We intended to buy a latex mattress a while back but gave up due to a combination of insufficient or confusing information, prices of natural latex mattresses, unsure of the best foundation and concerns about the proper firmness of on-line only purchase options. I had subscribed to the foundation thread and saw someone mention they had recently purchased a foundation from the Spindle Mattress company.
So I checked them out.
Spindle sells a 10" latex mattress named Abscond. Actually 9" of latex with a thin soy based foam top layer. The latex is the Dunlop process and can be either natural or a blend of natural and artificial. The prices for a king on the day I ordered were $800 for the blend and $1300 for natural. I found out later those were sale prices.
The web site was well organized and I didn’t spot any inconsistencies or contradictions that had me pulling my hair out when looking at a few other mattress company web sites.
The mattress is available in 3 different firmnesses. Unfortunately, firmness levels are NOT directly comparable between different brands and types of mattresses. That was one of the stumbling blocks I ran up against before.
But Spindle has a page that correlates body mass index with their firmness levels and a method to estimate your BMI. I interpreted this as a way to determine the minimal firmness. So if your BMI matched up with their soft, you should order soft thru firm depending on your preferences. It happens that my BMI falls in their firm range so picking firm was easy since it was the only firmness they recommended for us. That was not a concern since we have always had firm innerspring mattresses but as I said, one company’s firm isn’t the same as another’s. Plus we weren’t sure if a medium might not be better. SOME mediums felt good in store showrooms. So in a way, I was glad our BMI was above their medium firmness recommendations.
I was very pleased that the mattress have to be assembled. It comes as a cover, three 3" thick latex layers and the thin top layer. The firmness and order of the latex layers defined the mattress firmness level. I liked this arrangement because it meant layers could be replaced/exchanged if we ever wanted or needed that. It also meant it would be a LOT easier to get the mattress upstairs when it arrived since the largest piece would weigh less than a third of a complete mattress. Lastly, the accessible layers meant they could be flipped and/or rotated. I may be wrong but that seemed like it could extend the life of the mattress.
It turn out that with the firm mattress, all three layers of latex are identical. So if flipping is a benefit, we will have 6 identical topmost surfaces available.
The layers have 7 zones that vary the firmness slightly. That is symmetrical, i.e. there is no designated top or bottom. The firmness variation is accomplished with slightly different diameter holes thru the latex.
One question I didn’t think to ask at the time was why three 3" layers instead of the more common 3" top layer over a 6" bottom layer for a 9 or 10" mattress? Maybe Phoenix can explain. I suppose its possible that this requires fewer total different components needed to make all firmness levels.
I was a little uncomfortable with them being such a new company (less than a year). That meant there were not much in the way of reviews, plus new businesses are more likely to fold rendering any warranty meaningless. But it turns out Spindle is a branch/subsidiary of WJ Southard which has been making their own and private label mattresses for stores for decades. Spindle is their internet sales arm although none of the products are identical.
And the owner (of WJ Southard and Spindle) says Spindle recently joined the Mattress Underground and should show up in the manufacture member list in the next update. I asked why WJ Southard wasn’t/isn’t a member and he said, WJ Southard sells primarily thru B&M stores and their customers aren’t as likely to visit sites like the Mattress Underground.
When I called to talk about their mattress, I was not sure if I wanted natural or blended latex. After getting the owner’s opinions (which I always take with a grain of salt) I planned to validate what he said before ordering. He said a lot of things I had heard before about blended and said he sleeps on a blended latex mattress. Since the blended cost $500 less, I figured it really must be as good for his (and my similar) needs and ordered a blended latex in firm. During our rather lengthy discussion about latex mattresses one topic was what percentages of synthetic (if that’s the right term) and natural latex are used. He said that the percentages vary and for their firm mattresses, the blend is virtually all synthetic.
I went to bed happy that we finally had a mattress on the way. I had been told the mattress should ship the next day. But something about the order made me wake up around midnight. I realized I never compared my earlier research findings with what I had heard over the phone. So I started to do that. Everything he said matched up with my research which I expected since nothing he said set off any alarms. But there was ONE exception and that was I had not come across info on pure synthetic latex mattresses which an Abscond in firm would be,
I didn’t want to be worrying about it the whole time I owned the mattress, so I called back first thing in the morning and changed the order to Natural latex. I suspect either would have performed and lasted about the same but I went for the peace of mind.
Okay, now to the foundation.
Spindle doesn’t have a KD foundation. They do sell foundations to locals (mostly) but their King foundation would be prohibitive to ship.
So I still need to buy a foundation. Since its upstairs and may need to be shipped, I am leaning toward a KD but would go postal if it started squeaking on me. I understand many of them are prone to that. And most of them have too much space between the slats. And lastly most seem to include a cover that goes over the slats.
So I have questions about the cover.
I understand the reasons for slats opposed to a solid surface is so the latex can breath. Doesn’t a cover negate most or much of that ability to breath? And if so, can the covers be cut to expose the slats without it falling apart?
And since these foundations all are being sold as excellent for foam mattresses, why do 90+% of them have gaps that exceed the mattress manufacturer recommendations for size? Yeah, I get that non latex mattresses can get by with bigger gaps but it makes no sense (to me) they they all don’t have an option of more slats. When I asked one (the most commonly sold) manufacturer if they offered additional slats, either more tightly spaced slats on the positioning strips or just loose, the answer was no, and came with a comment that you couldn’t even make your own slats and add them. That makes no sense to me because the slats seem to just rest on a ledge that runs the full length of the side rails. Is there ANY reason you can’t just roll the ones that came with it out but bunched them up closer and then added more slats at the end. I realize none would then not be held in place by the strip that they come attached to, but couldn’t they just be screwed to the ledges to keep them from moving?
I found a link to someone who made their own foundation and I would not be opposed to having a contractor I know make one like it for me except I would like to have a cloth cover over the vertical surfaces. Is something like that available for purchase?
One option I have is to use TWO XL foundations from Spindle. The MU member who bought one of their foundations was impressed and they have a full 17 slats and small gaps. Spindle offered to sell me two for a good price and pay for the freight shipping (and sending the mattress in the same shipment). I am tempted to do that if nobody sees any downside of bolting them together to make a single foundation. I would worry them making noises if left unattached. Has anyone done that (bolted together)? I need to decide that by Monday morning because the mattress is due to be shipped then (was delayed by my change from blended to natural latex).
