| Hi Everyone, I have wrestled with wanting a latex mattress for such a long time ... last week bought a Stearns and Foster latex mattress and then when the sales associate at Sears said I had to have a waterproof cover over it to protect the warrantee on it ... I started to shudder and cancelled the order pronto. I thought why the heck would I pay almost $3,000 on a great mattress ... and by DIYers it isn't great ... only to wrap it with a "plastic" cover ... thought it would resemble a hospital bed. Anyways, I just heard of Sleep like a Bear and thought I would look at their site. I like the look of this Zippered Quilted Mattress Cover ... http://www.sleeplikeabear.com/product/COV-WOL-018 Does anyone have one? Are there other sites that offer similar products at better price? |
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I am like you. anyone who tells me that I have to have a waterproof mattress cover over my expensive mattress or the mattress guarantee is void, can have their mattress back. A simple thin (1 inch or less thick) cotton mattress cover is all you want over a latex mattress, in my opinion. The latex manufacturers that sell on line that I would recommend are in the following order. 1. FloBeds 2. SleepEZ 3. Foam Sweet Foam 4. Savvy Rest 5. Habitat. They all have their pluses and minuses you will just have to go to their websites and check it out for yourself. My personal experience is stipulated quite extensively in my thread, "Just bought a new FlowBeds" If you want to read it all you will have to go to the bottom of the last entry and click on the word "All" as it is quite long at 148 posts. This message was modified Jan 24, 2010 by eagle2
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| this other cover you found is literally the whole cover for a bare latex core (and a pretty nice one at that). it isn't really a protective cover, it would still require the use of an additional protective cover, unfortunately most stores are really big on these water proof protectors as they are basically pure profit, and yet they really take away from the comfort of the mattress overall (and sacrifice a great deal of airflow despite claims that they are breathable). I would recommend just a fitted mattress protector filled with either cotton or wool, and I would highly recommend you get one that can be machine washed/dried. Try a quick google search for that type of mattress pad and you will probably find plenty of places to buy from. |
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I bought one of those waterproof mattress covers for my latex mattress, and I hated it. I took it off. Although it was very thin, just a thin layer of terrycloth with some waterproof backing, it completely dampened the feel of the latex. I do not recommend getting one. There are some other threads on this forum about mattress covers, I believe some people like a cuddlebed mattress cover that's sold by . . . Costco I think? Budgey is right, the mattress cover from Sleeplikeabear you're referring to is just that - an all-encasing cover for the latex layers. That's not what you're looking for, you're looking for something more like a mattress PAD. |
| Hi Eagle, Budgy and Kim, Thanks for your thoughts. I agree with each of you. Forget paying all that money and then wrapping plastic around it ... I am not interested in sleeping in a hospital bed. They tried to tell me I wouldn't tell the difference I just started shaking my head and said "You are wrong." The mattress cover (not a protector) is quite a nice cover but is close to $500 when you make the adjustment for an Eastern King mattress. I think this is quite a lot of money when you will put a Cuddle Bed or another cotton or wool protector over the mattress cover. I have read and re-read your post Eagle regarding your purchase and compared it with BillB's purchase from Foam By Mail. I know you are quite positive about your purchase and Bill is quite positive about his purchase. For me, I live near Toronto, ON Canada so I have the exchange, a tariff, tax and shipping to contend with which makes buying from Flobeds way beyond my budget. There is a local seller of Latex ... www.foamite.com but his price for an Eastern King is close to $3,000. Why so much people? So, I am considering a Twin Extra Long Euro slat to offer movement isolation, and greater flexibility in firmness ... also, something from FBM perhaps with a Latex Topper from a manufacturer in Canada ... I figure the total cost will be close to $2,200 CDA with frame and mattress components but it will be a sweet ride. Also, I don't type in one long sentence ... why does it post like that? I use Mac Safari ... could that be the reason? |
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Hey Jazzsinger, those Foamite latex mattresses do seem very overpriced considering the extensive use of soy based polyurethane foams (btw, calling that stuff green is a bit of a stretch). I don't wanna say they are your only options but there are 2 very reputable Canadian manufacturers in Ontario. Obasan/Sleeptek in Ottawa, and Natura in Cambridge. You may wanna look at both of them and check out dealer locators or try calling them. They are both very recognized names in good quality latex mattresses, and it is of my opinion that if you are going to buy Latex you should go ALL latex as in no polyurethane foam. With Natura you just want to be a little more specific on this because they make a very large selection of products, but anything out of the "Natural" or "Organic" lines do not contain any polyurethane or soy based polyurethane content. check out www.naturaworld.com and: http://obasan.ca/ |
