First and foremost, I want to thank Phoenix for the wealth of information found on this site. This site has helped to persuade me from well-marketed ‘bed in a box’ brands and to take a closer look into what is right for my wife and I.
My wife and I are looking to upgrade to a king sized mattress. We’re on a Lucid 14" memory foam mattress that is:
- 1" Quilted bamboo charcoal memory foam top
- 3" Memory Foam comfort layer
- 2" Memory foam support layer
- 8" HD base foam
I have no idea what the densities are of any of the foam on this mattress. It was purchased as a low-priced replacement mattress (~$500) about 5 years ago. I very much dislike this mattress, which is pushing me forward to obtain a replacement. As mostly a side sleeper, I tend to have shoulder and hip pain from this mattress, so I switch to my back quite a lot throughout the night. It is a very hot mattress, in that if the room is above 70 degrees, I wake up sweating. We both sleep hot and need a cool mattress. Because of this, we tend to sleep with the windows open in the winter, getting the room down to 64-65 degrees. But once you do that, the mattress below the topper becomes rock solid. So I’ve basically got a hot and squishy layer on top of a rock. The wife has no problem with the mattress when the room is cold. Once the baby comes, the house won’t be getting that cold, so I’ll basically be laying in a pool, awake all night.
Me: 5’ 7", 145lbs, 75/25 side/back sleeper
Wife: 5’ 2’, 135lbs (when not pregnant), 65/35 back/side sleeper
Our budget for a mattress is $1300 and I’ve been comparing and contrasting bed in a box brands for weeks now. I am the type of person who typically buys things that are “best bang for buck”. After all of the research and all of the reading, I’ve decided I can’t trust any of the lower priced brands that I’ve picked (Muse, #BestMattressEver, Amore Bed, Zotto, Voila) to be the bed I need it to be. The hassle of returning a mattress just seems far too much. At this point, I’ve decided between these two:
- Buy a Novosbed and trust that if uncomfortable, Comfort+ will resolve
- Build my own 12" mattress
With Arizona Mattress and DIY Mattress Components, I’m finding it really easy for a one-stop shop to source all of the materials. I was originally hesitant to build, but after seeing ‘bed in a box’ brands like Spindle literally ship you 4 boxes of materials for you to put together, I thought, well, why the heck don’t I just do this and cut out the middleman? For my budget, a full latex bed isn’t feasible and quite frankly, doesn’t seem to be needed.
These are the three options I’m toying around with:
A
- 3" Soft Blended Talalay (ILD #19)
- 3" Medium Blended Talalay (ILD #28)
- 6" Foam Base Core (1.9lbs density, ILD #31)
B
- 2" Soft Blended Talalay (ILD #19)
- 3" Medium Blended Talalay (ILD #28)
- 7" Foam Base Core (1.9lbs density, ILD #31)
C
- 2" Softish Blended Talalay (ILD #22)
- 3" Medium Blended Talalay (ILD #28)
- 7" Foam Base Core (1.9lbs, ILD #31)
Now, I’m not looking for you to pick and choose a build option for me. I plan to go to a local organic mattress store and test drive some Sleep EZ and other full latex models. But I do want input with the following:
- Why is building a mattress not right for me? It seems so obvious; what am I missing?
- By not going full latex and instead using a foam base core, what difference am I going to feel in the bed itself? I’m a little weirded-out by not finding beds online that are of the 12" variety and are 5-6" latex on top of a foam base.
[li]What perceived difference in support or comfort would I see from changing the comfort layer from 2"
to 3", with no change to comfort layer’s ILD or any change to the support layer?[/li] - Will 3" of a comfort layer allow me to sleep “in” the bed more, instead of “on top”?
- Does it appear correct to not introduce Dunlop latex in my situation?
- Any advantage to going with pocket coils as a base for two layers of latex?
[li]Are there zippered mattress covers for purchase online that aren’t so basic? Any padded wool options?
Or should I stay away from those types of options in order to take full advantage of latex?[/li]
Thanks in advance for all of the help!