In trying out mattresses, my wife and I have found that she prefers a firm mattress, whereas a softer mattress works better for me as a side sleeper (specifically for my shoulders).
Her preferred bed was a pocket coil support with a single 3" firm latex foam layer. Mine was a coil support with a 3" medium layer and a 3" soft layer on top.
We’re currently trialing a Nest Bedding Owl mattress, split between soft and firm. It works well for my wife but isn’t quite right for my shoulders and doesn’t match the feeling I got when testing out a bed with two latex layers over coils.
I’m wondering if anyone has done a diy bed with split pocket coils? What I was thinking was her side could be pocket coils with a single firm layer on top, and an extra firm layer under the coils to match height, and my side could be pocket coils with the medium and soft layers on top.
Has anyone done anything like this and how well did it work?
Split mattresses with coils are pretty common, actually!
I wonder if the coils would perform differently sitting atop 3" of foam. Maybe if it’s more of a stacked stabilization layer? I feel like the surface would need to be quite firm.
Another great resource for a DIY of this sort is Ken Hightower at @Arizona_Premium Mattress. He’d definitely have some more practical ideas for helping match the mattress height without compromising the functional of the coils.
The problem with split coils is that each unit has reinforced edges and when you put them side by side you have double the reinforcement which creates a very firm center of the mattress going head to foot. Unless you plan on never meeting in the middle it could be a problem for you even if the coils are offset a bit in height.
I think we’ll go ahead and give it a try, and if it’s not working we’ll swap out for a king size pocket coil and try some different configurations.
@BillyIdol the nest is talalay, but there’s a couple 1" layers of polyfoam in there as well. There’s a handy diagram of the layers on the owl mattress page
To close the loop on this, we did a diy split king as described above and it’s working great for us. The very center is a bit firmer, but not much firmer than my wife’s side, so it’s not very noticable in the overall feel of the mattress. We’re pretty happy with the outcome!
