Mattress Forum

I think you have mentioned that you prefer your wife's mattress.  What kind of springs does it have?

cynical, we do have an IKEA but it's about 45 min. away. However I will try to get over there some day in the near future.

pianoman and budgy, yes I think trying the mattress without the box is going to be my first step. I have always felt that this couldn't be the problem, but I guess it could be, after all, couldn't it? So I'll try that.

DiankeK - An Ikea box springs with Bonnell coils? Did you write that correctly? That sounds very interesting and might be something I'd like to try. Can you tell me the name of it? Cost? etc.

As to pocket coils: Budgy - are there any pocket coils "out there" that would be any good for mattress surgery? I would try to leave the mattress alone and NOT do surgery of course, but with the pu foam in it, I am sure I'd probably have to do surgery sooner or later (probably sooner).

The idea of foam around the edges I think would make a twin bed too small. It's already really too small but I don't have room for a bigger one.

So if I were to buy pocket coils I'd have to get one without any - or with very little - foam encasing along the edges. And as someone pointed out, doing surgery might not work on pocket coils. Budgy, what do you think about all this pocket coil stuff? Are there any good ones and are there any I could do surgery with? If not, then what - in your opinion - type of springs would be the next best thing for me.

Right now my mattress feels very good when I get into bed and I get a good 6 hours of sleep but then the last 2-3 hours starts to hurt my MID-back and by the time I get out of bed, I am just plan sore all over my back more or less from top to bottom but not really lower back.

I've been experimenting with various configurations. I even went back to a 1" layer of HR foam but am now taking that back out. I also incorporated a 3/4" piece of very soft memory foam just to soften the whole thing up, and actually it does seem to help and since I'm not getting LOWER back pain I may stick with that either on top or on the bottom next to the springs... The other layer(s) has been my 1" 32ILD natural Talalay and my 3/4" latex mystery Talalay - maybe 28-32ILD maybe Talalay or Talatech. And sometimes with my 2" fluffy wool topper and sometimes without it.

DianeK Joined: Aug 16, 2005 Points: 229

Re: Questions re platform for latex, springs under latex, etc. - please give your opinions Reply #5   Today 8:58 am Quote I have a twin mattress that is my "experiment" - trying out all sorts of things on it.  I sits on an Ikea box spring (bonnel coils).  I felt it was lacking support on the box so I moved it to the floor.  When I put it on the floor it felt considerably firmer than on the Ikea box.  In fact it was too firm on the floor.   So I have it back on the box but I slipped a folded towel between the mattress and box, positioned under my ribcage.  This gave it the little extra support I needed for that area without making it too firm under my shoulders and hips.  Just goes to show how a box spring/foundation, or even a folded towel, can make a significant contribution to the whole setup.

I think any non-foam encased pocket coil will work fine for mattress surgery.

 I am also not sure you unknown piece of latex is the best quality.  It could be all synthetic.  You may want to upgrade that to 24 ILD 100% natural. 

I hate to suggest these things after all the money you have spent, but it is possible you need to upgrade those pieces.  Right now you are not playing with a full deck (of quality layer options that is)

I appreciate your thoughts about my stack, though. The latex seems to be good quality. The blue "Venus" memfoam is junk. I hated it from the day I got it from Ostock (well almost that day, anyway), and I only use it sometimes because it's the best 1" thick piece I have, and the 2" thick Sensus I have is just too thick for me. I sink down into it and it hurts my lower back.

Now:

I did try my mattress without the box springs last night, just flat on the floor. I must say that all along I was very doubtful that the box springs was the problem. And when I pulled the mattress off last night and looked at it, I thought, "Hmmm. It looks to be in very good shape, no dip at all, and the wire across it seems to be very thick steel, so I doubt that is the problem."

But in the interest of science, I tried sleeping without it, anyway.

Owwww! My back killed me. Just TOOO firm without the box springs! I was actually surprised because I thought the box spring wasn't bad, but I also thought it wasn't good, just neutral. But now I see that the box springs does provide a bit of "give" and so it's a good thing.

So back to the drawing board...

I'm going to take the 1" layer of HR foam out that I had tried - out of desperation - for a few nights. I tried it in various locations in the "stack", and I think all of it was worse than without it. So now I'm going back to something like I had before, because although it wasn't GOOD, it was at least better than this and gave me about 6 hours of good sleep before starting to hurt my mid-back.

I am thinking my next move may be to buy a 19ILD latex layer. Should it be one inch or two inches? I'm thinking one inch or 1.5" because like I said, the 2" Sensus is just too much softness for me. A 24ILD might work, but not sure that would be that different than the latex I have - the mystery piece - which I think is about 28ILD. And my funds are very limited, my apartment is already over-full of useless foam, and so I want to make sure my next purchase helps... But really, I don't know that any of it will...

So, have you concluded your box spring is okay?  I assume a wood slat one would be pretty firm, maybe too firm given your floor experiment? 

On your next piece, it is a judement call and only trial and error will really resolve it.  SLAB does not show 1.5" on their website, and Sleepez does not show 19ILD (or less).  Either one may be able to custom order. 

Foambymail has 20ILD naturual talalay at a good price, but I am not sure I trust their ILD ratings.  I think others may have said they could not tell a difference between the soft and firm?

SLAB does allow returns within 90 days (less shipping both ways and maybe a handling fee?), so you may just have to take your best guess and gamble on something.  It does seem that replacing the fake Venus and/or HR foam will be an improvement.  The 19 ILD vs. the Venus will give a firmer more supportive feel, but not sure if it will be too firm.

Thanks for your thoughts, as usual.

Yeah, I"ve tried EVERY configuration!

Yes, the box springs is definitely fine. Very thick firm steel wire and no dip that I can feel or see. So I put it back under me because the floor was too firm. No platform bed for me! I know now that this type of box spring is good for me, at least with this mattress.

Right now I can't afford to buy a topper anyway, so am just making do and playing around. I may try the Sensus again, on the bottom layer as you suggest. I did try the Venus as a bottom layer recently and it seemed to be okay but still did not give me 8 hours of comfort. Now I have the Venus back on top with the 2 latex layers under it and it's better than it was but again, still, not 8 hours of comfort. Oh well. It is what it is.
 

But anyway I took off the blue fake Venus foam last night and added it (1") to my wife's bed because she suddenly out of the blue complained of her mattress being too firm. So I replaced my 1" Venus with 2" of Sensus last night. Lo and behold I slept good and woke up without back pain. IF ONLY THIS WOULD LAST! (But I have to be pessimistic based on past experience.) Anyway, thanks for the tip. If it does fail on me, then hmmmm? Maybe I could try just one inch of Sensus... or go back to my idea of buying one inch of 19ILD Talatech or natural Talalay.

1" of Sensus and 1" of 19 ILD would provide a bit more support.   I am now using that combo. at the top of my stack (19 on top).  That seems to provide enough support and comfort for me, but I don't have the same back issues as you.

If the 2" Sensus stops working, maybe you can find a giant meat slicer and cut into 1" thick slices!  Good luck with that.  I have thought at times of manually shredding the memory foam or latex and putting it a topper cover, so I could add or take out to get the right feel (kind of like you can do with a shredded filled pillow).    Never have done it though.  The pieces would probably shift around to much anyway.