I did research here last year and went with a Arizona Premium Mattress Co “Adjustable Ultra plush”. It’s a king size for my wife and I. The mattress has a 6" inch talalay core, and we got the 3" talalay extra soft topper, so 9" of talalay total. We put it on their wooden slat base.
I originally got the medium core, and my wife the soft core. She’s happy with her side, but mine was too firm, and after a few months I exchanged the medium core for a soft core. I have shoulder pain and it was pretty bad for that but overall felt too firm for my preference as well.
The sorer core was a great for awhile, but I swear it go softer from use, and I found my low back started hurting, which I’ve never had with a mattress before. It was too late to exchange back to a medium core.
Arizona Premium suggested flipping my extra soft topper and soft core so that it was slightly more firm, but now I’m having shoulder problems at night again and still not perfect for low back. I’ve gone back and forth between the two orders and neither is just right.
I’ve regretted not buying a zone mattress (like Flobeds), because I can see that I want a softer area under my shoulders and much firmer under hips. (Perhaps having a 3" medium core, 3" soft core, and 3" extra soft topper would’ve been right as well.)
I’ve thought that I could buy a 3" medium tally latex town XL topper somewhere and perhaps custom cut it myself for my seise of bed so that I have medium firm under my hips and put the extra soft topper back under shoulders. I suppose I could cut more zones up if needed.
The other topper I’m considering is the Intellibed 3" topper. Im intrigued by the buckling gel idea, and they have a returnable topper. I’m worried that my soft latex core might not be firm enough under it though.
All mattresses will go through an initial break in period where a cover stretches and loses any initial stiffness it may have, fibers will compress and become a little firmer as they pack down, and foam materials will lose any of their initial "false firmness … but latex is the most durable of all the foam materials and will maintain its firmness longer and soften more slowly than any other foam material over time so it’s much more likely that your mattress was “on the edge” of being too soft for you and that even a small amount of foam softening was enough to put you “over the edge” (see post #2 here). In some cases it can also be a matter of time because if you are sleeping out of alignment then like any repetitive stress that is causing pain or discomfort … time itself can make a symptom worse or more evident than it was initially.
While most people would be fine inside a range of firmness options … you may be “jumping over” the combination that works best for you. If your mattress is too soft (either in the thickness/softness of the comfort layer or in the softness of the support corre) then some of the suggestions in post #4 here or in post #11 here about zoning may be helpful to “hold up” the heavier pelvis/hips to keep you in better alignment. If you have a 3" extra soft comfort layer then this may be too thick or soft in combination with a softer core and then if this is on the bottom the core itself may be firmer than you are comfortable with sleeping on directly and the extra soft 3" layer on the bottom in combination with the softer core may still not be firm enough to provide good alignment/support. If the only issue is that your mattress is too firm and not providing the pressure relief that you need then some of the suggestions in post #2 here (including the suggestions about different pillows) may be helpful as well.
I don’t know your weight or body type but I would have been tempted to keep the firmer core and then use fine tuning adjustments on top of it to help with any pressure issues because it’s generally easier to fine tune for comfort/pressure relief issues than it is to fine tune for support/alignment issues if the underlying issue is that your base layer is too soft for you.
If the topper is returnable then there would certainly be no harm in trying it but a topper is generally a pressure relief component and will have less effect on support/alignment although personal experience always “trumps” theory at a distance so your own experience will always be the best way to know how well any combination will work for you.
You could also buy a Zoned Core off eBay. Perhaps you could find a 1/2 King or a Twin XL (I think this would require a little trimming) in a 6" core just to replace your side. Just a thought ? ! ?
I understand about the break in period. Hard to tell if the medium core was going to work out long run for me, but it was so stiff that I couldn’t imagine going another month on i, and I gave 2 + months, right up till our trial period for exchange was about to expire. I was having to get up and sleep on our ancient guest bed some nights.
I hear you on having firm core and then softening it up on top if needed; right now the soft core is going to be hard to get around for support if it’s not working. My wife actually told me she finds it too soft as well when we got to talking about it after I posted this yesterday,
One other thought I had was to perhaps buy a 3" talalay latex layer that is medium ILD and use it between our soft core and extra soft topper. Perhaps this would be just right; softer then the med core/ extra soft topper I started with because its not as thick in medium layer as the 6" core, but more support then extra soft topper topper over soft core.
This would essentially firm up our support layer but not as much as initial combo I had. Perhaps this is a split the difference? I wondered if I jumped over my ideal range as you suggested.
