Mattress Forum

Back to the drawing board. Made a final offer three days ago and they have not returned my call. 

Az. mattress. Spoke with Ken for about 30 minutes. Was very informative and seems to know the mattress business. Prices are low. BBB had the company rated as a F but there wasn't much to base the rating on that I could find. Don't know if the rating is accurate or not. Business use to be Mattress Liquidators. He strongly supports a core of 5.5" blended or 6" natural talalay then going with a 2" topper. He believes the 3 layers (like sleep ez/ flobed) minimize support. Strong supporter of blended talalay. Have you had any dealing or knowledge of the company. From what I researched it looks like an option. Am still going thru sleep ez, flo bed and others. Not in a hurry at this point. What to make sure we come up with the right combination for us.

                     sy   

He was one of my "final 3" and at the time the biggest "downside" was that I didn't know he could customize a mattress in any way I wanted. I came to believe from my personal experience that I wanted more than 2" of a softer layer on top (although what he told me about 2" made sense as well and is probably true for most people). I found out later that he could have added another 2" and changed the cover for an additional $200. For that matter he could add a 3" top layer if someone wanted it but he believes that 2" is more appropriate for most which is why he lists this on his website. He also uses Radium as his supplier for the blended Talalay and Latex International for his natural Talalay. Radium is to Europe what LI is to North America in terms of latex.

I also saw the "F" rating but I know how the BBB works for non members (they are a private for profit company and rate companies that are members differently than non members) and the 2 complaints in 36 months registered with one unresolved did not seem to justify the rating. In my experience and based on what I learned from (and about) him (and many others of course), I would have no problems doing business with him and he certainly represents great value in my opinion.

Phoenix

 Are there any  differences (advantages/disadvantages) in feel, support  and comfort between 2 piece adjustable mattresses (6" core 2" topper) vs 3 - 2" layers pieces? I have tried only the two piece mattress set ups and I know you have tried both.

Thanks!

                             sy

In general 2 pieces of latex of the same ILD will be slightly softer and have a little more give than the same thickness in one piece of the same ILD. The thinner the layers, the more noticeable this may be.

In a support layer (deeper layer) of normal thickness, this could make a very small difference in the alignment of your spine in theory since the two pieces could allow you to sink in very slightly more. I really doubt this would be noticeable in any real terms in a support layer though in the thickness of layers that are usually used. Of course with 2 pieces you could have different ILD's as well which can make a bigger difference and allow you to customize different feels and how far you sink in to a greater degree. How important this was would depend on an individual, weight distribution, sensitivity, and personal preference and how suitable a particular ILD in a single layer was for your circumstances.

So having the ability to choose support layers in different ILD's can be an advantage if no single ILD seems to work or if you want to "experiment" to get from 90% to 100% perfection. I think in general terms though ... in a support layer it is less important and can create a degree of complexity that can cause as much confusion as it can help in some cases. Support is really the ability of the support layers to keep your spine aligned through the range of your sleeping positions. If you have the "correct for you" ILD and thickness in a single support layer, then there would be no advantage and even a disadvantage to splitting it in two.

In the upper (comfort) layers, thickness and splitting layers can make a bigger difference in my experience. Both I and my other half like a soft "feel" and are sensitive to pressure (her more than me). What we noticed was that for example 3 x 1" layers on the top of a mattress felt much more like 2" than a single 3" piece. In both of our cases, we noticed that a 2" piece (or the equivalent) on top would allow us to sink in and feel the "transition" (on our sides) from one ILD to the next in the mattress. If the next ILD was a fairly big difference and not "gradual" enough ... we didn't like the feel and could sense pressure on our hips if we "bounced" a little bit. This indicated to us that we would be happier with a 3" layer on top (or at least 2.5"). I doubt that the majority of people would have noticed this as much as we did because we were specifically testing for this "transition effect" and paid a lot of attention to it. We knew for example that we could feel this effect in a mattress that had 3 one inch layers of 19 ILD on top of 28 ild since one mattress we tested had that specific combination. It probably would have been fine if the top was say 22 ILD with 28 as the next layer as it was right on the edge of our ability to feel it. Other mattresses that had 2" on top of the mattress had this same "transition" effect for us but again we were looking and testing for it. 3" in the correct (for us) combination didn't have this effect. Our body makeup probably makes a difference here since both of us have fairly small waists and have hips and shoulders that are quite a bit wider than our waist.

The final solution for us was to go with both 3" on top and a more gradual transition in a "soft/medium" ild range. Others (as you can see from the wide variety on the forum) would probably be happier with a different combination.

Hope this helps

Phoenix

Spent a good 30 minutes on the telephone with Bob from Custom Sleep Design. Provided a good overview of his mattress design and based on our sizes/shoulder/back issues he sent a break down of each layer of the 3 layers with zoned areas for hip and shoulder support. The core was 6" (40 ILD on my side 36 ILD on my wife's side) the next 3" layer was zoned  34" (measured from the top of the mattress toward the foot of the bed)  of 32 ILD top part / the remaining 46" of the mattress was 36 ILD for me and my wife's was zoned 32" of  28 ILD for the top part and 32 ILD for the bottom 48". The final 2" layer was zoned 31" of 19 ILd on the top part and the remaining 49" bottom was 28 for me and my wife's side was 29" of 14ILD on the top part and 28 ILD on the bottom 51".  Will be talking with him tomorrow concerning firmness, exchanges, layout of the zoned layers and of course pricing. He will do blended or natural latex. I know some people have had good overall experiences with him. Need to know how this zoning works.

Are you familiar with it? Sounds like a good way to maintain support and comfort.

                                              sy

This is the basic idea and I believe it is a very good method of customizing a mattress.

Phoenix

PS: Cazual in this thread http://www.whatsthebest-mattress.com/forum/dr-breus-bed-talalay-latex/16100-0-1.html just got a mattress there and could give you more real life impressions and feedback

The search has ended. Today my wife and I ordered our latex mattress from Custom Sleep Design. After numerous discussions on the phone and sending pictures, Bob and his staff designed a bed that will hopefully meet our needs. I feel comfortable with the decision and now will be anixously awaiting its arrival in three weeks. I really appreciate your assistance and input the past weeks. I do like the option of changing the layers if necessary and the split zones to provide support and comfort. In reading a thread from the lady who resides in the Quad cities which is about 180 miles from us you may recommend this company. Their prices with a foundation are reasonable. Will let you know how things work out once our mattress arrvies. Again, many thanks!   God bless and have a blessed Thanksgiving!!

If you are happy then I am happy. :)

Let us know how it is when it arrives.

Phoenix

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Thought I would drop you a note on our mattress. Arrived one week before Christmas and we found the mattress was too firm. Spoke wiith Bob yesterday and he will be adjusting our two top layers to make it softer and they will ship the two layers next week. I think once we make the right adjustments the bed will be great.

                                                                                           sy

I'm curious because the 19 and 14 ILD part of the top layer zoning is pretty soft already so I'm guessing that the 28 ILD in the upper layer is too firm for your hips?

I'd also be curious what you are exchanging for as every piece of feedback is really helpful to  help someone else in a similar position to you to "get it right".

Thanks again for your feedback

Phoenix