I'm thinking of buying a cheap innerspring mattress with quality springs and remove the foam out of it and replace it with latex on the top. I found a mattress from a regional manufacturer that uses Lura-Flex High Profile Offset Spring System @ 14 gauge steel. The coil count on the queen size is 805 coils. It has 1 inch of 1.2 density PU foam @ 27 compression (ILD?). The price of the set (mattress and box spring) is $700.

 

Would this be a good base to put a latex topper (1'', 2'', or 3'') on? If comfortable, I might sleep on the foam for awhile before replacing it.

I think you normally want stronger gauge springs but does the high coil count make up for that?

 

On the latex topper front, I need some helping figuring out a starting point. I'm 5' 11", 160lbs, my wife is 5' 4", 180lbs, and we're both side sleepers. I don't expect someone to tell me the exact ILD number we will eventually need but I'm wondering what a good starting point would be (fully expecting that I will have to exchange it out for a different one) to minimze the exchanges. If you have latex on springs, could you post what's working for you (height, weight and spring gauge, style, and # coils)?

 

I took a look around and it seems that SLAB and Sleep EZ allow returns/exchanges on their latex toppers. Do you know of any more that might be more reasonable but still good quality? I think I wanna stay away from FBM based on what I've read.

that is actually a pretty thick steel for that kind of spring count, should be more than durable and supportive enough.

tegat wrote:

And what did you read?

Regarding FBM, if I remember correctly, what I've read on this forum is that either the quality of the latex itself is not consistent (sometimes it's good and other times not so good) or you get something different than what you ordered (eg. order 22 ILD and get something else). I'm not 100% on this part but I might've seen post(s) where folks complained that the tag (or what they ordered) said one thing but the actual latex was something else.

 

If I'm misinformed then I'm open to be re-educated. I'm just looking for accurate information to base a decision.

IMHO I would start out planning to put 3 or 4 inches of comfort layer Latex on top.  I don't have mine on springs, but on a firm latex mattress so these are mostly guesses  I have 4 inches of talalay on top for side sleeping but I am doing some zoning....(but that's another story)  I would put at least one inch of 28 ILD talalay, then one inch of 21 or 22 ILD, and then a layer of either 19 or 14 on top to start since you are both side sleepers.  This would be my starting point using one inch increments. I'm sure others who have actually tried this, will chime in but it also depends on how firm the springs are and how thick the cover is.

Good luck and let us know how it comes out.

Maybe the Luraflex is okay with a big latex on top of it.  But I didn't like the Luraflex mattresses that I tried because the springs have too much "shimmy" to them and I hate springs that wiggle around.  But, the Luraflex has been around for a long, long time, and many people do like the way it feels.   And with the dampening of latex, it might be okay.   Or not, bdepending on the size of the mattress.  A tight top twin w/ Luraflex might be okay, but definitely the full and queen had too much shimmy.   Just thought I'd put my 2 cents into the discussion.