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When my last two stabs at buying a "cheap scuff and mark" warehouse mattress ($470 for Sealy reserve or Simmons BR World Class) failed, I quickly dragged the "carcass" of my Serta Perfect Sleeper base for my mattress surgery into my basement from the yard and cleaned off the dirt smudges with Resolve Triple Oxi carpet cleaner. Worked like a charm. Then discovered the following; The springs really did have some give.. not quite as stiff as I had remembered from only a few days ago. So why was I not geting much or any backbone accommodation when lying on my side? DISCOVERY: I HAD PUT A FAIRLY FIRM.. BUT ONLY HALF INCH... LAYER OF PU FOAM ON THE BOTTOM LAYER... TO "PROTECT" THE NEXT LAYER. AS CRAZY AS IT MAY SOUND, THIS LITTLE HALF INCH OF SEMI FIRM FOAM WAS ENOUGH TO CANCEL THE SPRINGS ABILITY TO SHAPE TO THE BODY! I would not have believed it if I didn't sense and feel the difference when I removed it. It should have been a clue that the Serta Mattress as delivered had only a thin (maybe 1/8 inch at most) layer of cotton felt on top of the springs.. then 1 inch of supersoft PU foam (identical to Supersoft from www.foamdistributing.com.."FDC") .. then a firm l1" ayer of PU foam like 36 HD PU foam from FDC, and then 3/4 inch soft PU sewn into the top layer. My breakthrough for lower back sufferers: 4 inches of quite soft 14-20 ILD, all right on top of the springs, with a "differential" layer "second from the top: firmer 20 ILD from lumbar down and soft 4 lb memory foam above the lumbar section to the top end of the bed. Details: Bottom layer: 1" super soft PU foam (was in mattess, but just like FD.com, ri)ght on top of the 1/8" felt on top of the springs. 2nd layer from bottom : 1" super soft foam (FDC). 3rd layer frm bottom (Here is the breakthrough!): From the foot of bed up to the top of lumbar section of back: foambymail 20 ILD latex, 1 inch. For my 6 foot height, this translates to 55" from foot top of lubar. From this point to head: 1 inch, 4 lb memory foam ( mine is "eco friendly 4 lb) or mem cool, from www.overstock.com. Where this breaks under your lumbar region is quite critical and will take some experimentation. Don't cut it, just allow it to hang off the bed while moving and experimenting. For me it works best at 25" of top section. The extra support from lumbar down offsets the extra weight under the hips and (critically) up through the lumbar area, preventing the "hogging" of the back that occurs without that extra support. Top layer: 1 inch of www.sleeplikeabear.com 14 ILD latex. This may work better or worse for different individtuals with the differential layer on bottom, 2nd from bottom etc. The use of 1 inch layers, multiples, allows experimentation. I expect that just a "strip" of firmer material extending from lumbar to below the butt would also work, and might be worth pursuing if you could save on material if your firm section can come from a twin sized piece of material. Discovered: More is not better, unless it is all fairly soft for me. Tried 2inch firm dunlop latex and 1" 36 HD firm PU foam on lower layers and they just canceled out the springs accommodative flex, like putting a piece of plywood on top of springs. I should have known this after finding that placing only a towel under the lumbar region made a noticeable, if not If this sleep tests postively, I will post detailed pictures. shovel99 This message was modified Sep 14, 2010 by shovel99
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Yes, I hope it continues to work. It is interesting that the 1/2" of foam could cause the problem, but maybe certain foams just don't have the flexibility to work. My springs just have a thin layer of packing type material over them which does not have much impact on feel. I think you are finding that a cheap S brand will not work because of the cheap PU foam they put in. You really have to modify them or buying a much higher quality innerspring to get a good experience. I hope you are able to return the ones you bought? It is interesting because I put in a softer zone (really for shoulders) that cuts off about 54" from the foot of the bed (26" from the top of a queen). I have firmer again under the head, but I don't think that matters much. So, somewhat similiar to what you have done. The difference is that I have the softer zone (around 19ILD) put into my 2" of 32 firmer base. I have tried just 4" of the softest I have (without my 32 latex base), but I prefer slightly to have it with the 32. I think I felt the springs pushing back too much for my taste with just the softest 4", but everyone is different.
This message was modified Sep 13, 2010 by sandman
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Today I tried the following, top to bottom: Top: 1 inch FBM 20 ILD ("soft") latex 2nd: 1 inch SLAB 14 ILD (ultra soft) latex 3rd: Differential layer: From head end 25 in. down: 1 in. 4 lb Eco friendly mem foam from overstock.com (Heavier may want 5lb sensus here) From 25 inches from head to foot: 1 in. 20 ILD FBM latex (Heavier folks may want higher ILD here) 4th: Bottom layer: 1 inch "Supersoft" Poly foam from foamdistributing.com. (FD, division of FBM)
This really felt AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Both lying on side and lying on back. Since the 1" Supersoft Poly from FD is very close in ILD to the 20 ILD latex from FBM, I suspect we all could upgrade the bottom layer to 20 ILD latex from FBM for a really long lasting comfort layer. I also suspect that that a section of 14 ILD SLAB latex could replace the 4 lb memory foam in the differential layer... and finish off the entire 4 inches in long lasting latex. I don't have that much 1 inch FBM 20 ILD latex lying around to sub out all those layers, so cant report on it. Thanks Sandman for continued input. I am getting really close. Shovel99
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| But have you slept on it? That is the real test! |