Does a latex foam topper ontop of firm innerspring mattress make a good combination?
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Background: My girlfriend can't sleep through my snoring. Part of the solution is for me to sleep on my side (which reduces snoring), but I find that after a few hours I roll over onto my back or stomach due to being uncomfortable, snore louder, and wake her up. Since my bed is fairly old, I figure it's time for a new one anyways, and want something that will help me stay on my side. So, I've done alot of research on mattress recently, trying to make sense of all the options. Based on budget concerns here's what I'm thinking of doing, and I would like opinions as to whether it will meet my needs.
I should mention that I'm 5'7" and currently 180lbs (hopefully less in the future, but we all know how that goes...), and my gf is 5'0" and 120lbs. We're looking for a queen bed. Thanks in advance, TiredAndConfused This message was modified Oct 24, 2009 by tiredandconfused
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Re: Does a latex foam topper ontop of firm innerspring mattress make a good combination?
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I think the Sealy coils are too thin gauge. Get the thicker coils. Get the mattress that has the LEAST amount of foam, because none of the foam will be any good. Chances are you'll have to do mattress surgery on it anyway, but you can try to make one work with little foam (Extra EXTRA firm) and then add your latex topper(s). My advice is to try a 1" latex and a 1" memory foam like Sensus. You can put the Sensus under the Latex so your girlfriend maybe won't feel the memory foam heat (?). Otherwise go with 2 x 1" latex - one ultra soft, and one just soft. THen you can change them around, one on top of the other and vice versa to adjust the firmness you want. Or try it with just one, etc. Good luck. I've yet to sleep on a mattress "out of the box" that worked for me,with or without toppers. IMHO, they all have to be cut open and have the cheap foam replaced with good foam. YMMV. |
Re: Does a latex foam topper ontop of firm innerspring mattress make a good combination?
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Thanks for all the info/advice, Jim. There's alot there, so I hope you don't mind if I respond to it in pieces. jimsocal wrote: I think the Sealy coils are too thin gauge. Get the thicker coils. I take it that the thickness of the individual coils is more important than the overall amount of steel in the springs? I'll definitely prefer thicker coils in my search, then.jimsocal wrote: Get the mattress that has the LEAST amount of foam, because none of the foam will be any good. Chances are you'll have to do mattress surgery on it anyway, but you can try to make one work with little foam (Extra EXTRA firm) and then add your latex topper(s). Yeah, that was the basic plan. Hard to figure out exactly what's there, though. According to USMattress, that first Serta I referenced has the following layers (from top to bottom) over the springs:- Advanced Comfort Quilt (the cover?) - Zoned Convoluted Foam - Serta Quilt Fiber - FireBlocker - Firm Foam which is the least amount of "stuff" of the mattresses I've looked at. I'm not sure it's thickness, though. This mattress also has the lowest "comfort" (aka softness) rating of anything on that site, so I hope that's a good sign. The lower-cost Serta just replaced the lowest layer "Firm Foam" with "Serta Foam", which I'm guessing is a lower ILD PU (it does have a higher "comfort" rating), so I'm guessing it's worse for this purpose. jimsocal wrote: My advice is to try a 1" latex and a 1" memory foam like Sensus. You can put the Sensus under the Latex so your girlfriend maybe won't feel the memory foam heat (?). Otherwise go with 2 x 1" latex - one ultra soft, and one just soft. THen you can change them around, one on top of the other and vice versa to adjust the firmness you want. Or try it with just one, etc. I was planning on going with the 2" 32ILD latex because I was afraid that my 180-ish lbs concentrated on my side would make anything softer compress to nothing, and basically have no effect. I was thinking that the CuddleBed would soften it up abit, and if I still found it too firm I could add a 1" 20ILD layer on top to soften it up further, ending up with basically a 3" latex mattress. Do you think that's going to be too firm for my situation? Or is there some other property of the memory foam under-layer that you think is important here?My main concern is being able to lay on my side for extended periods of time without my shoulder or hip feeling sore or going numb. Currently I can last about 1-2 hours before being uncomfortable enough that I have to change position. jimsocal wrote: I've yet to sleep on a mattress "out of the box" that worked for me,with or without toppers. IMHO, they all have to be cut open and have the cheap foam replaced with good foam. I've read up on your saga; it was quite educational. If you saw the bed I've been sleeping on for the last few years, you'd probably think I had a spine made out of steel rod just because I don't wake up with chronic back pain. The sag was pretty bad when I looked at it. So, I'm hoping I'm just not as sensitive, and can survive for awhile before I need to break out the knife. I am abit of the DIY type, though, so it is tempting... Thanks again, TiredAndConfused This message was modified Oct 29, 2009 by tiredandconfused
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