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I have performed mattress surgery thanks to this site a couple years ago. I'm been waking up a little sore over the last couple weeks and fell like its time for something new. My old set up was an queen innerspring with all original foam removed and 2 inches of latex on top of that. Latex was from FBM.
I am thinking about getting simple PU base to put the latex on top of. Maybe some memory foam under the latex as well since it is at such a good price point at FBM. Little background. 5'10" , 155. I toss and turn all night. Always have so not sure it is the bed. Would love to wake up completely refreshed one morning. What is the absolute minimum amount of PU one should have as there base. How many inches before you bottom out so to speak. At first I was just going to get 3" of lux and 3" of hd36. The regular would be fine for me. I don't intent to get much more than 5 years out of this. I'm look at this as more of a cheap experiment. If i find the magic combination I could always buy the better materials when these go bad. A couple years ago people were just buying 5" of either LUX or HD36, then adding more to that. Has anyone laid on 2 or 3 inchs of LUX by itself? Does it bottom out? Is HD36 much softer. I read a post of a guy who put 1" of LUX above his springs and below of 3"s of MF and it made the bed much firmer. Makes me this this LUX is pretty firm, even 1 inch of it. I do know if I fold my latex over so that it is 4"s high on the floor it bottoms out. So what is the mnimum base one can go with bottoming out? Then from there I can add to my comfort layers to find the best fit. For example 5 or 6 " LUX 5 or 6" HD36 3" LUX + 3"HD36 2"LUX +2"HD36 2" LUX + 2" HD36 +2 " supersoft PU I understand that comfort is a hugely personal thing and what is comfortable to one is not to another. So if anyone has these PU bases if they could give me an idea of what they got and if they like them or if they would have change their order. Also what everyones opinion of 3 1" pieces vs 1 3" piece. Will they have the same compression and feel. I have had 3 1" pieces of latex in the past and always felt 1 3" piece would feel more solid.
thanks in advance for any help/info Jay This message was modified Oct 28, 2011 by jasesun23
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Jay, my experience is with 5 inches of the FBM HD36-R (ILD 36) under 5 inches of FBM "soft" toppers (ILD 20-24). The mattress is on a platform and the 5 inches of latex is in no danger of bottoming out (the more it compresses the more the poly foam pushes back) and its borderline too firm for my preferences. I've read elsewhere in the forum that 3 one inch pieces of latex feel different than one 3 inch piece (I think it was in a post by the late, great Phoenix if you want to spend some quality time searching.) I wanted to try latex so no regrets, but for pure sleeping comfort at your height/weight I would be tempted to try 3 inches of the 4 lbs memory foam glued to that 5 inch HD-36-R base. Sorry to say the price is now $250, it must have just gone up because it used to be like $175 in a queen. Still, if you want a cheap experiment that could prove to be just right in terms of soft but supportive I would try the 4 lbs visco. |
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Thanks for the advice SLAD. I think I will try either 4 or 5 inches of HD36. The more I read about LUX / 50IDF the more I believe it is really firm. One person mentioned that the 2"s they had was probably the same as using a piece of plywood. FBM emailed me back that they would send me sample PU pieces. I just don't know if I want to wait that extra time to feel the pieces and if I will be able to get a good idea of firmness from a small sample piece. I'm all for ordering the minimal inches necessary to not "bottom out". For now my comfort layer will be 3" of 32 ILD. I dont' even think you would consider this a comfort layer, as you said you have 5"s of 20-24 ILD pieces. Just called FBM and asked their advice. The lady said get at least 4 inches. 3 is too little and could chance bottoming out. 5"s is what she recomends but she said I will be fine with 4"s as well. She told me to not bother with 2 inches of one and 2 of the other and just get a solid block. As fas as what firmness to get she is sending me out 2 sample pieces to get a better idea. I think I will be good with 4 inches of hd36 , 3 inches of 32 ILD latex on top of that. If it is still too firm I can add 2 inches of 20 latex or even try some memory foam. In a couple years I'll probably update to a latex core. I've folded the 1" pieces of 32 ILD latex until it was approximatly 6 inches high. That feels pretty nice. I could see in my future the 6" latex core which only brings in more problems. Do I get he 29 IDl or the 36 IDL. And with spending 550 dollars the choice becomes alot more important than making a mistake with 100 dollars worth of PU foam. |
