Novosbed vs DIY Mattress

[phoenix]

Hi atomsapple,

Welcome to the Mattress Forum!

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.

You’re very welcome! I’m glad the material presented here helped you learn about how to choose what’s best for you and your wife.

[quote]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.[/quote]
A forum search on Lucid (you can just click the link) will bring up comments and feedback about them. Lucid mattresses tend to use low quality memory foam (3 lb density or less) which would be a weak link in the mattress in terms of durability. Lucid is from China, and post #6 here is about mattresses imported from Asia or China which may have been compressed for long periods of time in either shipping or storage before being purchased. These generally aren’t the styles of mattresses that I would consider.

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.

As memory foam has a characteristic of “sleeping warmer” than latex or polyfoam, and also tends to be a better insulator and not move as much air, you may wish to look at latex or polyfoam on top of innersprings or a polyfoam core, without any memory foam.

[quote]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[/quote]
The Novosbed is offered in three comfort designations and would be considered a memory foam mattress, but it uses higher quality materials than your current mattress. The Comfort+ option is high-density polyfoam. They are also a site member here, which means that I think highly of them.

Why is building a mattress not right for me?

Not everyone has the “risk tolerance” for building their own mattress, and are prepared for the experimentation and trial and error that may arise. Read option 3 in post #15 here and the posts it links to (and option #1 and #2 as well) so that you have more realistic expectations and make sure that you are comfortable with the learning curve, uncertainty, trial and error, or in some cases the higher costs that may be involved in the DIY process. While it can certainly be a rewarding project, the best approach to a DIY mattress is a “spirit of adventure” where what you learn and the satisfaction that comes from the process itself is more important than any cost savings you may realize (which may or may not happen).

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 foam

There are plenty of latex options using polyfoam cores both in-store and online (you mentioned the Best Mattress Ever earlier ion your post, which would be one of these options, as well as the DreamFoam Ultimate Dreams, to name two items). A latex support core is more durable, more resilient, more elastic, more adaptable to different weights and shapes and sleeping positions, more supportive (it has a higher compression modulus so it gets firmer faster with compression), more “natural”, and has a more “springy” and responsive feel than polyfoam. It is a higher performance material. Of course, it is also more expensive than a polyfoam core and for some people a latex hybrid which has the benefits and “feel” of latex in the upper layers (the top 3" - 6" which are the most subject to wear and tear and contribute more to the overall “feel” of a mattress) is worth the cost tradeoff. For others it isn’t. The overall feel is always a combination of all of the materials within the mattress working together, so only your own personal testing will be able to tell you if you like the feel of one versus the other.

[quote]What perceived difference in support or comfort would I see from changing the comfort layer from 2"
to 3"?[/quote]
Changes to the uppermost layers of a mattress are the most readily and easily perceived, so, if keeping all other things equal, making the upper layer 33% thinner, you would generally notice a bit less surface plushness.

Will 3" of a comfort layer allow me to sleep “in” the bed more, instead of “on top”?

I’m not sure what you’re comparing this to, so I can’t make any sort of specific comment, except that thicker and softer surface comfort layers will allow you to sleep more “in” the mattress than “on” the mattress, and this will also vary with the material used and the softness and resilience of that material.

Does it appear correct to not introduce Dunlop latex in my situation?

The choice of Dunlop or Talalay latex would not be a choice or better or worse, but more of a personal preference of comfort. There is a little more about the differences in “feel” between Dunlop and Talalay in post #7 here .

Are there zippered mattress covers for purchase online that aren’t so basic? Any padded wool options?

There are 12 different vendors (certainly not a complete list) in the component post here listing companies who currently have cover options available, and there are vendors offering more substantial styles using wool.

Phoenix