Topper for legacy Tempur-Pedic

Howdy all,

First the main question, then the background:

How thick of a topper, and what style, would be suggested for your everyday average sleeper on a Tempur-Pedic bed?

Detail:

We’re considering moving our Tempur-Pedic bed (6 years old or so) to our guest room. While we’re reasonably happy with it, we know that it isn’t for everyone, and so I’d like to buy a topper which would help it not sleep so warm, and also help reduce some of the memory foam effects (firmness, and also so it doesn’t feel like it is “trapping” our guests) i.e., widen the appeal to the average friend or family sleeping over.

Q1: is wool likely be the best option?

Q2: any opinions on what thickness to go with?

Q3: suggestions on sources?

These three all seem to have very good reviews:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004S2CC34/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GB31A4/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001A1TUKY/

Thank you!

Marc

Hi mraND,

If your mattress has no soft spots or impressions and your main goal is to make the top layers softer and improve pressure relief then a topper can be a good solution. Adding a topper to memory foam that can increase airflow and cooling though can also present some challenges though because it will reduce the amount of heat reaching the memory foam which can make the memory foam firmer … especially if it is more temperature sensitive like the Tempurpedic.

The topper guidelines in post #2 here and the other posts it links to can help you make the best possible topper choice. It also links to sources for memory foam, latex, polyfoam, and wool toppers.

Wool is a great choice for temperature regulation but it will also compress with time and gets firmer and isn’t as soft or pressure relieving as foam toppers. It’s great for the “feel” of a mattress and to improve temperature regulation and can add some localized cushioning under specific pressure points but in terms of overall pressure relief and softness it wouldn’t be as effective as softer foam materials. It would probably be a better choice over more resilient and less temperature sensitive materials. You can read a little more about the different types of softness in post #15 here.

Overall … I would be quite cautious about adding thicker layers of wool over more temperature sensitive memory foams like the Tempurpedic 5.3 lb memory foam because while it will add some “surface softness” … it will also likely firm up the memory foam below it and you would run the risk of ending up with a firmer mattress than you currently have.

The link to wool toppers in the component post includes more information about the snugfleece wool toppers and Christian at Biosleepconcept is very knowledgeable about the products he sells and would be well worth talking to about the BioSleep topper as well (see post #34 here) although I would lean towards either a softer latex or a memory foam topper on top of your Tempurpedic.

Phoenix

I greatly appreciate the reply - the thicker toppers making the mattress seem even firmer makes sense. I’ll look around at other options. The website is an absolutely great resource - great job on it!! If you’re taking suggestions for improvement, my main one would be to reduce the amount of duplication and verbosity (even acknowledging that you’re trying to explain some detailed concepts and information).

Thanks again!

 Marc

Hi mrand,

Thanks for the feedback … and I’m always glad to hear suggestions from the members here.

The nature of a forum of course is that a lot of duplication is unavoidable because the same questions are asked so often but over the course of months or years (as I have time available to implement all the many plans I currently have as well as new ideas) there will be several additions to the site including a “research center” which combines and amalgamates many of the forum posts about various subjects and will reduce the current need to search the forum for information about the most commonly asked questions (or for me to link relevant posts).

The site will probably always go into more detail about various subjects than some people really need because it’s meant to be a “fact check” and provide a depth of information that isn’t normally available elsewhere but as many of the forum posts become articles in the research center they will be edited for clarity and to some degree for length … and may even include more pictures as well.

Of course with only one person behind all of this that wears many hats besides just answering forum posts … these kind of changes will take some “time” :slight_smile:

Phoenix

Phoenix:
I have a 3" gel and a 1" wool topper. I’ve research everywhere to find a 4" encasement for these two items, to no avail. Can you advise me on where to purchase this encasement?

Hi gat13,

Post #4 here has some sources for mattress and topper covers.

I would suggest a thinner stretch knit zip cover for the gel topper alone and then using the wool topper on top of that (rather than putting it inside the cover) so that you have more of the benefit of sleeping on the wool.

Phoenix