please help me design a mattress and source the latex for it

[phoenix]

Hi g1981c,

I would suggest reading post #15 here before you take on the challenge of becoming your own mattress designer. Without the knowledge and the skill of knowing what you are doing this can become an expensive lesson either in the cost of materials or in the cost of sleep.

Unfortunately there is no “formula” that can take height and weight measurements and turn them into a mattress design and it would take much more detailed conversations on a phone call for me and some clear reference points of mattress you have tested to even begin to make any specific suggestions but I would suggest reading all the pages in the mattresses section of the site which contains a lot of information about different body types, sleeping styles, and different designs and how each one works.

I certainly don’t mind making generic comments about certain ideas or suggestions about changes or fine tuning on a specific design if you have tested it or slept on a particular mattress in person and are having some “symptoms” but designing mattress for forum members based on “theory at a distance” out of all the thousands of combinations that are theoretically available is not something I have the time for and is outside the scope of the forum … even if it was possible.

The best way to design your own mattress would be to “duplicate” a mattress that works for you based on your own personal testing which is much more accurate than any ‘theory at a distance". As you test finer details of different layering you will also start to develop a sense of how different layering combinations will work for you and begin to be able to develop the skill to predict how unknown layers will work for you a little more accurately. It takes time to gain enough experience though to have real confidence that your choices will work well if you are creating a "non standard’ design.

if you do decide to go in this direction … post #4 here has a list of some of the better suppliers I’m aware of for all the different types of materials that you will likely need.

A few quick comments …

finally - is there anything wrong with putting memory foam over latex ?

No … this is a preference and many people prefer thin layers of memory foam over latex compared to thicker layers of memory foam alone (I actually like latex over a thin layer of memory foam even better).

They only had one latex mattress - it was 8 inches total, consisting of 6" latex base with 2 inches of memory foam on top. The mattress was ridiculously firm, even so, i came away feeling that latex is the way to go - because out of all the mattresses it providing the most support while still being comfortable. My logic is - it’s easy to provide comfort at the expense of support, or support at the expense of comfort - and it is the technology that can do BOTH at the same time that i want to work with - and to me latex seemed to be doing that.

The balance between comfort and support (which are opposites in many ways because comfort needs to 'allow" sinking in while support is more about “stopping” compression) and how it relates to the “feel” of a mattress as well as different body types, sleeping positions, and different preferences is the basis for the art and science of mattress theory and design and there are many who have been building mattresses for decades who are still learning about better ways to accomplish this.

Tentatively what i want to build is a mattress that is about 14" thick, all-foam, with approximately 5 inches of talalay in the middle, approximately 3 inches of memory foam on top and approximately 6 inches of high density PU foam on the bottom as base. my goal is maximum pain relief for shoulders and back while also providing enough support for me to be able to toss and turn as well as just simply watch TV from the bed while sitting up or laying on the side etc.

This sounds like a reasonable design in general terms but of course the success of the design (or any design) will be deciding on the smaller details (firmness and density of memory foam and type and firmness of the latex and whether it is one firmness or multiple firmness levels). It will take some good testing and perhaps some trial and error to get there.

now the PROBLEM i am having is i can’t find talalay in low enough ILD ( i want about 20 ) and high enough thickness at the same time. i saw soft talalay in only 3" thick topper and a thick 6" one in only 29 ILD which is already on the firm side i think.

I’m not so sure I would be going with this low an ILD in thicker layers under memory foam but you should have no problem finding them on the list I linked to. This would be very risky with your weight IMO.

i also want to avoid chemicals as much as possible - i don’t want anything made in china as they tend to make stinky stuff full of carcinogens ( in my experience ), especially the memory foam absolutely must be NOT from china. as for talalay i would prefer completely natural, again, because i don’t want it producing toxic dust.

I would bear in mind that the all natural is not as durable as the blended in lower ILD’s and both are equally “safe” and have been Oeko-Tex tested to the same standards.

Any latex would have less issues with toxic ingredients and VOC’s than any memory foam or polyfoam so if blended Talalay was an issue in terms of safety then I also wouldn’t use any polyfoam or memory foam at all in your mattress because they are both more “problematic” than blended Talalay.

Hope this helps … at least a little … but I would stress once again that this is I not a project I would take on lightly or with the expectation that it will save you a lot if you end up replacing some layers that don’t work … particularly considering that you are already leaning towards some fairly “risky” layering.

Phoenix