| I"m currently sleeping on the floor via a sleeping bag.... I was going to get a loft bed but I was just informed that I won't have any place to store it once my temporary living arrangement is up. I am thinking about getting a foam bed instead since it would be easier to store as I'd be able to get it into my attic {it would fold to get in the hole}. However, in looking at this forum I'm not certain what I need to search on. I am just looking at getting the foam to place on the floor and I have no idea what level of firmness I like. I love my posturpedic at home but I have a habit of sleeping on top of comforter's cause I like the softness. My posterpedic is from before the advent of pillow tops and being if I were home for a long period of time would most likely invest in a topper as the mattress is still good. However, I'm currently away for an unspecified period of time (about a year) and need something that will be portable when I leave. I'm 5'8.5", 220 lbs, and generally sleep on my back/side. On the floor, the sleeping on my side is uncomfortable so I've switched to sleeping on my back with a towel rolled up under my lower back. It's actually not too uncomfortable but I want something more soft. Thanks. |
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You could start with just a topper under your sleeping bag. Do you think you would prefer a marshmallow type feel (memory foam) or a firm jello type feel (latex)? Maybe buy the same size topper that will fit your bed at home, so you can continue using it there too. Then if the topper isn't enough you could buy a foam mattress to put beneath it. Since you only need it to last about a year, you could probably get a polyurethane one for a good price. |
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just for the meantime while you're figuring out which foam mattress, a camping mat does help while you're in a sleeping bag on the floor. i've even slept on the thin blue pad from walmart many nights, on the ground & in the bed of my truck (& i'm a little heavier than you). the one at cabelas is even better (2 1/2" soft convoluted foam over 3/16" closed cell foam). but if this is for a YEAR, too long for a bag on the floor, & i.d.k. if you want to keep a complete foam mattress on the floor, considering qucik metal bedframes & 1x4's are so cheap & still collapsible for storage in the attic, along with your m.f or latex. even some air mattresses are decent enough that you won't have to refill them every other night. but both options would fit through your attic hole when disassembled/deflated, so your m.f. or latex won't be directly on the floor. for the short term, a 3" sleeping bag pad (and/or look in walmart sporting goods for a cheaper/harder blue one): or a 3" reversible omalon/memory foam topper you could take back to put on your sealy at the end of the year: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=16584622&RN=690&KSKU=119454 taurplin or rip-stop air mattress (& add a topper): http://www.amazon.com/Aerobed-Endura-Twin-Inflatable-Bed/dp/B00153560K/ref=pd_sim_k_2 & samsclub has 2.5" 5lb m.f. toppers for $115, down to $35 for 3lb density, but i.d.k. about complete m.f. & latex mattress sets. most of us here have either d.i.y. franken-beds or custom ordered from boutique latex mattress etailers etc. if it's something so temporary you might not want to spend a thousand(s). anything's better, side sleeping on the floor IS tough. go for a collapsible bed frame w/slats & put together a foam mattress to your preference? it all fits in the attic next year! |
| I got my Manduka 1/4 inch yoga mat yesterday, placed a yogitoes towel over it & then my sleeping bag on top of that. I sleep on top of the sleeping bag and cover with a fleece comforter. It's better than before, but I feel I still need more padding. I think I'd prefer the marshmallow type feel as I LOVE sleeping/lying on pillows. I took a look at the omalon/foam topper. I tried one of those egg crate things 10 years ago or so when I was in college, have they improved since then? Back then I found them to be too firm. What's wrong with a foam mattress directly on a hardwood floor? |
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What's wrong with a foam mattress directly on a hardwood floor? i.d.k. maybe nothing short term. generally for protection from moisture, dust, floor temp etc. depending on your environment, & providing airflow to the underside so it can breathe better. n.t.m. different foundations affect the feel of a mattress. really just for sleeping up off the floor if nothing else, since your only roadblock to that loft bed was not fitting in the attic, there are beds that will fit up there disassembled. but since the ground is a nonfactor for you, a hardwood floor in particular might nto be too much different than the surface of those flat wood platform beds made for memory foam anyway. if you're one who can sleep on m.f. without lower back/hip pain, just be sure to at the very least put a firmer foam core under it vs. just a solid block of m.f. directly on the floor. no i've never been a fan of the traditional polyurethane eggcrate/convoluted foam toppers either. that texture does feel softer vs. the same in flat rectangular block shape, all else being equal. but ultimately depends more on the type of foam as to how you'll like it. either way, if you haven't looked into latex already, search here & elswhere for some of the reviews that aren't just insisting on a particular seller. i.m.e. latex is great for conforming to contours, yet still actually providing support for your body. highly recommended! |
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You could try an airbed. At least for now. Until you figure out some other arrangement. I bought a Coleman camping air mattress at WalMart for about twenty five dollars. It's well made and hasn't leaked at all. I think it's this model or very similar. I also found this at walmart.com. It looks comfortable, but I can't vouch for how well it would hold up. Only drawback is that airbeds tend to be very cold. They will suck the warmth out of your body right through blankets and sleeping bags stacked on top of each other! Especially in winter. The air inside will be the same temperature as the air in the room. So a warm room might be okay. Or maybe a 3 inch memory foam topper on an airbed would keep you warm. That is my next step for my air bed. Just remember that a regular bed will hold warmth in with fibers or foam beneath the bedding. It absorbs the warmth and holds it next to you. An air mattress is full of air that will take the warmth out of your body, even through many layers of cloth. The way I could tell if the bed was too cold was to do this. Put all my blankets, etc on it. Then push my thumb down into the blankets and wait to see if my thumb got cold. It might take a second or two. If it did, I slept on the couch until the seasons changed enough to be safe. I learned all this the hard way. I started to get pneumonia when my back never got warm! I was weak and unable to function very well before I suspected the bed. I went on the internet and discovered the cold it is a common complaint. A note: I would not put a child on an airbed except in summer. Their bodies are very small and don't hold the heat like an adult. That's all I have for ya. This message was modified Jan 7, 2010 by sleepyhead