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budgy: Are you not a Canada dealer? if Jazzsinger is not to far away from your store maybe he can come see you. I know Canada is a vary large country and I do not recall where you said you are located. Jazzsinger. Another possibility for you is why don't you give FloBeds a call and talk to Dave or Dewey Turner. Dave owns the company and Dewey is his son. Explain to them your situation, and that you have been visiting this site, of which they are a advertising supporter. Maybe they can work something out for you regarding cost since you live in Canada. I know that they ship internationally all the time. They seem to have an excellent relationship with UPS. This message was modified Jan 26, 2010 by eagle2
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So, are all of you "dealers"? NOW I know why no one answers my post, won't be making any $ off of me. WHAT'S WRONG WITH OVERSTOCK???? They have the Costco latex mattress (8 inch) for half the price....??????????????????? Less than $600 to your door. My latex topper from Overstock (2 inch) rocks. I am dealing with the "off gases" right now from the futon I bought but I am pretty satisfied with my purchase. Sure, I'd love to sleep on the Queen's $ 20, 000 cashmere bed but that's not happening this lifetime. Not that I can see today! One thing for sure, I have found a wealth of info on here and I like it!! I like Overstock as well and you can make any of the toppers out there yourself. The best thing I have read on here is start with a firm mattress and soften it up to your liking. To the dealers: Thanks for getting me off air/water, you were right. While I'm not "there" with the right combo, I am close. I can see it will take some time to adjust. To the men, they should be damn glad they don't have to go through men-o-pause, trying to sleep is the pits. Thanks for all your help and all the time you put in here. Even if you are just trying to sell something you are very wise and this is exactly the way to do it. Knowledge is power! POWER TO ALL BED BUYERS! That you may get exactly what your back needs! Alice |
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haha, I think from what I have seen I am probably the only active dealer on this site, instead of just showing up when a thread gets made about a product I 'hock'. eagle2, I would love to help more easily (I got a lot of latex options) but I am quite the trip away lol. One thing to keep in mind though, most US dealers are not completely aware of all the brokerage fee's and things like this. If the object is too big to send with the US postal service and you have to use a company like UPS or traditional truck freight there will be massive brokerage fee's. That being said from what I can see Flobeds really does have good pricing and even if you get hit with a couple extra hundred as a brokerage fee you will probably still be alright. I only say this as fair warning, I have ordered a set of wheels and tires from the US once, sent UPS. I was hit with a $320.00 brokerage fee I had to pay on site with UPS (unless of course you can clear the products through customs yourself). This was for 4 small pieces at about 33 lbs each. On the larger items that have to be sent truck freight the prices vary a lot. I will tell you from our stores experience, we sell Wesley Allen Iron beds anywhere in Canada, they are made in Los Angeles and we have them sent direct to customers and the bills get sent to us. If you are in a major metro area you might only be $200~$300 on the freight, if you are far outside of a major hub it can be 30% higher than this easily. If you are in Nunavut (lol) its like $800. I would help with your questions about overstock or costco but quite frankly for obvious reasons I have zero experience with online only dealers, and costco sells a lot of different products in the US than what they do in Canada. |
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budgy: Thanks for the response. I am sure a lot of Canada folks appreciate your input. As far as budgy being a dealer, he's the only one that I am aware of on here. He was forthright about telling us his position, and as far as I know, has never tried to use that position to sell anything. While at the same time he has been most forthcoming with his knowledge and helpful with this information. This message was modified Jan 26, 2010 by eagle2
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| thanks Eagle :) |
| Hey Budgy, Where are you a dealer? I find the prices in Canada WAY TOO expensive ... I am ready to buy, but not get hosed for a bed. This is why I am still considering Foam By Mail despite what people say ... I think BillB's post does and excellent job at showing their quality. Also, I am interested Euroslat base from Flobeds. Thanks for all of your help and comments ... I appreciate it. This is a great chat board. Why do my sentences run on as though I don't know how to sculpt a response or know how to use spaces ... because it sure looks different from my posting. |
