Hi iRFNA.
[quote]After the advice I received here, I purchased an ‘Ultimate Dreams Queen 3" Talalay Latex Soft Mattress Topper’, with an ILD of 19. I popped that on my 6.5" innerspring mattress (after removing the cheap foam on the top which had degraded), and got a maybe a bit too firm but quite workable mattress
5 years later, I’ve noticed the the middle of the mattress has a bit of a divet, and I went to investigate. It turns out that the 3" latex topper is the reason for the divet? I took it all apart and tested each component, and it’s the latex topper that has degraded significantly after only 5 years…[/quote]
I chatted with DF and your topper has 3-year warranty that they offer. It would unusual to find a manufacturer that offers more than 5 years for a topper because the mattress that the topper is placed upon also has a great impact on its durability and also because the topper is usually under much more mechanical stress than a latex layer that is enclosed and part of a mattress.
[quote]Is 19 ILD latex supposed to have significant wear after only 5 years?? For reference, I weigh 140 lbs.
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There is no way to quantify how long a topper will last for a specific person or predict exactly when you will decide to replace it because it is no longer suitable or comfortable for you (this is the only real measure of the durability and useful life of a topper that really matters) because there are too many unknowns and variables involved that are unique to each person (including their weight, their sleeping positions, their preferences, the firmness of the topper, and the specifics of the mattress under the topper). If a mattress/topper combination is well within a suitable comfort/support range and isn’t close to the edge of being too soft (which yours at 19 ILD is) (see post #2 here ) then it would probably be reasonable to expect a useful lifetime somewhere in the range of 5 - 10 years.
Your topper helped extend the life of your mattress for another 5 years and for a soft Talalay topper it is reasonable to expect to replace it when it softens or breaks down and loses the comfort and performance that was the reason you purchased it.
Phoenix