| I had purchased an expensive Stearns & Foster mattress 7 years ago. I had wanted a firm mattress and after sleeping for two nights on the one I bought, I had to pay an additional $100 to change it for a model I was told was firmer. It's been horrible. After a very short time it started to sag in the center which, since I am alone, is where I sleep. I've even tried pushing myself to the edge but tend to roll to the sagged center. I'm so gun shy now about spending all this money and not being satisfied. I recently returned from Europe and fell in love with the firm mattress at the villa in which I stayed and was told that Americans usually find European mattresses too firm. I certainly did not. I've also had good experience with some hotel mattresses which are firm. Any suggestions for an ultra firm mattress, tight top, no top cushioning? |
| Well to fix the conditioning of your mattress in the middle; you could buy a 2" or 3" thick by 2' wide piece of foam and run it up the middle of your mattress (between the mattress and the box spring). Then go to the hardware store (your choice) and buy a piece of masonite (have them cut it to the right dimensions) and put it on top of your mattress to firm it up. That should fix it. |
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Dunlop-processed natural latex can be SUPER firm and supportive.
Sometimes if you get it too firm people say it's like sleeping on cement. LOL. I find that a medium firm Dunlop latex piece is very firm but comfortable, especially with some medium Talalay latex on top of that - so like 4-7" of Dunlop on the bottom, and 2-3" of Talalay on the top. There are companies out there selling mattresses like this that offer comfort exchanges during a 60-100 day sleep trial. I would recommend this. But they're not cheap. Flobeds uses all Talalay I think but it also can be very firm. The one I am looking at is from plushbeds. A sleep trial is essential when trying a latex mattress in my opinion and both these companies offer that. Europeans used to use a lot of latex, maybe still do. In the USA stores sold latex a lot until like 20-30 years ago when they went to using a lot of cheap polyurethane foam. The cheap polyurethane (PU) foam leads to a) more $ in the pocket of mattress makers because pu foam is super cheap; and b) more money in the pocket of mattress makers because pu foam wears out very fast and leads to your needing a new mattress. As to mattress warranties from the Big S companies (Sealy, Simmons etc), don't believe it. Read the fine print. It is such that they SELDOM make good on warranties. Latex on the other hand lasts 10-20 years and you won't need to claim the warranty unless it also has pu foam in with it. If you do'nt want to try latex then my next choice would be one of the very firm, higher-end Simmons models with more individual springs than the lower models, and with some latex mixed in with it and NO memory foam. One more comment: When buying a mattress go for firmer than you think you want. You can always add some soft talalay latex on top to soften it up but if it's too soft you cannot firm it up unless you have a modular latex bed like flobeds or etc. This message was modified Jul 24, 2013 by jimsocal
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