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pucelle wrote: I"m currently sleeping on the floor via a sleeping bag.... I was going to get a loft bed but I was just informed that I won't have any place to store it once my temporary living arrangement is up. I am thinking about getting a foam bed instead since it would be easier to store as I'd be able to get it into my attic {it would fold to get in the hole}. However, in looking at this forum I'm not certain what I need to search on. I am just looking at getting the foam to place on the floor and I have no idea what level of firmness I like. I love my posturpedic at home but I have a habit of sleeping on top of comforter's cause I like the softness. My posterpedic is from before the advent of pillow tops and being if I were home for a long period of time would most likely invest in a topper as the mattress is still good. However, I'm currently away for an unspecified period of time (about a year) and need something that will be portable when I leave. I'm 5'8.5", 220 lbs, and generally sleep on my back/side. On the floor, the sleeping on my side is uncomfortable so I've switched to sleeping on my back with a towel rolled up under my lower back. It's actually not too uncomfortable but I want something more soft. Thanks. Depends on how much you wanna spend... You could get some good HR foam if you are in a city that has foam stores. HR foam is good quality, not cheap polyurethane which will break down quickly. HR or M-Grade or HD foam would probably do you well, in a 32-40ILD. If you read around this forum you'll see that many like to use their foam in layers. For example, buying a 4" layer of a firm foam and then two 1" layers of medium and softer foam would give you more options to create comfort than just buying a 6" foam core. Latex is great and sometimes you can find good deals on it around the internet, but still, it's more expensive than HR foam. |
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One month short of 3 years ago, my platform bed had fallen apart. I then tried to buy a bed but was allergic to either the Polyurethane in the bed or whateve the treated the suede on top of the bed with that was a Simmons Roosevelt from Rockaway Bedding. I got so sick and was burning up and could not breath. I was told the bed was 100% natural latex which is was NOT so they finally took the bed back. Now I had no bed and no platform so I slept on the floor. It was so hard, that I put a very thin exercise mat underneath me on the carpeted bedroom floor. I was still uncomfortable and could not waste another 2 weeks looking for a bed and returning it during my busy season. The decorating forum I am a member of told me to buy an Overstock 1" natural latex topper which helped me so much and I found the set up so comforable with the topper over the 1" exercise mat. After my busy season I followed up on the FloBed link clients gave me as well as from many referrals on the decorating forum. I also found this site and decided to buy the FloBed 3 latex layer kit with my own 1" latex topper from Brylane Homes (the Overstock topper was a bit small) since I like my bed very firm and I am very petite. Hence, I found sleeping on a natural latex topper not only helped me with getting a good night's sleep until I had time to buy a bed that would be comforable and that I would not be allergic to, but it told me that I loved sleeping on natural latex as much as the natural latex pillows that I had been sleeping on most of my life. |
| Thanks for the information... I started looking through the threads on the old site so I can get more information. I'm going to get the wooden loft bed as there's a way to dis-assemble it for storage but I have to give them the mattress thickness when I order. I think I'm going make a DIY mattress made up of a latex and memory foam to keeps the costs down. There are 2 places in town were I can check out latex/memory foam beds one of which is a TempurPedic. That'll at least give me an idea of what kind softness I like and I can go from there. I think I'm going to use a memory foam base and use laxtex for the upper layer(s). I need to feel the differences in ILD numbers as I have no correlation as to what they would feel like. I know that the base should be firm Visco-Elastic Memory Foam, I'm guessing 3-6", then 1-2" of a core support Dunlop Latex, topped with 1-2" of soft Talay Latex; that is all encased in a terry/valour mattress cover so that the total mattress size would be between 5-10"; does that sound about right? I wish there was an FAQ sticky at the top of the forum for all the basic questions. Everything is buried within this forum and the old forum and it's hard to find what you are looking for especially if you don't know what search term(s) to use. |
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You want your base [bottom layer(s)] of your mattress to be medium to firm No less than 32 ILD Your comfort layer(s) at the top of your mattress should be softer. ILDs in the 20s or teens. Do NOT use memory foam for a base. It should be used as a comfort layer only. |
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I think most of us here will tell you what MequonJim said: Memory foam does not work as a base core for a mattress with latex on top. Most of us seem to think memory foam doesn't work for much of ANYthing. That's my opinion of it. Memory foam is great - in THEORY. In practice, though, it seems to get softer and softer and it doesn't take long at all - weeks, or months - to become too soft and give you back pain. There are those who like Tempurpedic mattresses and those who use some mem. foam as a comfort layer/ topper. But I, for example, have bought 4 different memory foam toppers: Sensus, Venus, 3lb and 4lb generic toppers from 1 - 4" in thickness; and NONE Of them worked for me. Now I am only keeping them for guest use to put on our hard futon if they want to soften it up, or if someone has to sleep on the floor, or to take camping. My wife and I also hated and returned the Tempurpedic mattress. But if you are going to buy latex, or even HR foam, you don't want to screw up the support it will give you by putting it on top of memory foam. Putting it on top of latex will screw up your support. Now, I have used 1" of memory foam under a 1" latex topper and that is not too bad. But no more than 1", and if it is going under something, it should not go under more than 1" of something else. But even that no longer works for me and I'm no longer doing that. Better bet: Use all latex and then if you really really need something softer on top, consider a 1" Sensus layer. Best bet: use 2" or so of latex on top of some good springs after taking out all the poly foam inside the mattress. Just my 2 centavitos. |