Questions about Dreamfoam, Ikea Mattresses and Frames, Addable

[phoenix]

Hi The Riddler,

Thank you very much for your reply!

You’re most welcome.

When I say “misshapen” : We have only had the mattress for 2 weeks. The very first night we slept on the mattress (it was on top of the SmartBase I mentioned earlier) my wife mentioned that she felt like her head was lower than her hips. We just attributed this to just being in a new supportive mattress as compared to our old one.
Well, last week I laid on her side and realized what she meant: it actually feels like the center of the mattress is slightly raised up and you are being sent off the side. It messes up your equilibrium it feels like.
My side feels great actually, but when I lay in different positions on the mattress, ONLY my side feels “normal”.
I thought this might be due to the frame…however I placed the mattress on the floor and it does the exact same thing. Also, the center of the mattress feels really different from the rest of the bed…its almost like where the mattress was folded up for shipping it got messed up. I would consider returning it under a warranty issue, but I fear that it would complicate things and would rather return it under the 90 day trial for general dissatisfaction. Any recommendations with that?

Thank you for that clarification. I would contact Dreamfoam directly and explain to them the issue (it seems to be a defect but I don’t want to speak for them) and if they decide if that is the case they would most likely send you out a new model. You could also request that your trial period begin anew, as you haven’t had the mattress too long nor been able to test it out as it was designed, and hopefully they would be accommodating to your request. Their customer service is quite responsive.

By the way, does higher ILD = more durable generally speaking? I think in the chat they said the ILD of the 8" Arctic Dreams King was 12…it that high/low/good/bad?

ILD refers to Indentation Load Deflection, which is what we would use to gauge the “softness” of the foam. It is not an indicator of durability. That would be most closely associate with density in polyfoam (higher density is generally more durable). A 12 ILD would be plush and would refer to the high-performance Energex Gel polyfoam upper layer in the mattress, if that is indeed the correct ILD. IFD/ILD is discussed a bit in this article from the Polyurethane Foam Association.
ADMIN NOTE:Removed 404 page link | Archived Footprint: pfa.org/intouch/new_pdf/IntouchV1.1a.pdf

Would placing a quality memory foam topper essentially “add” a layer to the mattress and increase durability by taking more the of wear from the top layer and adding to the thickness for my high BMI?

It would create a different feel overall, and would take some of the wear off of the former top layer of the mattress as the uppermost layers within a mattress are subject to the most mechanical stress. The concern would be that you still have an appropriate “comfort cradle” for your personal preference and that there is enough support for your BMI.

I understand why a higher BMI person would need a thicker mattress–we are more “dense” so we will sink more. Is there a certain thickness “minimum” you can recommend? (I realize that is REALLY hard because it depends on the materials!)

You are correct, it really does depend upon the materials. The thickness of a mattress is really more of a by-product of the mattress design itself. The thickness of a mattress is just a side effect of the design and by itself isn’t particularly meaningful because whether a thicker or thinner mattress would be better or worse for any particular person will depend on the specifics of the materials (type, firmness, etc.) and on all the other layers in the mattress. Thickness is only one of many specs that are used to make different mattresses that perform and feel differently and that makes a mattress suitable for one person and not another. There is more about the effect of thickness in post #14 here. Regardless of how thick or thin a mattress may be … the most important part of the “value” of a mattress is how suitable it is “as a whole” for your particular body type, sleeping positions, and preferences in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) regardless of how thick it may be.

The main benefit of a thicker latex mattress (or any mattress that uses similar materials) is that it can be more adaptable for heavier weights and multiple sleeping positions. It will compress from softer to firmer more gradually which means that there is more “range” of compression without the mattress becoming too firm for heavier weights (or parts of the body). A thicker mattress can also be part of a specific design that requires it such as some types of zoning or layering that needs more layers to accomplish the design goal of the mattress. It can even just be a matter of preference rather than “need”.

If you can imagine for example a 2" layer of polyfoam on the floor you would compress it to its maximum and feel much more of the floor (it goes from soft to maximum compressed firmness within the space of a 2" layer) but if you had the same softness of polyfoam in a 6" layer on the floor … it would feel much softer and compress more gradually and to a lesser percentage of its overall thickness and wouldn’t reach the same level of firmness or “bottom out” (which means reaching the maximum level of compression or firmness that a layer or a mattress can effectively achieve).

I ask because it I stuck with Dreamfoam Arctic Dreams, the 8" is rated medium firm so should be more durable but the 10" (rated medium) gives me the extra 2" for me to compress but has a slightly lower ILD ( I think 10 compared to 12).

Going from the 8" to the 10" Artic Dreams will add .5" of the Energex Gel polyfoam, and 30% more (1.5") to the polyfoam support core. I don’t know that there is a difference in the ILDs, but a difference from 10 to 12 wouldn’t generally be noticeable. The larger difference would be in the extra .5" of foam on top for plushness, with a bit more noticeable support with the thicker polyfoam core.

Are any Ikea slats more rigid that you know of?

No. I would check out some of the options linked to in the foundation thread post I mentioned in my previous reply.

Phoenix