Mattress Forum

I also ran across this one from thecleanbedroom (albeit more expensive):  http://www.thecleanbedroom.com/Organic_Mattresses/Mattress_Encasings/Organic_Dust_Mite_Mattress_Encasings.htm  But again the tight weave fabric appears stiff in the photo.

I'm also considering a more traditional cotton / bamboo cover from SLAB: http://www.sleeplikeabear.com/9-oz-natural-woo-bamboo-mattress-cover  It does have 9oz wool quilted so thre is more of a dicsonnect between you and the latex but lots of people seem to like sleeping on wool, plus I don't belive 9oz is that thick (and you get added benefit of moisture absorption).  Although this one wouldn't be as dust mite resistant if that's really an issue.

Can't beleive I'm stressing about mattress covers!

Yugnat-

The protector is thick and canvasy, but I don't feel it on the mattress. It seems like it is very heavy duty, and it seems to be made to really protect the mattress. That being said, I'm sure it will get softer after washing it (I just got it in the mail a couple days ago..) I also have soft sheets to go over it, so I don't find it to be problematic. I'd much rather not have to worry about dust mites, personally. Can it be the only cover on your latex mattress? I would say DEFINITELY. It's much more of a "protector" than the one that came on my latex mattress.

I also came across the one on clean bedroom, and by the looks of it, I think it's the same as the allersoft cover (but with much higher markup). The second one that you posted seems more like a "comfort" layer. Unfortunately, it's difficult to protect against dust mites while adding a comfort layer in ONE solution... (they make the dust mite protector to have a very small pore size to prevent dust mites from burrowing into the mattress) If I were you, I would get the organic dust mite protector, and a nice organic wool "topper" to put underneath the protector if you feel you really needed it to be softer.

Plus, I don't know how important it is to you, but the second one is made of a 55% polyester blend (manmade from petro chemicals) and bamboo (sounds natural, but very unnatural processing to make bamboo cloth i.e. adding tons of unnecessary chemicals). The healthiest options are organic cotton and organic wool.

PS I did probably the same ammount of stressing as you recently about the same thing so I figured I had to put my 2 cents in!

To be honest though, if you do one of those covers it should go over something like a quilted woolen cover, although they protect against dust mites penetrating into the mattress core; they do not protect the mattress from perspiration damage over time.  The salt content in your perspiration literally pulverizes rubber down over time, this is why in europe for decades (even before they had strict fire codes as well) sheeps wool or other animal hair was always used in the high quality latex mattresses to prevent this from happening, as well as to regulate your temperature and humidity.

I'd then cover everything in one of these: http://www.dreamsoftbedware.com/allcomapad.html which is also machine washable.

The wool topper can be set outside in the sun a couple of times a year to kill dust mites, and can also be drycleaned or preferrably professionally wet cleaned when necessary. These were the options I had it narrowed down to when I was contemplating a DIY bed.

One thing I forgot to mention in my above post is that I was definitely leaning towards the flobeds encasement due to it making the whole bed much more fire resistant, since the wool is sewn into all 6 sides. This may not seem like a big deal, but I have several firefighter friends who are constantly warning me about stuff like this. Unfortunately though, it does come at a price. Just another thing to consider.

As far as wool being flammable, so is steel. That doesn't mean wool can't pass the burn test on its own. See: http://www.popsci.com/node/9344

Many online retailers claim their wool filled encasements have passed the fire requirements without the use of chemicals like flobeds: here: http://www.flobeds.com/burntest.htm and here: http://www.flobeds.com/PleinAirWool.htm

"FloBeds was the first mattress company to use wool (and no chemicals) to pass the new Federal Fire Resistance standards. We have wool on all six sides of the mattress."

They do this by compressing a thick wad of wool inside their encasement. Now some say they're lying to us, but I do believe they'd be open to some pretty hefty lawsuits if proven, which can be easily done via some simple lab tests. I'm guessing that they're telling the truth.