I wake up in pain daily from my current  spring mattress and I am thinking of taking the plunge and DIY my own latex mattress.  I am in need of suggestions on how properly to configure one.    I am side sleeper and am a large person.  While mattress shopping locally, (innerspring & coil) I tend to almost always prefer the plush lines. There aren't any all latex mattress to try out locally.   Only the three Big S brands, and in each of those I still preferred the plush version of their latex mattresses.  They are also far to $$$ for my budget.

My current mattress is an innerspring double sided pillowtop (biggest mistake ever) which has about a 2" indention in center from left to right. I have been reading several threads and I know it differs from person to person, but I don't even know where to start.  I am wondering if I need to order the 6" core in firm-although I don't like a firm mattress but should because of my size, versus medium firm which would be softer?.  Will the topper soften it  up very much? Since I prefer the plush to Ultra plush feel, should I order a 2" or 3" latex topper?  Does a 3" topper feel softer in general, regardless of the core?

I was thinking of ordering:

 1 Queen 6" Medium ILD Latex core - $473.99
 1 Queen 2" Soft ILD Latex topper - $150.99
 1 Queen terry cloth mattress cover from Foambymail - $20 upcharge
Grand total for 8" Queen sized latex,  - $644.98

or

 1 Queen 6" firm ILD Latex core - $483.99
 1 Queen 3" Soft ILD Latex topper - $219.99
 1 Queen terry cloth mattress cover from Foambymail - $20 upcharge
Grand total for 9" Queen sized latex - $723.98


  Any suggestions would be greatly apprecia

I decided to start by ordering a 2" topper first, try it on my current mattress and see how it feels.  Well, it arrived today.  I must say it does have quite a few imperfections, but that shouldn't affect how it feels, I guess.  The only thing that seemed weird and I might just be expecting something different.  When I opened the box  it looked as if it was already 2", no need to expand.  Does the topper come compressed and need to expand to it's full height?  I measured it after placing it on the bed (about 1-2 minutes), it was already a full 2 inches.  I've placed it on my mattress to test. I will also place on foundation to see if it soft enough, since I'm thinking of ordering a firm core.  Well, I let you guys know how it goes tonight.

Okay, so first night was pretty good.   Actually, the next day I kind of lounged around in bed a little longer than usual.  It was very comfortable.  Well, now that the latex has softened a bit, I am having some back pain.  Granted, it's atop my current mattress which is worse for wear at this point, but I'm considering going with a firm core.  Hopefully, this will even out the mattress, not to soft and not too firm.  If it is still too firm, then I guess I can always order another topper.  What do you guys think?

Gracie, if you have a pillowtop mattress with an indentation on it, putting additional foam on the top will only give you more to hammock into. Latex has no body of its own. It will conform to whatever is underneath it. Seems like you are already beginning to get a backache from this arrangement. 

Since you are already thinking of getting a firm core, why not just replace the entire mattress and make your own bed from a firmer, thicker core and your current soft topper?

Another idea would be to remove the pillow top from your mattress. Just cut it off. Several of us (including myself) have already performed mattress surgery and you can read our accounts of how to go about it on the forum. Look for posts by JimSocal and TheQuest. You may find the rest of the mattress is in pretty good shape under the sagging pillowtop.  

Please keep us posted on your progress.

We started with the topper too (I got 2 in medium FBM) and when that felt good, we swapped out old mattress for 6 in firm core FBM. I think it's plenty soft and comfy. We put it on old boxspring with plywood over it, but I'm planning to get slatted base.

We're "large" as well so I thought firm core would be better. It's still plenty comfy. I'm a side sleeper and my hip pain has disappeared since switch to latex.

HTH

Pressure Points, that great to hear since I ordered a firm core (with terry cloth cover)  on Wednesday!  So far it has not shipped out, maybe Monday I'm told.  I was wondering how it would feel with 2" topper, I'm glad you are enjoying yours, and relieved that it is somewhat soft.  I kind of have to have the same set up as you have. I currently have my  topper, old mattress, plywood, box springs in that order.  So I'll just switch out the mattress. It may be a while before I get the platform bed I want, which has slats 2" apart.

Cloud9, thanks for the advice.  I read your post on mattress surgery.   I performed a little mattress surgery of my own.  I removed the pillowtop and placed my topper atop and it feels so much better right now.  I'll really know tonight when I sleep on it.

Yeay, my 6" core has arrived.  It actually took 8 days, don't know why.  Well, I unzipped the cover to add my 2" soft topper and I was slightly disappointed.  I know latex has some imperfections, but there are rows where the holes seem to be missing.  And then there are some rows of holes,where there are holes so close together it looks like one large hole. Maybe what I expected wasn't realistic for latex . I did not expect a perfect piece, but I didn't expect so many inperfections.  Oh, well if it does the job, which is a good night's rest, I guess it's okay.
 

Obviously you did not get what you paid for. Talalay latex does not have the major imperfections you describe. Second rate dunlop latex does however.

It is not possible to determine exactly what kind of latex you received based on your description of imperfections. Latex International Talalay latex frequently does have similar imperfections. My suggestion is that you test the mattress and ignore the cosmetic imperfections.

None of my FloBed Talalay Latex cores have missing holes but some of the cores have a little discoloring except for my two new 37 ILD cores which are almost perfect.  My Talalay Latex 1" topper (edited it for spelling error) from Brylane Home had not missing holes either. I love their topper so much.

The holes in the LI Talalay latex I received from SleepEZ were all very uniform. There were no discolorations, but there were small craters where bits of foam was missing. This is common in latex. It shreds just handling it, which is why you want to keep it covered and avoid touching the latex directly as much as possible.  Like Lynn I also have a Brylane topper which was manufactured by Dunlopillo in Enland for NaturaWorld. It is also a very nice piece of latex.

Unless you get a piece of foam with big tears and huge chunks missing, I wouldn't worry too much about absent holes, small craters and little shreds. That's just latex. If you had bought it sealed inside a cover like a standard mattress you'd only know if you were comfortable or not. You wouldn't know what the foam looked like inside.