Hi hostage,
Welcome back!
I’m surprised your mattress lasted that long, as the typical fare offered at Value City uses lower quality materials. You certainly got your money’s worth out of that item!
A queen foundation from a typical mattress set bought at Value City would either be a semi-flex or a wood foundation, both of which I would recommend your change out after nine years.
They do offer mattresses with higher quality componentry and are a good resource for mattress advice.
Generally speaking, a mattress with an innerspring will move more air through it than one that doesn’t have the “hollow” area where the innerspring unit resides and more air can move between the springs than through a piece of foam. Regarding foams, Talalay latex will be the most breathable, followed by Dunlop latex, then polyfoam, then memory foam.
In very general terms … the materials, layers, and components of a sleeping system that are closer to your skin will have a bigger effect on airflow, moisture transport, and temperature regulation than materials, layers, and components that are further away from your skin and softer mattresses or foam toppers will tend to be more “insulating” and for some people can sleep warmer than firmer versions of the same material. It’s not really possible to quantify the sleeping temperature of a mattress for any particular person with any real accuracy because there are so many variables involved including the type of mattress protector and the sheets and bedding that you use (which in many cases can have just as significant an effect on sleeping temperature as the type of foam in a mattress) and on where you are in the “oven to iceberg” range and because there is no standardized testing for temperature regulation with different combinations of materials. If you are interested, there is more about the many variables that can affect the sleeping temperature of a mattress or sleeping system in post #2 here that can help you choose the types of materials and components that are most likely to keep you in a comfortable temperature range.
With your edits I’m really not sure which mattresses you’re considering or what latex you’re looking at in each mattress. I’m assuming the latex used is Dunlop. They offer 100% NR or 100% SBR. While I can’t pick out a mattress for you, I can take a look at the materials being used in what you provided in your third edit.
Custom 1 would certainly be a very plush item, using a total of 6" in the upper layers of latex under 20 ILD, which is quite soft. The support core is medium firm.
Custom 3 goes just a bit firmer than custom 1 in the transition layer and the bottom support layer, and overall would have a bit more supportive feel than Custom 1, but still a quite plush product.
Custom 3 takes Custom 1 and adds a firmer base support layer, so you’ll have 3" more material to bend into as compared to Custom 1. It does allow a bit more for customization with the different layers, and you might notice a bit more gradual transition into the deeper support layers.
All three of these mattresses would be quite plush on top.
Adding more layers will certainly add more cushioning and comfort, with changes made to the upper layers being more noticeable than changes made to the deeper layers.
My best suggestion is to plan a return visit to Jamestown Mattress, sans your child, so that you may truly spend some time analyzing each item and comparing one model to another. There are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved in choosing a mattress for me to make specific suggestions based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or theory at a distance that can possible be more accurate than your own careful and objective testing (using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post) which is always the most reliable way to predict which mattress will be the best match for you in terms of PPP (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).
I’m looking forward to your comments after your second visit.
Phoenix