Mattress Forum

My advice is to spend what it takes to get something that won't crater on you.  You can not put a $ value on health.  That is my opinion.

I posted a lot of stuff on foam 4 years ago under this username. I experimented as mccldwll did. I tried various combinations, zones, latex, HD, etc, all to no avail. In the end I decided that my back was going to hurt no matter what, because I'd experimented for 6 months, our small apt. was full of foam stacked everywhere and I just got rid of all the foam except the toppers and gave up and bought a Sealy.

The Sealy was actually as good as anything else we'd tried. Looking back, I'd have been better of sticking with foam, but I think we just got sick of foam after so much failed experimentation!

MequonJim, I really did not like latex. It was just too hard or something, and we tried MANY combinations. Now I use a 1 and 1/2" or 2" very soft latex topper and it seems to be pretty good but a latex bed alone or latex with memory foam did not work for us in the many combinations we tried.

As for memory foam itself, I have yet to see a memory foam that did not sink in too much after a relatively short while. The Tempurpedic we tried was great the first night or two but soon after that it sank too deep and felt terrible.

The fact is, right now we just don't have enough $$ to even try a flobed again. (We have had some economic setbacks in the past 6 months or so.) So really, right now, we can only afford the stuff we can get at the foam distributor. But that isn't so bad because if they're like they used to be (4 years ago) they have very good HD Foam of any size cut to order, so we can cut for zones; they have a fairly good quality memory foam for toppers or zones; and sometimes they have latex. What my wife and I do is buy 2 beds that combined side by side = a king. Then we can mix and match so that each of the 2 beds are different, so that gives us more options to try. The foam is inexpensive enough that we can experiment with various densities and thicknesses and materials - it's much cheaper than buying on the net and having to pay for return postage, plus we can just keep the ones that don't work. We take thick vinyl bags, use a vacuum to suck out the air and store them in a pile in the corner, scrunched up (at least the toppers - a 5" HD foam base won't really work that way...)

Thanks for the ideas. I'll read your posts on experiments, mccldwll , and maybe I'll find some ideas there.

I still have doubts as to whether ANY mattress will allow me to sleep well due to whatever it is that is wrong with my back, which tons of tests, and thousands of dollars spent on physical therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture and massage have not been able to improve much if at all. In fact I am just starting a new round of trying to get a new doctor to help me figure out my problem, and when I get more money I am going to try trigger-point therapy, but that's another subject, not for this thread. I just wanted to give some background on my back problem, which also includes tingling/ stiff arms at night.

As to your zone issue, if you can find a place that will sell latex to the size you specify, you could use an electric carving knife to cut a zone out of your mattress, even on just your side of the mattress if you sleep with someone, and then order a piece that size to put there. IT's easy to cut and even if it's a bit less than perfect in your cutting or technique or the sizing is a bit off,  it's no big deal as long as you get the basic zone right.

We found that you do not need to glue them if you cut them to the exact size - they tend to stay in place. But if you are not allergic to glues you can use a spray glue (furniture repair places might sell you a can) to glue the piece into place.

Sounds like you have lots of foam to play around with so you may not even need to buy any more. Keep the fiber mat over the springs and just take out the PU foam. Try building the mattress up in thin layers with the firmest foam on the bottom. Try the firm HR foam you already have on the bottom and add a thin layer of a softer comfort material over the top. Too much foam and you will undermine the support of the springs and make your back hurt, so use the least amount of foam you can and still be comfortable. 

If this seems to work you could then try zoning by cutting the foam and making it softer in the shoulder area, firmer in the hips. 

Whatever you decide to do let us know how it works out. A lot of people suffer from back pain and we're all looking for solutions to a good night's sleep.

Nice to "meet" you, BeddyBye, sounds like we are in a similar boat.

I just keep trying to find the solution to my back /neck /arms problem AND find a more comfortable sleep system for myself. Now that our old Sealy has officially "died" (too much sagging) I am back here getting ideas for foam experimentation!

Thanks Cloud9. I was just getting that idea myself after reading someone's comment about how the springs are usually still good, in another thread.

Now, how does one tear up the old mattress and get down to the springs? Any ideas on what works best for this? Who here has done it? I am definitely up for experimenting in this way!

Right now I do not have the high compression foam - we threw it out years ago because we did not have space to store it; so we have to buy some more. See my thread on suggestions for what configuration I should try.... All we have right now are some kind of worn out old memory foam - 3 to 4" toppers, and a couple 1" latex toppers of unknown density - maybe 20 ILD? We'll probably make a trip to the foam distributor soon though, so I want to get ideas on what to try first...

As to putting the memory foam under a layer of latex, or HD foam, I'll be curious to hear if this works for you. I think I have tried it before and as I recall what it does, is it just makes the latex sag in the heavy areas. I could be wrong but I seem to recall it didn't work for us. Try it and report back if you would...

Now, all I need to do is figure out the best way to go about dis-assembling my Sealy mattress top. Anyone done this? Where do you start? What tools do you use? Do you end up with visible springs from the side, or what? how do you make it look normal when you're done - one of those bed covers with sides that hang down over the edge? Not that how it looks matters all that much, but I'm just curious. I assume you ruin the nice fabric sides as you tear off the top layers of foam??? Or can you carefully just cut off the top of the bed and leave the sides in tact? Sorry, I just have never seen this done or read about it being done.

Maybe if I go to a Sealy store they'll have one of those models which shows the innards and I can see how to go about it...?

Someone else suggested just cutting open the foot end of the mattress top and not removing the entire top. I suppose they wanted to close it back up again, but you may find the foam bonded to the upholstry is sagging too, in which case you will just want to remove the entire top.  If I was doing this (and at some point down the line I actually will be doing it) I would open one end first, peek inside and see if I can get the foam out without taking the whole top off. Then go on to Plan B if necessary.

If the top is unusable at this point just cover the new foam and sides of the existing mattress with a mattress pad that has elasticized sides deep enough to tuck under the bottom of the mattress. Once the bed is made you shouldn't even notice it's gone.

BeddyBye is by far the Foam Queen of this forum and I have already saved her suggestions for layering. I just want to stress that if you are trying to alleviate back pain the less foam you can bear to sleep on the better. Keep your layers thin and build them up in small increments. Don't over do it. Since you have some soft latex around you could try placing 2" of it over the fiber pad and seeing if that's comfortable. If you need more padding the 1" of HR foam BeddyBye recommended sounds like a good foundation to build on. Try not to go over 3" of foam total. I have found that seems to be the magic number. More than 3" and you lose back support.

My experience with memory foam is that it works best OVER firmer PU foam in thicknesses of no more than 2". When you put it over latex you tend to sag into both layers of foam and that is definitely NOT a good idea for lower back issues. Placing it under latex would probably be even worse.