Sleep Ez Purchase

After about two years of research on Latex Mattresses and different companies, we are now the proud owner of a Sleep Ez Eastern King 13000 Latex mattress in the following configuration from box spring to top:
X-Firm (Non-split) Note for a King, the pieces will be glued to form a whole piece.
Firm/Firm (Split)
Medium/Medium (Split)
Medium/Soft (Split)
All layers are 100% Natural Dunlop
We chose to go with Sleep Ez essentially because they had the best price, were highly customizable, and the reviews almost without exception are very positive. I also like the fact that they don’t use a lot of sleep shops to sell in, because I feel that if a company has a good reputation, then it speaks for itself without an enormous amount of expensive advertising that just makes it more expensive on the customer end.
We chose to go with 4 layers for customization options. I talked to Sean once before ordering and he recommended a softer top layer for myself (curvy side sleeper) and a medium top layer for my husband who is a slender stomach sleeper. We also purchased their slatted foundation in the 8" profile.
We did go twice to the “Clean Bedroom” store to lay on their Saavy Rest 3 layer configuration which gave us an idea of the firmness we wanted and the overall feeling of latex. We have had inner-spring mattresses and memory foam toppers in the past. Memory foam did not work for us because of the sinking in a hole feeling, and we could not deal with the hi pressure salesmen in some of the sleep shops that sold inner spring for prices that we really couldn’t afford. Also I have pressure point issues in my hips and have spent years on hard inner spring mattresses that left me waking up feeling like I had been in a war. Sore and achy. My husband on the other hand, can sleep on anything as long as it’s not too soft.
This was a huge investment for us, and we are typically people that do a lot of research and take our time in making a decision. We received our bed in a total of 6 boxes in relatively good condition. My husband did sand down a few areas on the foundation box spring before putting it together so that the knit foundation material would not snag. One tip: If you are having trouble getting the fabric box spring cover to fit over the corners, (there is no stretch or give) poke your hand into the inside corner of the material and work it down over the side corner of the box spring. Kind of like you do when folding a fitted sheet. It will be a tight fit, but it can be done.
The latex layers are heavy. Tip: After you get your first layer positioned inside the mattress cover, make sure all the next layers are lined up as you go. It’s very hard to try to shift the layers once they are all on top of each other. We had no trouble fitting all four layers inside of the cover. In fact I was surprised that when all zipped together, the mattress cover was not as taught across the top as I thought it would be.
Upon sleeping on the latex that first night, my first impression was of the soft comfort layer and the buoyant, but not sinking feeling of the latex. But yet I still felt support from the underneath layers. When I rolled over to the medium side (mine was soft) it felt just a little firmer but still nice pressure relief. After the first couple of nights, I was almost convinced that my soft side is too soft, especially if the latex breaks in a little with time. So I would roll over to the medium side and try that for awhile. After about a week, I can say that both the soft and medium top layers work for me. I may still switch out my soft layer and do a comfort exchange for a medium layer but I want to give it some time. Another reason I may switch out my soft layer is that I do feel the height difference in the crack between the medium and soft layers. It’s minimal, but it’s there especially if you at times sleep in the middle of the bed. It’s not a deal breaker, and I wouldn’t sacrifice comfort for it, but it might make it a little more level feeling. I am still undecided. I purchased a Picque Malatasse Mattress Protector from CozyPure and this has made the crack slightly less noticeable. Let me note: It’s not a crack like the Grand Canyon. It’s just a little one.
Before I end this review, I wanted to add that I did speak to Jeremy at Sleep Ez regarding 3 questions I had. This may be helpful to any that may have noticed the following in their latex:
Upon unpacking two of the layers, it looked like some “plugs” of latex had been used to do some repairs where there might have been a hole in the latex. It didn’t feel any different but I was kind of disappointed to not have a pristine piece of latex. (Which is my nature, a bit of a perfectionist plus it’s a lot of money.) Also, I wasn’t aware that the one full layer requested for a King would be two pieces glued together. The third question was regarding the mattress cover seeming a little loose across the top.
I emailed my questions and got an immediate answer that these imperfections were expected from the Dunlop process for the latex, but they would have Jeremy their latex expert contact me to discuss.
I received a nice call from Jeremy in which he explained that they are working on providing a new website page that addresses the nature of the Dunlop latex process and the subsequent esthetic imperfections that can result from it. They hope to show pictures of different examples etc. because as he put it, across the latex industry, these are some of the most common questions they receive no matter which company you buy from.
He explained that the holes were actually air pockets that form during the Dunlop process. Before curing, they plug these holes and do slight repairs, but it in no way affects the integrity of the latex or it’s longevity. This was reassuring to me. The XL twin pieces that they glue together to form a King is also part of how the layers are manufactured. The glue is very strong and the area where it is glued is essentially the strongest part of the whole layer. So no worries about it coming apart.
The mattress cover is purposely not made extremely taught so that it does not take away from the “latex feel.” If it is too taught, it can actually make your layers feel firmer than they are. I was satisfied with all of these answers and I appreciated the honest explanation.
So let me say in ending that this has been a process and at times an overwhelming one. But my experience is that you get out of it what you put into it. I feel good about our decision and after just a week I am already sleeping better and more soundly. My overall impression of Sleep Ez is that they are honest, hardworking people who appreciate those that educate themselves, but are just as helpful to those that don’t know a lot about latex.
At some point I will update this review to include my thoughts after sleeping on it a few months and also to enclose some pictures of the assembly process.
Thank-You Mattress Underground for the discount opportunity and for all of your practical help.

I’m subscribing to your evaluation to follow up on your future experience with the seam (crack).
That was one of a few reasons we returned ours after 60 days of “rolling to the middle sensation” and having to shake the bed every morning to get the seam to align.

Hi Alaskagirl,

Thanks for taking the time to share your comments and feedback in such great detail … I appreciate it.

It certainly sounds like all your research paid off and it’s great to hear that your choice is working out so well for you.

Phoenix

This is my update regarding my Sleep Ez 13000 purchase. We have been sleeping on our mattress for two months. About a month in, I decided to exchange my soft Dunlop layer for a Medium Dunlop layer. I did feel that the soft layer was too soft. The exchange was seamless. Upon receiving the Medium layer, my husband and I switched up our configurations a bit. He likes a firmer feel so he moved a firm layer up and put a medium layer over it to make his configuration XF, M, F, M. I made my configuration XF, F, M, M. This has worked out really well for us. I also wanted to address a concern from my previous post about feeling the “crack” in the middle when you have different layers side by side. With both medium layers on the top, we do not feel the crack at all. It has not been an issue.
I also wanted to comment on the fact that after two months, I do notice that the layers have broken in and softened a bit overall. I am glad that we decided to do a comfort exchange for a firmer layer. I hope this helps anyone who has concerns in this regard.

Hi AlaskaGirl,

Thanks for taking the time to share another update and for your comments about your experience after your layering changes … I appreciate it :slight_smile:

Phoenix