| im on the other side of this giant land mass lol. we do sell online, but realistically I am not gonna claim us to be the cheapest, we certainly don't mark up our prices, but with the brands I sell especially online there is absolutely no discounting because of dealer agreements, and I think its wise to adhere to them, and fair to local dealers near you. Feel free to PM me if you want more info, but like I have said in the past I will never post my name publicly on the forum because its taking advantage of the user base this site has accumulated and has paying advertisers on. |
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budgy wrote: im on the other side of this giant land mass lol. we do sell online, but realistically I am not gonna claim us to be the cheapest, we certainly don't mark up our prices, but with the brands I sell especially online there is absolutely no discounting because of dealer agreements, and I think its wise to adhere to them, and fair to local dealers near you. Feel free to PM me if you want more info, but like I have said in the past I will never post my name publicly on the forum because its taking advantage of the user base this site has accumulated and has paying advertisers on. budgy: Good on you!!  |
| Hi Jazzsinger777, Ever since I updated Safari on my Mac, my posts come out as one long unreadable paragraph despite the fact that I carefully divid them up when I write. I have not been able to find a fix for this problem. (If anyone has any ideas, please let us know!) Before I updated Safari a few weeks ago, I did not have this problem so who knows.... ???? I tried posting using Firefox and the paragraphs come through fine. Problem is I don't care for Firefox, and have nothing bookmarked in it, so only use it if I have to. Linda |
| I had same problem on Google Chrome. Comes out fine on Internet Explorer using same computer and at pretty much the same time. Too bad, as I prefer Chrome otherwise. |
| I would PM message you Budgy but I have no Idea on how to do this ... Linda and cityskies ... I took typing in Grade 7 and the basics have stayed with me ever since ... take great pride in proper diction ... this just makes me look foolish. |
| I just sent you a small PM so underneath your user name | Log Out on the top right of the page it should say you have 1 message. You can click on that and then reply to me if you like ;) |
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Hey Jazz - I bought an extra cover with my latex mattress last year from Shopbedding.com. It is a king sized, all-cotton, with a full zipper and it was under $25 (US) shipped to me. I haven't used it but it looks and feels exactly like what I want in a mattress cover: not too much! I am wary of the beautiful, thick, wool covers taking the 'feel' out of the latex (and also costing a small fortune) and I agree with all on here that plastic or vinyl is about the very last thing I want under me. I see that some on here are using Safari and Chrome and are having trouble getting paragraphs to show up correctly. I don't know if if would work, but try inserting the break code AFTER your paragraphs like this < BR > < BR > take out all of the spaces between the break coding above (so its tight together) and enter it It may or may not look correct as each of the browsers seem to work a little differently with the on-line editor on this site, but I would try it and see if it takes. This message was modified Feb 6, 2010 by BillB
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I think that putting on one of those plastic or coated covers is NOT what the 'natural' mattress needs. After all, it defeats the purpose of not having to breathe the chemicals while you sleep plus it does not allow your mattress to breathe. To protect our investments we purchased the ALL WOOL covers and on top of that you can put an all cotton pad to absorb most of the fluid. The wool pad is not to absorb the fluids. We found the o-wool by Pure Rest Organics Moisture pads on ebay for best pricing. But we also use cotton pads for absorption on top of the wool especially on the kids beds in case they have accidents. The wool pads we got are machine washable but have to hang to dry. However, slight urine dampness does not require washing since there is no particulate matter in urine and when it is dry there is no odor as the bacteria do not have a chance to grow. After heavy soiling, gentle rinse is recommended. No dryer or sun or it will really shrink. |
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BillB wrote: Hey Jazz - I bought an extra cover with my latex mattress last year from Shopbedding.com. It is a king sized, all-cotton, with a full zipper and it was under $25 (US) shipped to me. I haven't used it but it looks and feels exactly like what I want in a mattress cover: not too much! I am wary of the beautiful, thick, wool covers taking the 'feel' out of the latex (and also costing a small fortune) and I agree with all on here that plastic or vinyl is about the very last thing I want under me. I see that some on here are using Safari and Chrome and are having trouble getting paragraphs to show up correctly. I don't know if if would work, but try inserting the break code AFTER your paragraphs like this < BR > < BR > take out all of the spaces between the break coding above (so its tight together) and enter it It may or may not look correct as each of the browsers seem to work a little differently with the on-line editor on this site, but I would try it and see if it takes. BillB, I bought that 100% cotton cover from Shopbedding and had to return it. They told me it zipped around 2 sides, but the zipper is only across one short side. This would make it impossible to put your latex layers inside. I ended up buying an 80% cotton/20% poly (wanted all cotton but oh well) terry cover from FoamByMail.com. The zipper goes around all 4 sides. |
