I was up till 3am last night reading the great advice in this forum.
Over the summer, we purchased a new Beautyrest Recharge bed. We bought the firm model and planned to add a topper to the top. The advantage would be that a topper is easier to replace and a firm bed would last longer.
Anyways, we started off with a memory foam mattress, but both my wife and I didnāt like it as it was too hard to roll over in the middle of the night and sleeping in one spot for too long causes me to wake up with pain in my arms and shoulders.
So know I am thinking Latex is the way to go. Iām having a problem figuring out what to get though. I would like something a little softer and my wife would like it firmer. Iām 5ā10āā, 165lb while my wife is 5ā6ā', 130lb. We both usually sleep on our sides, though I prefer my stomach, but due to a neck issue, I have to sleep on my side.
I am thinking of the Brooklyn Bedding 3" topper, with an ILD of 24, though the 19 one sounds more appealing to me, but Iām afraid it will be too soft for my wife. The other option is to buy a 2" and a 1" topper, maybe getting a 2" that is a little firmer at 24 or so, and a 1 inch that is an 18. That way, if it is too soft for my wife, we can swap the toppers, and even cut it in half so that her side of the CalKing bed is firmer and mine softer??? I would like to just stick with the 3" topper and not mess with different combos, but I donāt know what to do.
Unfortunately, there is nowhere around where I live to try out latex toppers, so I feel like Iām shooting in the dark trying to find the right softness/firmness.
You may have read this already but just in case you havenāt there are some topper guidelines in post #8 here that may be helpful.
Your own personal testing and experience is really the only reliable way to know which topper / mattress combination will work best for you because each person and mattress/topper combination is unique. Besides your own body type, sleeping positions, and preferences, ā¦ thickness and softness will both have an effect on how a topper feels on any particular mattress. Thinner toppers will āallowā more of the feel of the mattress underneath to come through while with thicker toppers you will feel more of the characteristics of the topper itself and they will generally feel softer. Thicker / softer toppers can increase the risk of having an alignment issue because they can allow the heavier hips/pelvis to sink down further before reaching the firmer support layers so ājust enoughā to relieve pressure in all your sleeping positions is the least risky approach for alignment. The key is always to balance your need for more pressure relief (with a combination of thickness and softness) with your need for good alignment.
Both 19 ILD and 24 ILD are in the soft range and would be suitable for many people in your weight range. Some will prefer one and some the other. Of course 24 ILD will be a little firmer but there is not a huge difference between them. There isnāt a formula that you can use to accurately predict any specific personās experience.
As you mentioned you can also order two twin XL toppers and use a different ILD on each side but you may need a mattress pad or something a little thicker than just a thin topper cover to mask the feel of the split in between them. If the split combination works well then you can also glue them together using foam glue that you can get from a fabric ship to prevent them from separating where they are split.
If you let me know your city or zip I may know of some stores in your area that sell latex mattresses that you can test that may give you some reference points than can help you decide on which choice you may prefer. Without some reference points there is really no way to know which one you will prefer and you will need to decide based on your ābest guessā and ābest judgementā.
When you are undecided and only personal experience can really know which one will work best then the exchange policy for the topper may also be an important part of the āvalueā of your purchase.
Sorry I should have read your post more carefully. Two twin XLās are the same as an Eastern King (which is 76" x 80") but a Cal King is 72" x 84" so they wouldnāt be long enough and would also be too wide.
Some of the better options and possibilities in the area are listed in post #2 here but I would call them first to make sure they can provide you with the type and ILD of any latex in the top layer of their mattresses so you have a reference point. For the PLB mattresses you can see the ILD specs here.
I would keep in mind that this will give you a general idea but itās not only the top layer of a mattress that you will feel and the layers below it will also affect itās feel and performance to different degrees but it may give you some useful ILD reference points.
I went to A Better Bed today and purchased a topper for $360. The owner, Bill, is character. After a longer conversation than I wanted (which was 50% about the mattress and 50% non-mattress related), I choose a topper that had two 1" Talalay layers with a denser 2" polyfoam in the middle. They encase that topper in a cotton cover and offer a life-time warranty and will change the materials if it doesnāt work for me. Bill said the ILD is around 21 for the Talalay Latex they use. Do you have any input on this type of configuration? Is is better that an all latex topper? Bill claims that most of his customerās prefer this type of configuration, and it did feel good when I laid on it.
Bill also said that he could take the firm Beautyrest Recharge mattress that we bought a few months ago apart and replace the foam with quality foam and latex and add a cotton pad to the bottom to help with the support. Itās an interesting idea, and maybe if the mattress was several years old, something I might try, but Iām sticking with the topper and hoping for the best.
Thank you Phoenix for giving us insight into the Mattress world :cheer:
In terms of feel and performance I donāt know and better or worse would depend on your own personal experience and preferences and on how well it works for you in terms of PPP.
In terms of quality/durability ā¦ latex is generally a more durable material than polyfoam but there are some very high quality polyfoams (such as HR polyfoam in the 2.5 lb density range and higher) that are quite ālatex likeā in their feel and response and resilience and are very durable as well. It would really depend on the type of polyfoam it used but of course a topper is also easier to replace when necessary without replacing the entire mattress so durability is a little less important in a topper than it would be if the same materials were inside the mattress.
