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Ok, I read a lot on these forums, tried out lots of bed and decided to put together my own mattress through FBM, and I didn't do a very good job at all. I bought 2 in LUX ILD 55 3 in HD 38 ILD 2 in Latex 20 ILD With the terry cloth cover. Everything looked good. The latex foam looked perfect to me, no stains or anything. There was an odor mostly from the polyfoam, and it was strong, but I let it air out for a a few hours and it dissipated. The measurements were pretty close. I thought that I liked mattresses that were firm with a nice soft comfort layer and I thought that I would probably add some more softness on top of the mattress, but this thing is a brick. I already had 2 inches of soft memory foam, so I threw that on top and I still didn't make it through the night (the cat LOVED the memory foam, and she slept great. I didn't). I'm a back/side sleeper, but I could get sort of comfortable on this on my stomach. I ended up sleeping on my 15 year old mattress. I'm 120 lbs, so I think that I just do not have enough weight to sink into the mattress at all. It feels pretty soft if I push on it with my hand, but when I lay down I feel like I just "float" on top. I stayed under my budget so far, but the mattress needs more adjustment than I expected. The whole thing is on plywood. My thoughts are that I should get rid of the LUX foam and buy 2 inches of something softer - like maybe the medium soft foam from Foamforyou, which I think is ILD 23, but the names on the website confused me a bit. Additionally I'm thinking of getting another inch of very soft latex from somewhere else. I'm not sure where yet. I know the FBM ILD 20 is probably harder than other ILD 20s, but I need the top layer to be a whole lot softer, so even if its actually 24 or so, I don't think 19 will do the trick. I'm thinking 14 max, but foamonline offers a 10 ILD. Not sure if they are any good, but the price is not so bad. So the new set up would be 3 in HD 38 ILD 2 in HD foam ILD 23 2 in Latex 20 ILD 1 in latex 10 ILD I could also stick the memory foam in there somewhere if I need to. If I do that, I will pretty much be at my budget, so I don't really want to fail miserably again, so I would really appreciate any comments. I tried some latex over foam mattresses in stores and liked them, so I know its possible to make this work. Any suggestions on where to find an inexpensive soft piece of polyfoam? Would it help to walk on the foam and break it in? Thanks! |
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For side sleeping, I think you will need 2-3 inches of soft stuff -- either 14 or 19 ILD Talalay latex or some kind of memory foam. (Do you know the density of your 2" memory foam topper? Do you bottom out on it?) With just an inch of soft stuff, you will bottom out (sink right through it). I believe that FBM has inexpensive soft polyfoam, but I think you will need to get soft latex elsewhere. SleepLikeABear has it, but it is expensive. If FoamOnline has 10ILD for a good price, that might be worth trying (check the return policy, and check whether their latex is Dunlop or Talalay processed; they have different feels). If the town you live in has any mattress manufacturers and/or foam wholesalers, you could check with them, too. I weigh about the same as you, and sleep on my side, and I have 3" of 14 ILD latex over 1" of 24 ILD over 1" of N3 (25-29 ILD) latex, all on an extra-firm innerspring mattress. ---------- Edited in December to add: No longer using the 3" of 14 ILD; turned out to be too soft. This message was modified Dec 26, 2011 by Catherine
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| I just ordered 4" of the Super Soft Foam from FBM (you have to go to the build your own mattress section to get it), plus a 3" soft latex topper. We just go our new iComfort Insight bed last week and it is WAY too firm for us. I'm also 120 lbs and I never quite "sink" in. I'm hoping that it works!!! |
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Thanks for the replies. I'll be interested in hearing what you think of the super soft foam Solare. I think that FBM sold me a pretty decent quality product and it came quickly, so I'd be willing to buy from then again. Definitely can't beat their prices. It sounds like maybe I can just add some cushion to the top of my mattress, rather than redoing the whole thing from what you're saying Catherine. I have no idea what the IDL of my memory foam is or its density. Its old and I don't really love the feel of it, so I wouldn't mind not using it at all, but for now I need anything to make it all softer. I'm thinking of swapping the layer of memory foam with the 20 ILD latex, and maybe going to bed bath and beyond to pick up some kind of fiber bed to put over the whole thing tonight. I'm going to call foam online to ask them about their return policy and what kind of latex they are selling later, but I'd like to get something cushy on my bed so that maybe I can sleep on it tonight. I'm not sure how thick I want to go over all, because I would also like to keep the bed fairly light. I have my bed hanging from the ceiling, so weight is a bit of an issue. It's about 75 lbs right now, which is great, every inch of latex adds about 15 lbs. The fiber bed should soften things up I think without adding much weight. It won't fall down (hopefully haha) but it will get creaky if it gets too heavy. I don't know exactly how heavy is too heavy yet. I think an extra inch or two of latex would be ok though, and I can always try taking out the firm layer at the bottom or the memory foam if I need to although they are relatively lightweight. |
| Ok if anyone is following, I switched the memory foam to under the latex which feels much better. I also flipped the latex over and I can't say for sure, but it might be softer on the other side or its just softer with the memory foam compressing underneath it. I put a fiber bed on top of it all, but I'm not sure yet if I like that. It's a little lumpy and I feel like when I added the fiberbed, the latex underneath got firmer. I think the fiber is spreading my weight out a bit and keeping me from sinking into the latex? The good news is that I can return the fibre if I decide I don't like it, so its no big deal. I'll try it tonight, and see if I make it through the night. I wonder if that LUX foam on the bottom is doing anything at this point. Do you think that makes any difference? It's only 10 lbs and 2 inches, so I figure I might as well just leave it unless my bed starts getting too tall. Also, I'm finding that I can only stuff 7 inches of foam into the FBM 8in terry cover. I can probably get another in, but its not that easy. Part of the problem is that my latex is cut generously. Its at least an inch too long. I think all the foam was cut a little long and is using up the space in my cover on width instead of height, |
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"I feel like when I added the fiberbed, the latex underneath got firmer."