| Katarina .... I tried looking on Ebay.ca but they didn't have it ... but the main website did. Narnia ... good to know that FoambyMail has a good product because I am leaning toward their product. But I need to read BillB's post again ... |
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narnia wrote: BillB, I bought that 100% cotton cover from Shopbedding and had to return it. They told me it zipped around 2 sides, but the zipper is only across one short side. This would make it impossible to put your latex layers inside. I ended up buying an 80% cotton/20% poly (wanted all cotton but oh well) terry cover from FoamByMail.com. The zipper goes around all 4 sides. Hi Narnia, Does the FBM stretch for you? Is it baggy or tight with all your latex? I don't think you will ever notice 20% polyester. How is that new mattress setup working out for you? |
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narnia wrote: BillB, I bought that 100% cotton cover from Shopbedding and had to return it. They told me it zipped around 2 sides, but the zipper is only across one short side. This would make it impossible to put your latex layers inside. I ended up buying an 80% cotton/20% poly (wanted all cotton but oh well) terry cover from FoamByMail.com. The zipper goes around all 4 sides.
I also have the FBM terry cloth fully zipped cover and I like it. It was a $20 upcharge when buying my latex from FBM over their standard cotton (one side zip) cover. I just looked and its $65/Queen and $75/King. The bottom of it has little nubbins like on the bottom of kids sock slippers to prevent it from sliding around on the foundation. I would think that your (is it 9"?) of latex should fit in that just nice and not be too taught. I also have the Costco Cuddle pad mattress pad/protector over this and this to me is a nice product for the money. Way better than you would find at Pennys or Sears or BBB for the $50+ price. |
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Leo3 wrote: Hi Narnia, Does the FBM stretch for you? Is it baggy or tight with all your latex? I don't think you will ever notice 20% polyester. How is that new mattress setup working out for you? Hi Leo3, yes the cover is stretchy. They tell you on the website that it has "give," and if you use the 8" cover for 9" of latex, it will fit snug. I really wanted an all-natural product, but I figured I wasn't going to get neurotic over 20% poly. That will help prevent shrinkage too when laundering. So far the mattress is working really well, it's very comfortable. The only issue I have is that when I sit up, my butt sinks down into the mattress. I weigh 110 lbs., is that supposed to happen? |
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BillB wrote: Hey, you're absolutely right. Sorry about that. I was wrong about this product. I bought this in Nov '08 when I bought my mattress and have not used the cover; have not even taken it out of the plastic bag it came in.....but now in looking at it more closely, it does look to me like it is only zippered at one end making it near impossible to stuff sticky and fragile latex in and out of it. It probably could be done, but I don't want to even try. Advertising is really amazing.... the key word that was missing in that company's ad for this product was fully as in fully zippered. Lacking fully, you get zippered, which at first sounds good, because you want to think its fully zippered.... but then is really not good. It would be better to have buttons spaced all the way around it than a zipper on just the short end. Live and learn. I think I'll put mine up on eBay for sale as it won't be any use to me, but it would work for a 9" thick king-sized normal mattress, so somebody might want it. I also have the FBM terry cloth fully zipped cover and I like it. It was a $20 upcharge when buying my latex from FBM over their standard cotton (one side zip) cover. I just looked and its $65/Queen and $75/King. The bottom of it has little nubbins like on the bottom of kids sock slippers to prevent it from sliding around on the foundation. I would think that your (is it 9"?) of latex should fit in that just nice and not be too taught. I also have the Costco Cuddle pad mattress pad/protector over this and this to me is a nice product for the money. Way better than you would find at Pennys or Sears or BBB for the $50+ price. BillB, I called them before I ordered it and they said it zipped on 2 sides, very misleading. It's a nice product, I was even thinking of sewing in a full zipper up the side, but I don't have time for a project right now. Since I just received it I sent it back for a refund. I like the FBM terry cloth cover. I didn't put the memory foam piece in, so I have two 3" latex topper and one 2" topper = 8" of latex zipped in there, and it fits nicely. I'm using a cotton pad, which I already had, on top because I wanted something washable. |