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FBM sells a 5.6 lbs density latex that feels firmer than a comparable ILD from say Latex International, just like the Dunlop process latex feels more firm than Talalay (not saying FBM is selling Dunlop.) My concern for you would be that 3 inches of 32 ILD latex on that HD-36 base is going to feel too firm. FBM used to say people would have trouble telling the difference between their medium and soft latex. I had to get 5 inches of soft latex for my mattress to feel nominally comfortable (it's firm, not plush.) So you may end up buying another latex layer just to make it soft enough and the question will be what else could you have done for the same money? Would you have been better off putting those dollars towards that 6 inch latex mattress? That's why I mentioned the 4 lbs memory foam (btw, the price may not have gone up, I was probably looking at topper pricing, not mattress pricing.) For a total of $250 you could get a supportive but soft 3 inch visco mattress on a 5 inch base while saving for and researching a much more expensive DIY latex mattress. I have a 4 lbs Aerus memory foam mattress in our RV and it's just as comfortable as all that latex (firm, not plush.) |
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I really like the idea of the DIY mattress. I'm sure this happens to everyone though, the more you read, the more questions you have, the more unsure you become. I guess all you can do is try. And if you waste some money in the end it will probably be less money that it would cost for a store bought mattress that will not feel as good. I'm going to still try the 4 or 5 inch piece of PU HD36 foam with 3 inches of 32 ILD latex on top. I'm believe you are correct that it will be too firm but I'll give it a try for a week or two. If it does not work I'm going to give memory foam another try. I had a 2" piece about 5 years ago. It was junk from Bed Bath and Beyond. A 2 or 3 inch piece of 5 LB memory foam sounds good. I can then tweek it with the latex I have or just remove the latex and try the memory foam ontop of the PU foam. Do you think I'll notice any difference between 4 inches of PU hd36 foam and 5"s of HD36? This has nothing to do with cost, only a couple dollars, I just don't want my mattress too high. Especially if I add some memory foam/latex at a later time. |
| On a platform bed (essentially a board) or the floor I wouldn't think you could tell a difference between 4 inches and 5 inches of PU base. I've noticed that mattress protector manufacturers all tend to be optimistic about how big a mattress they will fit so it's wise to be mindful of your overall height. |
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Finally order and recieved my PU foam from FBM. This is just a little info for those interested in PU foam as a cheaper option and FBM. I placed my order on Nov 17th and recieved it Fed EX on Nov 23. Not a bad turn around time. Box was pretty beat up but product inside was wrapped and not damaged. Seems everyone gets beat up boxes from FBM. My order was for a twin 39*75 inch peice of HD36-R PU foam. On foambymail.com, it was $73 so I ordered something for 2 dollars to make the total $75 and get free shipping. If anyone was interested in the HD36-HQ I would suggest they order from foamdistributing.com. Same site but different prices. FBM has free shipping for 75 and over, foamdistributing has it for $100 and over. I'm glad I got the HD36 over the LUX but maybe I should of got the HQ instead of the R for only 25 dollars more. Only time will tell with that. The PU foam stinks. I recived samples a week and a half ago from FBM. They smelled aweful as well. However they do not have an odor to them now. Maybe a very slight odor but nothing compared to just opening it. It needs time to air out. The piece of foam is clean. It is exactly 5"s high and 39"s accross. It is however 2"s short at 73"s. I will call to complain as see what FBM says. I'm 5'10" and 75"s is barely long enough. The 5 inchs has no chance of bottoming out. At 155 pounds it feels like a barely sink into it. I'm glad I did not get the LUX as this is hard enough just as SLAD said. I cant imagine LUX having any give. Especially at 5 inches. I could of easily bought 4 inches but it would of cost the same without the free shipping. Not sure if I could of gotten away with 3 inches of PU foam. PU foam feels nothing like latex. I sought of knew this but now that I have them next to each other they are very different. As people have metioned latex has give and bounce and some softness the foam does not. This is a temporary situation and I will definitly either use my queen springs or get a latex core when I move to my new apt. I should really sleep in this first before I make that statement but its just a feeling I have from just looking at the material. I'm interested to see how it sleeps. I'll update this after a week or two. |
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Foam must of need more time to expand. It is 75 inches long. FBM did a very good job with the foam and delivery. This is the second time I ordered from them and am very happy with their service. SleeplikeADog was correct. Even with the HD36-R and 3 inches of medium latex the bed is firm. Hopefully I will sleep well on it. |