Mattress Forum

Welp, so much for the hope of waking up on New Year's Day feeling refreshed. Waaah.

I woke up in pain at about 5 or 5:30 AM; my shoulders & hips were throbbing (still are, 5 hours later). Finally got up around 6:30 and stripped the bed again. Took out the FBM piece; put back the N3 piece; folded the quilted top panel back over the mattress; put on my thin fiber-pad; then the 24 ILD and 14 ILD latex. Read for a little while (after feeding the cat), and then went back to sleep for a couple hours.

I might have just re-introduced the sinkhole -- can't tell after just a couple of hours. Pretty sure I put back too much soft stuff, though. Might have to change that again.

The company I bought this mattress from is having a half-price sale (ending today). I'm tempted to go in there and just start over. A lot of their beds use PU foam, but they do have one mattress that's just a 6" Dunlop core, with a wool and cotton quilted panel. Probably not a good idea, though, until I figure out what's wrong with this mattress and how to fix it. Otherwise, I'd probably wind up going through this whole thing again, 'cause I'd still have to figure out the right toppers for a comfort layer. If I can ever get that figured out, then it almost won't matter whether they're on a latex core or an innerspring -- unless, of course, I turn out to be one of those people who can't get enough back support from latex, in which case there'd be yet another expensive mistake. (Between the latex I've bought recently and the medium-firm Overstock 2" Dunlop topper that I brought down from the attic to check out, I've almost got enough latex to skip the springs entirely and build my own latex mattress.)

The last 2 or 3 years that I had my old mattress (we're talking 18-year-old mattress), it was really uncomfortable, and I'd wake up with numb arms & hands, and I could feel the coils. I am now wondering how I managed to tolerate that for so long. Maybe there are things I could handle in my mid-40s that I am not quite as willing to tolerate now.

Something else that puzzles me: For a period of at least several months, I was fine with using just my old thin fiber-pad, the 1" of 24 ILD Talatech, and the 2" med.-firm Dunlop topper over my mattress. That same combo now feels too firm. No idea why.

Anyway... Happy New Year, everybody. I hope we all figure out this mattress thing so we can sleep well and spend our precious time & energy on other matters.

My shoulders & hips were throbbing because the mattress was way too firm (that's why I finally got up and changed everything at 6:30 AM). There was no sinkhole -- the reason I did the surgery -- but there was no pressure relief, either, even with 2" of 14 ILD latex as the top layer, over 1" 24 ILD, 1" 27 ILD, and 1" FBM (guessing 28-30 ILD).

When I got up and changed everything, I put a bunch of soft stuff back on the mattress, just to get a few hours of cushioned sleep. I'm pretty sure it was too much soft stuff, though. Not sure what I'm going to try tonight. Wish I had something between 14 and 24 ILD.

Sandman, do you still use that 1" 4lb "mem-cool" memory foam from Overstock, or did you decide that it was too soft and interfered with support? (I know you have the 5.3lb memory foam from FoamOrder.com; can't remember what you thought of the mem-cool stuff.)

It seems that you are now getting the support, and now need to focus on comfort.  Of course there is a trade off between the two.  I am a little surprised because you have a fair amount of foam on top.  Do you think the 14 is really 14?

I bought a 2" piece of memory foam from Costco recently for a spare bed.  It seems like a pretty good value (and returnable), but I am not totally sure of performance because I don't sleep on it. 

I got it directly from the mattress manufacturer. They use it in the top layer of some of their latex mattresses, and call it "super soft Talalay latex 14 ILD." I have no reason to doubt them. It certainly feels ridiculously soft, and it's very fragile. I think it's too soft, and I just bottom out on it.

(Were you thinking that the 14 is actually a lower ILD? I'm pretty sure it's not higher; it's worlds apart from the 24 ILD I have.)

I might call the local foam wholesaler this week and see what they have in the way of memory foam. I know they carry some; just don't know what density and whether I can get just an inch of it.

I think tonight's trial is going to be 1" 14, 1" 24, 1" N3/27 ILD; then the quilted mattress panel; and below that, the 1" FBM (est. 28-30 ILD?), over the dacron & Novabond fiber & springs. The FBM latex is pretty dense, but the N3 and 24 ILD toppers from SLAB are very resilient and do not feel overly firm.

The soreness in my shoulders & hips was much worse last night than the night before; I wonder if some of that came from rotating the mattress. (I'm leaving it in its current rotation spot for now.)
 

Trying it seemed like a good idea at the time -- they were calling it 14-17 ILD when I bought it; I wanted to support a local independent business; and it was much cheaper than SLAB's products.

Of course, everything I've tried has seemed like a good idea at the time (with the possible exception of the mattress surgery).

"Since it is quilted into the top, you may have to completely remove that as well."

Almost certainly will.

"Another factor is the fact that it is two sided."

Huge factor.  Anything between the springs & solid foundation will affect their performance.  

Yep, decided that this morning, when I woke up with that same lower-back pain. Has to be coming from the quilted top panel, since that's the only thing I added to the setup last night. (Didn't use the fiber-bed, and used only 1" of the 14 ILD latex.)

As for the stuff on the bottom of the mattress, not sure what I can do about that. I don't particularly want to cut open the bottom of this thing, too, or yank everything out of the mattress encasement.

(If I did yank everything out of the encasement, what would I put the spring structure in? And would I need a piece of hard foam on the bottom?)

Is it worth even continuing to work on this thing, given that there's 2" of poly foam on the bottom (under the springs) and I can't tell if the coils are still good? Would it be better to cut my losses and start over with something else? I s'pose I won't know if the coils conform the way they're supposed to unless I detach that Novabond pad; hmmmm.....

This project is driving me nuts, I'm very frustrated and not sure I'm making any progress, and I've got so much else that needs to be done. I think I'd cut my losses right now if I knew what kind of mattress to try next. I even inquired about prices at Baybed.com -- the mattress manufacturer in CA that makes pocket-coil-and-latex mattresses with a zipper cover. (Shipping to NY would be $250.) I'd at least know that the coils are good. (Sorry for whining; I'm tired.)

Regarding memory foam: I called the local foam wholesaler. I could get a 2" 5.5lb "Tempurpedic quality" memory foam topper, but it would cost $285. Yowsa. I can get 2" of 5lb memory foam from FBM for $98.  The local wholesaler doesn't offer anything less than 2" thick on memory foam. I'd prefer to try an inch at a time (and I'm not shelling out nearly $300 for that), but I might pop over there sometime this week just to try the stuff out and see what it feels like.

Well, Jason, you might get to say "I told you so" (or "Fixed It For You" again).

The sinkhole is coming back -- and this is after I rotated the mattress (a couple days ago) and cut off the top quilted panel (yesterday). Measured it this time, this morning, by laying a yardstick across the bed and holding a ruler up at the deepest part of the dip, and there's a 3/8" gap. Not a huge crater, but enough to cause lower back pain.

So, either the coils have crapped out, or the foam on the bottom of the mattress has crapped out. If it's the 2" of PU foam on the bottom (1" of which is quilted into the mattress case), then the springs will have to be extracted.

Extracting the springs raises several questions, like: What do I put this thing in? How do I maintain edge support? And do I need to put a piece of plywood over the entire foundation?

(Ooohh, actually, I have an idea that might let me keep the case in a usable condition... but it'll take a while to do, and I might still lose edge support, though I don't know if that's really all that important.)

Also, I'm wondering if the Novabond fiber mat that's on top of the springs interferes with the springs' ability to conform. If so, then building a mattress with that stuff kinda defeats the purpose of using open offset coils, which are supposed to be fairly conforming, from what I've read.

This is all rather confusing....