Mattress Forum

If you look at the link above your posting, Haysdb put lots of great pictures showing how you make they make slats firmer in the area you want.  I would put the firm plastic things in the hip area to make it firm, and leave the shoulder area to flex.  I don't know if you would have that much motion transfer, particularly if the system is split, I believe they are split for queen and king.

I think this would be like a spring mattress.  Nobody has talked much about this system.  I have seen these at Ikea, but I don't buy from them since they refused to allow me to return a mattress topper that was not the same as their floor model, it was over $200 too!  Still fuming over that one.  I love to rant and rave

Sure wish someone here would post here if they have a Euro Slat foundation. 

BTW, in the event you're wondering, I don't make it a normal practice to lie on bare wood slats. I was taking a break from packing up the mattress to send back, and I must say, it was the most comfortable surface I'd slept on in a long time! 

Not to overtax our resident mattress expert, but Budgy has a compelling explanation for what makes flex slat systems so great. So you might want to PM him if he doesn't make an appearance here..

Hope this helps!

The reason I was thinking about the Euro Slats is I remembered outside furniture that had plastic strips spaced apart like the Slats, and how comfy they were, and I had no pressure points.  Of course I didn't lay on my sides, but I would have hip pain if I didn't have some give in the chair.

Did you keep the Euro Slats to try a thinner latex bed?

I'd love to try an adjustable slat frame.

I have used foam just flat on the floor and I had no problem with it. Maybe if you live in a very humid area or sleep on a concrete floor at ground level it could be a problem but for many situations I think just putting a mattress - spring or foam - on the floor can be just fine. Then again, maybe some backs need some "give" under them. Who the heck knows? Now I'm back to "Woudn't it be great to have unlimited funds to try this and that...?"

So anyway, my reply to the question re inexpensive foundation for latex, is: The Floor.

Or a "regular" S company box. Many of them have no "spring" anymore, they're just wood slats with material over them. Sometimes you can get real good deals on them if the mattress store wants to make a sale bad enough.

If I were "handy", had the tools and such, I would just build one. I'd build a frame and make it just high enough to clean easily under it with a vacuum, and put slats across it. This goes back to the other thread about toxins in latex and such:

My one concern is the smell from wood. God knows what kind of chemicals they treat wood with, I have noticed that a lumber store smells pretty "toxic". I wonder, if I were to buy some wood, what kind would be best to buy, to avoid toxins? I know, regular wood, itself, should be natural enough. But it smells like maybe they treat it with chemicals...??

Anyone know for sure?  Just anothe issue for me to think about, UGH!!!

I agree Jim I need an unlimited amount of money to try all of these things.  I am so desperate to sleep more than a few hours at a time.....  I just want to sleep on my sides without pain.

There really are a variety of different base options that you can use for a latex bed.  Slats of some kind whether they are completely solid or flexible is preferrable for the airflow alone.

Adjustable/flexible slat's are even better, and the very best would be dowellings with some kind of adjustable suspension underneath.  There are lots of different ways you can build this style of base.  Some of them allow for the actual tension in the slats themselves to be adjusted, or even completely removed.  Some rely on the slats doing all of the bending where as others would prefer to use a suspension underneath slats or dowels to provide the flex.  Its all based on proper ergonomics principle, for truly optimum posture and pressure relief down the length of the body you 'might' need more than just vertical contouring support (which is what good latex will provide), you can enhance the lateral support via slats/dowels. 

Technically speaking it is much more optimum to 'zone' a bsse than it is to 'zone' a mattress, its more expensive to do it this way but it is better.  When you change the vertical support in the mattress itself by zoning it, you are negating the mattresses ability to conform precisely to body shape.  This may or may not be an issue for some people.  By changing the lateral support you can bias support to be more or less in any region of your body without interfering with the mattress conforming to the shape of the body. 

Flobeds uses a flexible slat system in one of their base options which is very similar to what Natura uses in their mechanical adjustable bases, a convex shaped slat system held in place with some kind of polymer anchor that is quite supple.  And on a few key areas there are 2 slats stacked one on the other which is held in place with some more polymer sliders that can make the bottom slat provide additional support depending on how it is adjusted.  Natura uses this type of system right inside some of their mattresses, which is just like the original mattress they ever made, although I am not sure if it was adjustable.

The reason dowelings are better is that they do not flex as much as convex slats do and they stay level while they become depressed, relying almost completely on the suspension to provide the support.  I don't want to plug the name but we have a couple different base systems from one supplier that make some absolutely incredibly foundations that use either all dowels on top of different firmness of polymer anchors or a combination of slats and dowels that sit on top of natural rubber as a suspension.  Interestingly enough I have heard a couple of people on here suggest that a 10" or higher build of rubber is best so you don't feel the base through the rubber layers....this one particular mattress that sits on the all dowellings base is only 8" of rubber and no one can feel the base because everything moves with you, it is meant to feel 'bottomless'.  Yes, even the real heavyweights don't bottom out this one. 

Now to keep some context, this thread is about what is the best inexpensive foundation, then a solid slatted base is going to be just fine for most at the price.  Flexible slatted bases are more money, and flexible dowel bases are even more, more than some mattresses actually.

I sent you a PM.  Just more questions on the Euro slat foundation you had.  What you thought of it, do you think it would break over time.