Need assistance on where to start
| 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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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. |
Re: Need assistance on where to start
| 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. |
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so far memory foam doesn't work for me either (though i too have only tried foamex 4lb, so maybe 5lb is significantly more supportive). mine feels great initially. then within a few minutes, it feels like it's melting away from under what it was previously supporting cold. then i feel my hips & arch of my back start slowly sinking downward more & more as I drift off. wake up with pain there if i don't feel it before i ever fall sleep. but either way, if you do go for memory foam, definitely don't put it at the bottom. i tried it just out of curiosity, and it just makes for a soft sinkhole even under firm latex, & i.m.o. you lose the coolest thing about m.f. in the first place- how it conforms to a higher "resolution" when at the top (like conforming exactly to fine contours, as you can see around your fingers like the pin-table novelties). But f.y.i. there ARE a couple of posters here who use m.f. under latex & do like it. if i find their threads I'll link them for you. I.i.r.c. they were using m.f. nearer the top, with a thin latex layer over it. definitely not on the bottom though. good move in reconsidering the loft bed. so many beds disassemble for shipping, you can disassemble to store. no reason to sleep on the floor! |
Re: Need assistance on where to start
| I checked out a TempurPedic dealer yesterday and learned which of those beds I like... only to realize that they aren't measured in ILD (yeah I obviously hadn't done enough research). I also hadn't realized the different between memory foam (like tempurpedic) vs the other types of foam vs polyurethane. I had assumed the HR and other that people were recommended were the same as the memory foam (visco-elastic). Now know what it feels like, it was interesting and I liked one of the firmer models (advantura) better than the firmest and softest models they had on the floor. I felt the sinking but I didn't feel the heat, especially on the softermodels I felt colder actually. I checked out a custom mattress dealer that deal with all types of mattresses. They had some all latex & all foam beds which were very different from the TempurPedic. I wasn't able to get the ILD ratings on the latex only beds as I felt so nervous being the only customer in the store. I so hate being the center of attention even when they leave you alone to just lie on the beds. I'm planning on giving them a call to get the ILD rating so I know what I'm looking for. I Wasn't able to truly feel the difference between the foam and the latex since the foam ones had padding on top and latex ones didn't. After laying on the Memory foam, I could totally understand not placing it on the bottom. It really would defeat the purpose. However, now I'm not sure what I should use for the base. Were my thickness levels correct at least? I assume that the base should be the thickest layer and any layers on top should be thiner depending on need. I'm also trying to keep the costs down so don't want to spend $2k for a full-sized bed. What's the purpose of using a convoluted layer vs a normal one? |
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Base maybe around 6" or so. Comfort layer thickness depends on sleeping position. In general: 1"-2" stomach sleeping 2"-3" back sleeping 3"-4" side sleeping However there are no hard and fast rules, you have to figure out what works best for you. Start with a small amount and you can always add more if need be. |
Re: Need assistance on where to start
| Thanks for your help... so I decided since I sleep hot that memory foam wouldn't be the way to go as I don't really need anything that will added to by already high body heat. Base: 4" Firm High Density type Foam Core: 2-4" 26-36 ILD Dunlop Latex Top: 1-2" 10-20 ILD Talay Latex Dunlop due to the inherent processing of it being firmer on bottom than on top. The foam on the bottom to reduce costs. I know that it'll wear down eventually and it'll have to be replaced. Talay on top as that's the softest "type". I figure I mainly need all the padding for when I am on the side as my current setup (.25 yoga mat, yoga blanket, zipped sleeping bag, Queen size fleece blanket folded in 3rds) which is roughly 6 inches is comfy when sleeping on my back. It's not comfy when on my side and it's ok when I'm on my stomach. I figure if I get the Dunlop layer first I can figure out if I really need something firmer under neath it. |
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pucelle wrote: Thanks for your help... so I decided since I sleep hot that memory foam wouldn't be the way to go as I don't really need anything that will added to by already high body heat. Base: 4" Firm High Density type Foam Core: 2-4" 26-36 ILD Dunlop Latex Top: 1-2" 10-20 ILD Talay Latex Dunlop due to the inherent processing of it being firmer on bottom than on top. The foam on the bottom to reduce costs. I know that it'll wear down eventually and it'll have to be replaced. Talay on top as that's the softest "type". I figure I mainly need all the padding for when I am on the side as my current setup (.25 yoga mat, yoga blanket, zipped sleeping bag, Queen size fleece blanket folded in 3rds) which is roughly 6 inches is comfy when sleeping on my back. It's not comfy when on my side and it's ok when I'm on my stomach. I figure if I get the Dunlop layer first I can figure out if I really need something firmer under neath it. That sounds reasonable. Be sure and let us know how it works out! My only reservation is that I myself can never have more than 1.5" or so of soft foam under me, it causes back pain. In fact, usually 1" is enough it seems to me and anything more than that doesn't work for me. It seems that it works for some people to have more softness, but that is my experience. So if you end up with back pain, try removing some layers off the top. Please report back how it works out for you! |