How to make a firm latex mattress soft?
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It's a long story... bottom line ended up with 2-piece latex mattress. Bottom piece is from a Land and Sky Heaven and Earth and is 9" in 2 parts firm/medium-firm. Top is 3" sleepwarehouse 16-18 ILD Dunlop by Latex Green. Top is rated as "Med-Soft", and it's too firm for me. Support is ok, just doesn't feel cozy. Latex has that Analytical feel to it - for lack of a better term, not too cozy really. I'm thinking about a 2 or 3" Wool topper at this point. Tried a featherbed and didn't care for that really. I'd also be willing to replace the top latex with softer, just hard buying online. Strange - going by most of the ILD ratings 16-18 ILD should be pretty soft. I prefer to sink in a bit i guess. I'm 185lbs average build. Thanks for any ideas. |
Re: How to make a firm latex mattress soft?
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I don't know if there are any suggestions for you. Your experience supports the reading I have done that tells me Dunlop, while sturdier, has a firmer feel over Talalay. I guess the ILDs are pretty meaningless, in this case. The place I am looking at for Talalay says "soft" is 20 ILD. Many people say, "Too soft, you won't like it." but they don't know my aching shoulders! You could switch out the 3 inches of Dunlop with Talalay, (or add an inch or 2 on top, if you can stand more height) but is quite a bit more investment. Again, if you can take the height, try an inch or 2 of memory foam? Sticking with something more natural, I can see why you are considering wool Please keep us posted on the wool topper, if that is your choice. What first led me on my quest to create my own bed was someone saying the best mattress was to DIY 6 inches of latex with a thick wool topper. |
Re: How to make a firm latex mattress soft?
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A wool topper always made my bed feel hard to the touch. So are you looking for hard to touch, or are you looking for soft to the touch. I use a nit 1" wool topper and then I have a 2" 22 ILD topper, perfect. |
Re: How to make a firm latex mattress soft?
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Since this post I bought a 3" 16-18 ILD from Sleepwarehouse and that is still too firm for me. They will not take returns so I am stuck with it. It's not that it's really hard, i just want to sink in a bit more when laying on my side. It's Dunlop by Latex Green. Now i have a 12-14 ILD Dunlop on order from Fibex, we will see what that does. I also bought a 2" Wool topper from sleepandbeyond.com which is a very nice product, but not the soft feel I want. this is getting expensive since most of these companies will not accept returns. Almost ready to just start over with a completely different bed. The Natura Eco Brilliance seemed pretty nice, found a place willing to sell just the top reasonable. Latex is jiggly. |
Re: How to make a firm latex mattress soft?
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chriscummings83 wrote: A wool topper always made my bed feel hard to the touch. So are you looking for hard to touch, or are you looking for soft to the touch. I use a nit 1" wool topper and then I have a 2" 22 ILD topper, perfect. The wool is on top of the 22 ILD? 22 ILD must be Talalay? Dunlop would be very firm. The wool topper is very warm and cozy. the latex is colder, altho i still would have a cotton mattress cover over either, so may not matter. Wool does have the firm feel - not what i'm looking for really. Maybe if it was 1" or so. Still working on it. |
Re: How to make a firm latex mattress soft?
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Well, i received the new "12-14 ILD" Latex from Fibex and it's FIRMER than the 16-18 ILD Latex I bought from sleepwarehouse.com. Both were supposed to be made by Latex Green, i figured the 12 ILD would be softer. This will go back today and I will be shopping for a new bed. I have about $4000 invested at this point. Not sure what to do with the old bed. The Wool topper was extremely uncomfortable for me also. update: I just contacted sleeplikeabear and they are sending me samples of the 14/19/22 ILD latex. I think this their Talalay will be softer than the Dunlop I have. This message was modified Apr 27, 2009 by mingus
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Re: How to make a firm latex mattress soft?
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This 12-14 ILD latex might be so soft that you're just squishing it down and feeling the firmer core underneath. Try 20 ILD Talalay. It's soft--and if you get it from Foam By Mail, it's also cheap. |
Re: How to make a firm latex mattress soft?
| 16 ILD is mush. I would recommend around a 22 for optimum comfort and durability. |
Re: How to make a firm latex mattress soft?
| You really can't tell the difference between 20 and 22 ILD. Generally you need to go 4 points in either direction before you can. Actually my personal favorite is 24 ILD. Not too soft, not too firm for a comfort layer. Unfortunately most merchants only carry a limited range of firmnesses to choose from so you usually have to compromise. I don't even know where you're getting that 14 ILD foam from. Most merchants don't sell it any more because it compresses in a very short time. |
Re: How to make a firm latex mattress soft?
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FBM sent me a 1" sample of thier soft latex (20 ILD?) and it seems about the same as the 16-18 ILD i got from sleepwarehouse. hard to tell with a 1" piece. the ILD ratings really vary from place to place. waiting on a partial refund from Fibex and trying to decide what to do. Recommendations on a new bed please? |
Re: How to make a firm latex mattress soft?
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chriscummings83 wrote: A wool topper always made my bed feel hard to the touch. So are you looking for hard to touch, or are you looking for soft to the touch. I use a nit 1" wool topper and then I have a 2" 22 ILD topper, perfect. "nit 1" wool"? yeah my 2" wool topper is sort of hard, i'm still using it for some reason. I do want to try a much thinner wool topper, can you recommend one? I'm also thinking about adding a 2" soft talalay on top of my medium-soft dunlop. need softer! |