When I was looking to get a latex topper, I was told that you should try and have as little as possible between you and the latex in order to retain the feel of the latex. |
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lefty2026 wrote: Ok if anyone is following, I switched the memory foam to under the latex which feels much better. I also flipped the latex over and I can't say for sure, but it might be softer on the other side or its just softer with the memory foam compressing underneath it. I put a fiber bed on top of it all, but I'm not sure yet if I like that. It's a little lumpy and I feel like when I added the fiberbed, the latex underneath got firmer. I think the fiber is spreading my weight out a bit and keeping me from sinking into the latex? The good news is that I can return the fibre if I decide I don't like it, so its no big deal. I'll try it tonight, and see if I make it through the night. I wonder if that LUX foam on the bottom is doing anything at this point. Do you think that makes any difference? It's only 10 lbs and 2 inches, so I figure I might as well just leave it unless my bed starts getting too tall. Also, I'm finding that I can only stuff 7 inches of foam into the FBM 8in terry cover. I can probably get another in, but its not that easy. Part of the problem is that my latex is cut generously. Its at least an inch too long. I think all the foam was cut a little long and is using up the space in my cover on width instead of height, The 2 inches of latex might work for mattress surgery (search for it on this forum) with that 15 year old mattress, or as a topper on another bed in the house -- I don't know what sizes or what else you have to work with there. This might be cheaper and better than buying expensive latex layers or sleeping on a "fiberbed." |
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Hi, Thanks! I actually don't really like the memory foam. Its comfortable to me until I want to roll over. My memory foam topper is not particularly dense and only has a little bit of "memory" to it, so the feel is something between regular soft polyfoam and memory foam. It might have been an interesting idea to do mattress surgery on my old mattress though with the latex, but at this point I think I'm going to stick with the foam. Anyway, I took the fiberbed off the bed and returned it and last night I slept on the latex over the soft memory foam. I have to say that I slept really well and without any pain. It doesn't feel soft or luxurious by any stretch, but it worked just fine. Maybe compared to my old, squishy, saggy mattress anything was going to feel hard. Anyway, I could leave it alone, but I think it would be even better with just a little more cushiness on the top, so I went ahead and sprung for the 1 in of the SLAB plush 14 ILD latex. I'm hoping that it will still be just as supportive, but with a nicer feel. I could have saved $70 if I went with Foamonline, but I couldn't find much about them, and everyone here seems really happy with their SLAB products. If it's perfect I still end up under my budget, I was just worried about money initially when I thought I might need to make a lot of layer changes. If I'm happy, the whole thing will cost $689, so still a nice savings on what I probably would have spent on a mattress. Plus its a much bigger chore to fix a mattress that you don't like than to just adjust your layers. I think that doing it myself probably saved me a couple hundred dollars over buying an equivalent. Also, I would say that it was fairly easy to put together. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do it by myself, but I didn't have a problem. The boxes were 30 and 37 lbs, so I could carry and lift them. It would have been easier with two people, and I did break a sweat doing it, but still it really wasn't a big deal. The latex has kind of strange properties, where it's very soft when the load is over a small area and quite firm when the load is distributed. I was actually more comfortable on my side than on my back. I think because the load was over a smaller area, I actually sunk in better? I hope putting the soft latex on top doesn't have the same effect as putting the foam or fiber on top, but I think it should be good. In the end its going to be: 2 in LUX ILD 55 although I think this layer is probably doing nothing and I could take it out, but maybe it's good to have, because there is a small possibility that in the future, someone heavier than me might be sleeping over and maybe it will make a difference for them. 3 in HD 38 ILD 2 in Soft memory foam I have no idea what the ILD is but less than 20 probably 2 in Latex 20 ILD 1 in latex 14 ILD I'll let you know how it all works out. |
| Oh and I only have space for one bed, so unfortunately I can't really use any extra pieces. |
| Oh and one more question. I read in another post that putting latex over memory foam could keep the latex from breathing. What does that mean? Should I put a sheet or something between the memory foam and the latex?? Maybe I should take a picture of the foam and try to post it, because my memory foam is not dense at all. I'd guess it weighs about 10 lbs, which would make it about a 2 lb density, so maybe it breathes better than decent quality memory foam. |
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So Lefty, what do you think of the SLAB 14ILD latex ? Had a LONG conversation today with a helpful woman there. She said that she's gotten the impression that FBM latex tends to be firmer, at a given rated-ILD, than theirs. So even though I said I'd put 1" of FBM 20ILD on my unknown 6" latex base and still found it too hard, she thought I'd be happy by adding another 1" of SLAB's 19ILD latex. She's sending me a sample of the 19 and 14 ILD. She said "you can't lie down on a sample" (duh), but that you could kinda judge the relative firmness by pinching it. Anyhow, very helpful and un-hurried conversation. They ARE expensive though ... But it looks like FBM simply has nothing any softer than the 20ILD latex, except the super-soft foam - except I think someone said, maybe you, that it's no softer than the 20 ILD latex. It's possible I don't need a softer material (than the FBM 20ILD latex), just another inch (or two) of it; except when I tried folding double my 1" piece, it still seemed too firm. Maybe 3" would do the job, but I'm thinking I really need an inch of something softer, especially since the 1" of old-old p/u eggcrate on there now (on top of the 1" FBNM 20ILD) feels pretty nice, definitely not too firm, if not maybe a little "saggy".
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