Rebuilding your mattress is a great option to have if it ever becomes necessary and Iām glad you āconnectedā with Bill.
Iām looking forward to hearing about how your topper works for you once youāve had the chance to sleep on it for a bit. Choosing a topper is always a little easier if you can find some good local options that you can test on a similar mattress.
So, after sleeping on the topper for 1/2 a year, my wife an I found that we were sinking too much into the topper. We would wake up in the middle of the night in a depression that stays that way for way too long, which made it hard to roll over. By the morining time my wife would move to the middle of the bed because it was firmer. Sometime during the day, the latex flattens back to normal, but we need something that returns to normal right away.
I ended up removing the middle foam and keeping the two 1" latex layers. This lasted another month before we decided to move to only 1 layer.
Same issue. After sleeping on the latex for several hours, it would create a depression and when we rolled over, the depression wouldnāt pop back to itās original flat shape, making it hard to move around. Iāve got a nerve issue with my neck, so I move around a lot, but I was hoping with latex that once I rolled over, my original depression would pop back up to the normal flat state and not have to wait.
Am I wrong in thinking that this is what makes Latex special? Maybe I have the wrong idea of what latex does or maybe I was sold subpar latex??? So confused.
Now I am looking at buying dunlop latex from SleepOnLatex as they are cheaper, maybe a 1" Pure Plush Topper thatt is Soft-Medium (24 ILD), or should I look at a medium 28 ILD? Iām thinking of trying the 1" dunlog latex on the exsiting 1" latex that we currently are using. Or maybe I should just buy a 2" topper and cut my losses with the existing latex.
We need something that supports and is comfortable, but that allows up to roll over and not feel like we are stuck in quick sand.
[quote]I ended up removing the middle foam and keeping the two 1" latex layers. This lasted another month before we decided to move to only 1 layer.
Same issue. After sleeping on the latex for several hours, it would create a depression and when we rolled over, the depression wouldnāt pop back to itās original flat shape, making it hard to move around. Iāve got a nerve issue with my neck, so I move around a lot, but I was hoping with latex that once I rolled over, my original depression would pop back up to the normal flat state and not have to wait.
Am I wrong in thinking that this is what makes Latex special? Maybe I have the wrong idea of what latex does or maybe I was sold subpar latex??? So confused.[/quote]
Itās very doubtful that the issues you are mentioning are from the latex and are most likely either in the 2" of polyfoam that is in the topper (which I understand you removed so this is less likely) or more likely yet in the top layers of the mattress underneath the topper which uses some very low quality and less durable materials. 1" of latex isnāt enough to create an impression so that alone would indicate that the issue was almost certainly in the materials in your mattress that are underneath the topper. I would also keep in mind that a latex topper (or any topper) will also āfollowā any virtual or visible impressions in the mattress underneath it (see post #4 here) so you canāt really āfixā a mattress that is either too soft or has any virtual or visible sagging with a topper except perhaps partially or temporarily.
As you can see here and here ā¦ even a āfirmā Beautyrest Recharge mattress can have more than 3" of very low quality materials in the top layers that would be a weak link in your sleeping system ā¦ even with a topper on top of it.
Thanks for the Reply. Iām not sure what is going on. I do know that if we just sleep on the mattress without the topper, then it is like sleeping on a firm surface and are no depressions on the mattress.
Would it be possible that the topper we have is a slow response latex? Iām not sure, but at first the topper is ok. Itās only when we lay on it for several hours that it will not return to itās flat shape right away. In the mornings, I can see the depression in the topper, but flattens out in 10 to 15 minutes.
Itās not likely no because slow response latex would have a feel that was more like memory foam and would take a few seconds to recover but wouldnāt take 10 or 15 minutes to recover. Itās much more likely that the issues you are experiencing are from the low quality polyfoam in the top layers of your mattress.
They seem to have some really good prices on Talalay Latex.[/quote]
You can read a little more about them in this topic and I would be very cautious here because it seems very clear to me that they arenāt selling Talalay latex.
If the issues you are experiencing are because of the lower quality/density polyfoam in your mattress then itās very unlikely that any topper will fix them and the only effective solution would be to remove and replace the lower quality materials in your mattress.
I pulled the covers off this morning. I found a wooden dowel and measures the depressions on the mattress. There are two areas where both my wife and I sleep, by our shoulders and hips where the mattress is depressed around 1/4 inch. Is this enough to cause issues?
Right now we are using a 1" latex topper. Is it amplifying the depression? Do you know what is normal for a mattress? We canāt afford a new mattress as we just bought this one a year ago, so if there something we can do to make it more comfortable?
When we just lay on the mattress, the depression doesnāt bother us, but the mattress is still too firm. Would a 2" topper on top of the 1" topper help? Iām not at a loss as to what to do
These are just the visible or permanent impressions and if this was the only issue then it probably wouldnāt be affecting you but polyfoam will also soften and have either ātemporaryā or āvirtualā impressions that would be noticeable when you sleep on the mattress but wouldnāt be visible once you have been off the mattress for a while (see post #174 here and post #2 here).
Other than some temporary or partial effect ā¦ a topper will only help if your mattress doesnāt have any soft spots or sagging (virtual or visible) because it will āfollow the sagsā in your mattress. In these cases the suggestions in the post I linked earlier (post #4 here) would be the most effective options outside of removing and replacing the foam in your comfort layers or replacing the mattress.
