ILD while raw latex (without the cover) can come in any ILD that the supplier has available.

If you have slats that have 3" or less between them and they are firm and unflexing and have a center rail with good support to the floor in the middle of the span then you wouldn’t need the plywood. The plywood will also reduce the ventilation through the lower layers of the mattress (see post #10 here).

Does your bed have a center rail to support the slats in the middle with legs underneath it to the floor (to prevent the middle of the bed from sagging in the middle of the span) or does it only have 4 legs (one on each corner) and no supported center rail?

Pictures may be helpful :slight_smile:

Phoenix