Mattress Forum

I am 29 6'5' and 240lbs. I sleep on my back most of the nite, but i sometimes do toss around and end up waking up on my side.

I currently own a Tempurpedic Cloud Supreme, its one year old and worn out and unusable.

I have a very physically demanding job and with my current mattress i simply do not get any restful sleep anymore and it is seriously killing me.

So my plan now is to somehow work in stages to build myself a new custom mattress and in the process use parts from the old one since I really don't have the money to buy a whole new setup at the moment.

---------------- history ... skip to next part if you just want to read my question ------------------

About a year ago I went mattress shopping and decided on the Tempurpedic Cloud Supreme(Cal. King). Had I known then what i know now I would have never spent $3200 on this terrible excuse for a luxury mattress. I am not rich so this mattress was supposed to last a very long time, which in my mind justified spending so much on it. It was great at first and I really slept well on it, but now it is just a lump of uncomfortable and unsupportive goo. I guess with my weight I have given it alzheimers very quickly and it simply doesnt feel the same way whatsoever as when i first got it. I normally make good purchases but this has been in all honesty the worst purchase I have ever made and I will be paying for it for the next 3 years since i opted to finance the mattress. I honestly cannot sleep on this thing anymore. I wake up with serious back pain and my sciatica has gotten a lot worse in the last few months and i am blaming part of this on this mattress. I really hate this company now because their warranty is a joke and eventhough I already have one of their mattresses they keep sending me pamphlets in the mail which is seriously annoying. Well at least now I know where all my money is going.....marketing and probably those free samples they send out. Some people might love tempurpedic but it didnt work out for me. If i was rich I would simply buy a new one every 6 months and be happy but unfortunately I can't.  I do blame myself for not doing enough research, I most definetely got the wrong mattress for my body type and should have gotten one with a higher density but oh well.

The tempurpedic cloud supreme consists of the 7" base foam layer and 2 x 2" support/comfort layers which i believe are made up of 5lbs and 4lbs densities. The top 2 layers are pretty much worn out in my opinion and i dont want to use them anymore. ( i am considering cutting them and turning them into dog beds for me and my friends, at least that would make me feel a little better compared to just tossing them.)

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Anyways what i would be working with would be the 7" base foam layer and the zipper cover from the tempurpedic . The "temporary" mattress could be up to 11 inches high to still fit in the cover). The base foam layer seems ok to me. I dont remember how firm it was when i first got it but it is definetely some sort of high density foam and not memory foam. It also is in a way convoluted (tempurpedic calls this their airflow system) which would help with air circulation for any toppers on top of it. I havent taken the whole thing apart as of yet but i think i can separate the base layer from the two top layers somehow.   At first I was looking in to replacing the top layers with memory foam but now I am thinking of going the Latex route as it seems to be longer lasting and there are more choices out there when it comes to frimness and thickness.  I already ordered a 2 inch 5lbs memory foam from isoform.com (which was probably a bad idea) before making the decision to go latex  and i am waiting for that to be delivered, not sure how it will compare to the tempurpedic but we will see so i guess i will be using that in my temporary mattress...

So basically what i will have to work with is the 7"base layer and a new 2" memory foam top layer. I am now thinking of adding a 2" or 3" layer of blended talalay latex inbetween the two. if i cannot reuse the zipper cover its not really a big deal if 2" doesnt seem like enough. later on i might be adding more layers in bettween and eventually replacing the core and the top layer.

I am not sure what firmness to go for in the latex layer and if this setup will even work out. Any ideas ?

i was looking at toppers from several online sites. 

latexmattresscompany.com  has a special on a 3" dunlop 7zoned 21-25ild but now i think that will be to soft eventhough i have read that dunlop is harder what do you think ? what do you think of the zoned toppers in general ?

sleepinglikeabear.com has the widest selection i have seen so far and their toppers are from Latex international which seems to make a quality product from what i have seen on here. I was thinking about their 2" blended latex in either 32 or 36 ild for my sandwich layer - what do you think ? given my body type and the top memory foam layer what firmness should i try first? also does anyone have any experience with their celsion topper ? would that make a good top layer in my final mattress instead of the memory foam since i do like the feel of memory foam?

foambymail.com is cheap but i am not sure how good their quality is... can anyone comment ?

any other good retailers out there anyone can recommend for toppers ?

do you think this setup would even work ?

will latex hold up in the long run ? i mean will it last at least a few years ?

I cant spend more than ~400 on this first purchase to turn my current mattress in to something usable. down the road i will probably replace the foam layers with latex ones if i like how it feels i just cant afford it right now.

Any comments or suggestions on what i should try would be greatly appreciated as I really need to get back to sleeping normally and my dog wants her new bed as soon as possible aswell. I cant wait to tear that tempurpedic apart.... i will definetely take pictures of the process and post them here.       Thanks.