Hey theshrewdfool,
Wow, awesome information, thank you for adding the detail. It helps a lot.
Noted on the original Leesa, I totally understand…if you only knew about TMU then :). Not surprised with the improvement of the Leesa with a 3" topper, plus much better pressure relief needed with pain.
This makes perfect sense, you never know, but best to build up some layers on top of the foam. You may end up buying a block of 1.8- 2.0lb polyfoam at some time. There are some decent online foam companies that can have this.
It’s perfectly fine to have the latex like this, it helps me to understand more about the feel of the mattress. As we reference the 3" spacing, most of the time it is based around wood foundations. It is especially an issue with all latex mattress. The wooden board would be ok, but it does have some complaints about retaining moisture, not breathable. Still, not a bad idea to see if it helps, but it will firm up the overall feel of the mattress noticeably when you add the wooden board.
I like the Zinus products, I own two of them myself, and if you end up polyfoam base, with latex layers, it will be ok. But the thinner metal bars, it makes me think the 3" spacing is not as applicable on this product. Just my instinct. If you do more latex…more weight, then you may want a 1-2" layer of polyfoam to work as a stabilizing base. But for your trials…it will work fine.
The latex is an interesting question, technically speaking, you should be able to lay your hand on it and tell the difference between 20 and 30 ILD. Hand, fingers, etc., sitting on it. Its hard to weigh toppers but it “seems” like they are very similar…which is still ok.
Dunlop and Talalay aren’t directly comparable in terms of firmness using only ILD numbers because there are several factors that can affect how soft or firm a mattress (or an individual layer) feels besides just the ILD of the material (see post #4 here ) and Dunlop and Talalay that are the same thickness and ILD won’t feel the same in terms of their firmness for most people because they have a different response curve and compression modulus (how quickly a material becomes firmer as you sink into it more deeply). There is more about the difference between Dunlop and Talalay in post #7 here.
The ILD of different materials or different types and blends of latex also aren’t always directly comparable to each other (see post #6 here ) partly because ILD can be measured in different ways and partly because ILD isn’t the only factor that affects the softness or firmness of a material so again using the ILD or other specifications of a particular layer or combination of layers as a reliable indication of how any mattress will “feel” or how firm it will feel to you compared to another mattress with a different combination of layers can sometimes be more misleading than helpful.
It is hard for me to say, the fact is that latex is not the “exact same” feel throughout the core, and with Dunlop process latex, latex liquid is extruded into a 6" height queen size mold, and then heat is added, and the vulcanization begins immediately. So depending on the specific company, the “center” of the core can be the last part of the piece to fully cure…and if some pieces are sold not fully cure, sometimes latex can soften / breakdown in the center. I have no idea without looking at the latex, but the SOL latex I know is top quality, the 20ild…you are a little less sure about.
Can you feel the difference in the center of the latex topper with your hand? Also, you can put an object…like a bowling ball (or another object), and see if it sinks more for either topper and for the center of the topper…if that is something you would want to try…this is poor mans ild test :).
Thanks, let me know if I missed anything.
Sensei