Using Different Latex ILD's (Blended Talalay) For 6" Mattress Support Core

[phoenix]

Hi NewToLatexInFL

Welcome to our Mattress Forum!

I am sorry to hear about your car accident and the injuries it caused. Hopefully, as time goes they’ll heal and diminish.

Right now the biggest obstacles we are finding is 1) the cost and 2) finding a mattress that we both like. I’m almost ready to go the split King route but we have small kids that LOVE to crawl into bed with us at night and I’m afraid they will fall in the split!

A split king has significant benefits especially if the mattress you are considering has side by side layering construction with a continuous/single top comfort layer or/and has a suitable quilted cover or other material above the split in which case you or the children will most likely not feel the “split” itself. The transition from one firmness level to the other (which is the reason for the split layering) can be felt more with a larger firmness differential between the sides. You can read a bit more about split mattresses in post #2 here and also in this recent post #13 here which lists some manufacturers that specialize in split systems. Overall … a side to side split can have significant benefits for some couples that have different needs and preferences because each side of the mattress can have a different design and firmness level but with all things “mattresses” it also has a tradeoff and each person may choose what is best for them in different ways and with different preferences.

1st Question…If I was going to try and re-create the Nature bed as a DIY, what would be the closest IDL stack to achieve this? As mentioned in this post it appears that the Nature is a 6 inch core at 36ILD, a 2 inch middle layer at 28ILD, and a 2 inch top comfort layer at 21ILD, and I read somewhere else that the Firm topper is a 32 IDL. Is this correct? I have been looking at Arizona Premium Mattresses/mattresses.net and the closest match I can find is 2 inch 19/ 2 inch 28/ 3 inch 36/ 3 inch 36. Would this be an approximate recreation? I would assume since the top layer is 19 instead of 21 it would be ever so slightly softer, but perhaps not too noticeable once we add a 32 topper?

I am not very sure why you’d want to add a 32 ILD topper but there is more information in post #9 here about the different ways that one mattress can “match” or “approximate” another one. Every layer and component in a mattress (including the cover and any quilting materials) will affect the feel and performance of every other layer and component and the mattress “as a whole” so unless you are able to find another mattress that uses exactly the same type of materials, components, cover and quilting, layer thicknesses, layer firmnesses, and overall design (which would be fairly unlikely) then there really isn’t a reliable way to match one mattress to another one in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) based on the specifications of the mattresses (even assuming that you can find out all the specifications you would need for both mattresses you are comparing in the first place). This being said you’d be on the right track by seeking guidance from an experienced manufacturer or retailer, who would be the ones to best approximate a mattress feel based on all the specs and your personal needs and preferences you may provide.

I am glad you started by doing some local testing as this is the best way to determine suitability.
Post #13 mentioned above lists some of the manufacturing members (including Arizona Premium) of our site that would be able to help you configure something similar. Manufacturers themselves are the best resource when it comes to matching especially for known brands such as PTB. “Replicating” a mattress component by component in view of a DIY mattress based only on “specs” without the specific guidance of a manufacturer/retailer that is familiar with your reference mattress and materials is unreliable because in most cases: Consumers would tend to rely only on the ILD of the layers or other more basic specs which by themselves can be very misleading and inaccurate because of any design specific properties, response, or factors that can make a significant difference in how a mattress feels and performs.

2nd Question - Does anyone know the IDL makeup of the Pamper mattress, and a suggestion if I wanted to recreate a similar support & comfort stack but at the same 10" height as the Nature bed?

The PTB Pamper is an 8" mattress (2" 21 ILD Active fusion Talalay + 6"40 ILD Talalay support core) the Nature would be softer than the Pamper because of the softer 2" 28 ILD transition layer and the softer 36 ILD support core , but again every layer and component in a mattress will affect the fell and performance of the overall mattress and you’d do best to rely on the guidance of the manufacturer themselves who would have the knowledge or experience to be able to “translate” how the many seemingly small differences between two mattresses may either accumulate or offset each other in real life.

Good luck in your search. If you’re successful in finding something that you like, please let us know.

Phoenix