To be clear, we would have, in all talalay latex:
3" extra soft topper
3" medium core
6" soft core
(I don’t know exact ILDs)
I can put the tow tow core layers in the mattress cover and the topper over that under our nice mattress protector. I don’t know if 12" of latex is crazy thick to sleep on but maybe it would work.
If this doesn’t work, perhaps then I could cut that new medium layer up and make a zone.
I’m trying to stay away from dunlop but I did find some 3" talalay zone options out there as toppers. I suppose i could even buy a 6" core but trying to not spend more $ then needed on this issue.
[quote=“MrM1” post=41974]
You could also buy a Zoned Core off eBay. Perhaps you could find a 1/2 King or a Twin XL (I think this would require a little trimming) in a 6" core just to replace your side. Just a thought ? ! ?[/quote]
I’m trying to stay away from dunlop but I did find some 3" talalay zone options out there as toppers. I suppose i could even buy a 6" core but trying to not spend more $ then needed on this issue.
PS If I sound picky, I think I should mention I have a chromic shoulder problem from receptive stress due to being a professional musician on the double bass for 20+ years. My body is pretty beat up in general! That’s whey getting this just right matters to me.
The only way to know with any certainty would be based on your own actual sleeping experience because there isn’t any “theory at a distance” based on specs (yours or a mattress) that can take into account all the many variables involved in the hundreds of body types, sleeping position variations, weight distributions, preferences, health conditions, and individual sensitivities (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).
Part of the challenge you may have is if the issue is primary support (see post #4 here for more about primary support, secondary support, and pressure relief and how they are related) then any attempt to “fix” support layers that are too soft by adding layers on top will often only be partially or temporarily successful because it would be more of a “band aid” than a solution that “fixed” the core problem because the top layers can still “bend into” the softer layers below them and lead to alignment issues.
There is also more about the more common symptoms that many people may experience on a mattress and some of the underlying causes that may be involved in post #2 here and the posts it links to that may help with some of the detective work or trial and error that may be involved in solving the symptoms you are experiencing.
Your suggestion of adding two layers may be the “best possible” solution in the circumstances while keeping the softer core even if it isn’t an “ideal” solution. 6" of latex will reduce the effect of the softer bottom layer (they will absorb much of the compression forces before they reach the core) and you would have a reasonable comfort and transition layer but whether this would make “enough” of a difference is open to question and would depend on the person and the individual circumstances and there is really no way to predict whether it would be successful. It makes sense that it would move things in the right direction but I don’t know if it would move them enough.
If I was in your shoes I would be tempted to try sleeping directly on the soft core (with no other layers on top or on the bottom) with your quilted cover over the single layer (the cover will be too big) to see if this helps with your back issues (removing the bottom layer and sleeping directly on a thinner mattress can be more “supportive” and may provide better alignment) and if this seems to help the back issues (alignment) but still has some pressure issues then you can decide whether to add thinner layers on top to provide additional pressure relief. I would always try and find a “baseline” with what you have where you have good alignment as a first priority and then build “just enough” thickness and softness on top of this to relieve pressure in your most pressure prone position without going so thick or soft on top that you end up compromising alignment.
I added some Bunky boards to create more even support and solve the middle sagging, which has helped.
I also flipped my extra soft core back on top of my side; it’s better for my shoulder. Still having lower back pain though, so that problem is more than the foundation.
I was thinking that maybe I should just buy a 3" twin XL medium talalay piece and cut it up so that it replaces my soft core under my hips. I could do it to all 6" inches of my core and leave my extra soft topper intact above it, and custom size it to my body.
Any thoughts? Anyone know where I could get a talalay latex piece? I wouldn’t need even a XL twin full topper as long as it’s wide enough for my side of bed.
Normally a bunkie board wouldn’t help much on a firm non flexing foundation unless the foundation under the mattress was sagging but some people can be much more sensitive to a very small amount of sagging so it’s good to see that this helped you.
My “guess” would be that this is probably an issue with the firmness of your support core and if I was in your shoes I would still lean towards a firmer support core and then build the additional softness and pressure relief you need on top of it.
Unfortunately … the only way to know whether this would be successful would be based on your actual sleeping experience because you are somewhat “outside the averages” where “theory” wouldn’t be an effective way to predict what may work best for you.
Having said that … I would probably try some of the suggestions in post #11 here first which would be a less costly way to experiment and would give you some idea if zoning will help solve your issues before starting to cut up layers.
The better sources I’m aware of for mattress components, layers, and “pieces” are listed in post #4 here.