I found a local custom craft mattress company and he says their "extra firm" is 34 ILD.  The softest he carries is 28ILD.  But 34 sounds too soft based on what I've read here.  But this company intrigues me because it is alllllllll latex, no soft crap foam layers.   I am going to go out and visit but I just wanted to check in on here......

According to pretty much everybody else out there selling latex, 34 ILD is not extra firm, especially not in Talalay. It rates as a medium density and will not be firm enough to offer good support. Some people on this forum who have customized their own mattresses from different layers of latex have a 44 ILD layer on the bottom for a good firm base layer. The 34 ILD might feel good when you lay on it for 15 minutes at the store, but you are going to sag too much into it during the night, especially if you sleep on your side, and you will wake up in the morning with your spine feeling pretty kinked.

We have a local mattress maker too who only uses 32 ILD Talatech latex in his beds. I don't know why -- maybe he doesn't want to hassle with ordering and storing other densities. It's too bad, as it would have been nice to have the option right here in town to get a custom mattress with no crappy foam in it...

The problem isn't with 34 ILD per se; it's that 34 is too firm for thorax/shoulder/head relative to hips. That allows the hips to sink relative to shoulders, and thus kinked back, and pain. 34 ILD support for hips, coupled with around 20 for upper body (so sink the same as hips keeping spin straight) probably would be OK.

yah, I'm back from that place and thumbs down.  He had me try a 5.5" piece of latex and I felt like I could feel the foundation underneath when I sat on it.  Then he said I shouldn't get a cover with more than 1.5" of padding, which contrary to what he told me over the phone does have PU in it (although he said it was a high density)....that may be correct about the 1.5" on top, but I can't imagine that 1.5" would change something from feeling downright awful to blissful.  About the 34ILD, he said it was zoned.  He showed me a test piece, and in some sections it had small holes, and in some places larger holes.  I believe he said that made it softer/firmer in the different zones.  Is this correct?  But anyways.

How many inches of total mattress is the recommendation with latex?

Then it's not 34. If it's zoned, it has different ILDs in different areas, and I seriously doubt any commercial product would have sufficient zonal differentiation. More info needed (and in writing). 6" of latex "may" be enough, but 8" probably better (and sufficient). And 34 probably too firm for most as a comfort layer.

LPAD wrote:
Yes, that can work.  I have a latex international zoned pillow that I picked up at JCPenney's, and it works that way.