Any thoughts on using a waterbed mattress and frame as a foundation for a latex mattress or topper ? The water level could be raised or lowered to get the proper height and less thickness could be used, thus saving money on a latex mattress insert. A  2" or 3" topper on 6" of water might just be the ticket! What do you think?

FLOATS,

I too have had extensive shoulder surgery and am looking for relief. I am tempted to give the waterbed foundation with latex a try.

LUKE

What kind of Waterbed do you have?

I have a King size 72 x 84 hard side frame with a Cal. King innerspring mattress insert that needs replacing. Water bed mattresses are much less than latex and height would be adjustable by combining both. I'm open to any suggestions. I haven't slept on a water mattress for the last 10 years so I really am not familiar with the current state of waterbed mattresses.

My waterbed is made by Vinyl Products and I have the Lumbar Elite model that is part of the Dreamweaver series.

It has 10" of fiber at the head area, 16" of fiber in the lumbar area and 8" of fiber in the feet area.  Because of the amount of fiber in the lumbar area there is none of the dreaded hammock effect that you get with the old style waterbed bladders.

Google waterbeds and you will find numerous sites that sell waterbeds.   PM me if you need more info.

Floats wrote:

Floats, I used to sleep on a waterbed, for many years and loved it. I often have thought of trying one again, but they seem very expensive nowadays and also I'm not sure my 2nd floor apartment will allow it. But my question to you is, what type of waterbed do you currently have. Will you describe it in case it's no longer available so I could look for a similar one should I ever decide to get one?

These days they seem to be quite expensive and have layers and baffling etc and I'm not sure they're as good as the old style with minimum baffling...

jimsocal wrote:

Hi Jim,

There are 2 styles of waterbeds, softsides and hardsides.  Softsides look like regular mattresses and are as expensive as conventional mattresses.  I have a hardside that basically is a wood frame with the water bladder inside.  My mattress cost less then $500.00  and the frame itself that I bought online was $500.00.

I have a Dreamweaver waterbed that can be found online.  Like I described before, it has extra fiber in lumbar area so there is no hammocking.  It is considered 99% waveless, so no wave action. Was your waterbed the old style full motion ones?  When I laid on this bed for the first time I didn't even know it was a waterbed, awesome pressure relief for my bad shoulders. The full motion waterbeds won't give you the lumbar support that the waveless ones will so I think it would be better for your back. But then again there are people with bad backs that like the full motion, so go figure.

PM me if you want some more detailed info. 

Thanks Floats. If I can't get my mattress into a working configuration in the next several months (and I think I can), then I may well try the waterbed you mention.

I had a hardside type: a wooden frame with the water bag inside, and the bag had some baffling in it, but it was minimal. You definitely felt the waves, but not as much as the really really old type where there was no baffling at all. Yours sounds like maybe the next generation from the last one I had, with the baffling. Sounds pretty good. I never had any back issues when I slept on a waterbed. But then, that was before having 3 car accidents, so ...? who knows?

Floats wrote:

Hey Floats, is your - or are all - waterbed made from Vinyl?

I ask because I recently read an article somewhere on the net about how vinyl off-gasses a bad chemical and is not healthy and I got rid of everything vinyl in our apartment. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I have allergies and asthma so try to keep away from things that off-gas chemicals or odors.

Does latex off gas?

jimsocal wrote:

Yeah, I think all waterbeds are made of Vinyl.  I don't know anything of the outgassing issue but i do know that many allergists recommend waterbeds for people with allergies and asthma as the surface is inpenetrable to dust and dust mites.