Other than Ikea Holmsta what coil bed under $700/800 to topper up on?

[phoenix]

Hi paisley,

I’m a little confused. Surely what’s underneath the 15 or whatever top layer makes quite a difference, right? I often see latex for example combos of 15/24/xx, 19/(24/28)/xfirm, soft/med/firm as choices by people on this site and on latex bed makers sites for people that don’t like hard beds and rarely see 19/40’s as a favorite choice by people looking for softer. So why would it be that a 15/xtra firm would work for me equally as well as a medium over regular firm, even 19/24/xtra firm (if I go solution #1 the extra topper route) seems like it would be better than 15 over xtra firm mattress, no? I can’t be the only one to feel underneath the top layer if people are buying combos of 15/24/36 or 19/24/40.

All the layers of a mattress will affect all the other layers of a mattress to different degrees and body type, sleeping position, and personal preferences and sensitivities all play a role in addition to all the specs of the mattress materials (not just ILD).

The ILD of a layer is only one of many factors that affect the “feel” and performance of a mattress and layer thickness, compression modulus, point elasticity, and other factors also have a significant effect. With a 2" layer of very soft material for example you may easily feel the layers below much more than you would with 3" layer of the same material.

I don’t know the detailed specifics of your mattress or the order of the layers but it appears to have at least 2" of softer foam in the top layers and that in combination with 3" of softer latex foam in your topper would give you at least 5" of foam that would be isolating you from the firmness of the innerspring below (assuming your mattress has the softer foam on top). In most cases this would be enough to isolate someone even heavier than you from the firmness of the layers or components below the top 5" but of course each person’s body type is unique so what may work “on average” may not apply to you. Some mattresses that use the same innerspring use different types and thicknesses of foam padding on top the same innerspring to make both ultra firm and soft mattresses.

In some cases even if you put 5" of softer foam directly on the floor (which is much firmer than your mattress innerspring or any of the layers) then some people would even be isolated from the firmness of the floor depending on their body type, sleeping position, and the specifics of the foam. There is more about the specifications that work together that contribute to pressure relief in post #4 here and in post #2 here but this can get somewhat technical and it’s probably enough to know that ILD alone is only one of many factors in mattress design that affects how a mattress feels and performs for each person in terms of pressure relief, support/alignment, and the overall “feel” of the mattress.

Phoenix