Need advice on making DIY Foam by Mail bed firmer
Jan 1, 2012 1:42 PM
Joined: Jul 14, 2011
Points: 15
Background: I have an EcoSleep Madison that I love and I find the feel of this bed quite different and more solid in a futon sort of way than an equivalent foam by mail setup. I'm still trying to figure out why this is. Could it be the fact that the 6" 33 ILD core and the 2" 24 ILD latex are contained in a non elastic wool padded bamboo casing as opposed to the stretchy cover reccommended for the FBM DIY setups?

Question: My boyfriend recently got a similar setup from FBM - 5" of 36 ILD poly core and 1" of 33 ILD latex (spare bed) and it feels a lot squishier than my bed which SHOULD by numbers be notably softer at 33/24. By squishy I don't mean that it isn't supportive - it certainly is - but on my EcoSleep I feel as if there is somewhere to bottom out to, whereas there is no discernable limit with the FBM bed. I am 5'4" 110 mostly side sleeper with mostly shoulder/arm/carpel tunnel issues to address when choosing a bed. He is 6'2" 166 lbs a side and back sleeper with history of severe sciatica mostly corrected by surgery but still vulerable to pain.

He says the foam makes his back hurt - that its TOO forgiving of the pressure points. Thinking about how we could go about firming up the FBM bed. A 3" layer of 50 ILD ? and where would that go? base? middle? would it help to have it all in a non stretchy case so the squish was contained? how about a dense wool or cotton padded top (not too pricey) perhaps even a 4" roll up cotton futon as a topper ?

Given that most futons these days have foam in them already, it would seem silly to scrap the FBM bed for a futon but even at 36/33 ILD the FBM bed does feel too squishy. (Sorry can't come up with any better words - hopefully people know what i mean.)

Thanks!

 

 

This message was modified Jan 2, 2012 by numbernine
Re: Need advice on making DIY Foam by Mail bed firmer
Reply #7 Feb 4, 2012 9:12 AM
Joined: Nov 25, 2009
Points: 93
bigdaddyk wrote:

 


Can you give some examples of "tightly bound non-elastic cases?"  I'm in the market for one.



The best way is to sew one on, if you actually want the effect, since the casing would have to be right at the dimensions of the foam you're trying to case to have that binding effect.  Otherwise, I think the fabric on FBM's striped case doesn't stretch, is pretty heavy duty, & you can order it to any specific size/thickness, if yours happens to be to a whole-inch increment of thickness, or just over preferrably.

I have only gone the opposite direction actually, removing sewn-on fabric casings so that my latex conforms better.  If I were trying to make a block of latex more firm, I'd just scrap what I had if I couldn't return it, then buy firmer latex instead.  Otherwise I might as well be using polyurethane foam.  I find all the qualities of latex I like are no longer there, when it's tightly bound like that.