My 2 year old S brand innerspring plush mattress wasn’t feeling so plush anymore. It’s cost new was in the $1200 range. I started waking up with back and hip pain. When the aches and pains started I would switch sleeping from left/right side of my Queen mattress. Eventually neither side felt comfortable. There were no visible body impressions. After using a string across, I measured less than a 1/2" impression on either left/right sides. I am 6’ 2" 180 pds side sleeper.
After some research and stories on this forum I was excited to find the problem with my mattress. It took about an hour to open my mattress up.
I tested the top foam layers separately and can feel a loss of support where you would expect to see body impressions. I tested the coils and found them to be good as expected.
My plan is to buy a 3" blended talalay latex mattress topper 19ild to replace the 1 1/2" of foam above my inner-coils. Does this sound like a good start? Should I have something between my coils and latex since there are impressions in the old PF?
Well, that is some impressive “mattress surgery” that you performed – job well done! (I deleted the second set of photos from your original post, as they were duplicates)
While there were no large visible body impressions, I think you are describing what I term “virtual” or “phantom” body impressions, where the foam, especially the lower-density foams used in many of the “S” brand mattresses, will have lost resiliency and consistency of feel. So while the mattress may look relatively flat, it will feel much softer and less comfortable in the areas where this foam has already lost support factor.
I would expect those to still be in good shape, as they are rarely the “weak link” in a mattress, especially in a two-year-old mattress.
I wouldn’t use any of your old polyfoam, especially since you stated that you’ve already experienced a significant change in certain areas of the foam. As your pocketed springs are already covered on top with a nonwoven fabric, the concern of your foam packing into the springs is minimized. The 19ILD Talalay will certainly be a plush comfort layer, and it will be interesting to see what you think of that feel on top of the spring unit. If you like that level of initial plushness, but find the transition to be too “abrupt” from the foam layer to the spring unit, you may end up considering a “transition layer” of a few inches of a medium-plus latex as well. All of this would depend upon your own testing as you try out your new top layer on your mattress.
Since you are attracted to the idea of designing and building your own DIY mattress out of separate components that are purchased from one or several different sources then the first place I would start is by reading option 3 in post #15 here and the posts it links to (and option #1 and #2 as well) so that you have more realistic expectations and that you are comfortable with the learning curve, uncertainty, trial and error, or in some cases the higher costs that may be involved in the DIY process. While it can certainly be a rewarding project … the best approach to a DIY mattress is a “spirit of adventure” where what you learn and the satisfaction that comes from the process itself is more important than any cost savings you may realize (which may or may not happen).
I’ll be interested in learning about your progress!
