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My order of PU foam for my DIY Eastern King latex-foam hybrid mattress from foamdistributing.com arrived yesterday. It included six 82" x 76" x 1" Lux foam skins, plus a 15 lb. bag of shredded memory foam and a 72" x 5" poly round bolster. (I'm going to use the shredded memory foam to try and make my own king size pillows, and I plan to cut the poly round bolster into five 14" lengths to be used for back/lumbar support when sitting). Everything arrived safely and well-boxed. Here are some pics of the order...
The order shipped in four boxes. I opened one box, then remembered to start taking pics...
Contents unboxed but still in outer plastic shrink wrap...
Contents with all shrink wrap removed. Note that the contents are packed in an inner, "non-shrinked" plastic bag. They've also expanded somewhat...
All six layers unpacked and layered on top of one another (bolster and memory foam can be seen underneath piano)...
The next six are shots of each layer. These are "crusts" or "skins", so the sides that were against the mold are not pretty. As you can see, the reverse sides are all uniformly beautiful... Layer #1:
Layer #2:
Layer #3:
Layer #4:
Layer #5:
Layer #6:
I also recorded the dimensions and the weight for each layer and calculated the approximate density of the foam... I was pleased to discover that the average density of 2.75 is nearly that of their Lux-HQ foam which is spec'd at 2.8. I was afraid I was going to get something closer to 1.8, which is the density of their Lux-R foam. Finally, I was surprised at how much give there was to the foam when I began handling it. It seemed much softer than I imagined it would be. Once the six layers were in place on the floor and I lay down on it, however, it seemed firm. But the proof will be in the pudding. Come on, latex order, hurry up! More pics then...
6/12/2010 UPDATE — Latex Arrived Yesterday... Pics Below! The three 2" LI Talatech layers arrived from SleepEZ yesterday. Here are some pics...
The order shipped in one box (65 lbs.)...
Unboxed, still in vacuum-packed plastic...
Platform Bed Frame (for assembly pics see Wal-Mart Premier Platform Bed Frame (King) — Assembly & Report)...
Bed frame covered with cardboard from bed frame shipping box...
Bed frame and cardboard with 1" Lux-HQ foam skin on top...
Bed frame, cardboard and 1" foam skin with Luna 11" King Mattress Encasement open on three sides and with sides folded down over frame. Fourth "attached" side is in front with top folded up under front of bed frame. This mattress protector with "three-sided zipper" (according to Luna website) actually has only two sides zippered. It starts in one corner and goes completely to the opposite corner. I was very frustrated and disappointed to find this out but didn't want to return it and have to wait to obtain a true three-sided zippered cover so I used a utility knife to cut the third side open. Once the layers were in place, I duct-taped the side back together from the inside out.
All layers in place — five 1" PU foam skins, two 2" 32 ILD Talatech layers and one 2" 24 ILD Talatech layer...
Finished Mattress!!! Sides have been pulled up, "cut" side (top left) duct-taped from inside out, other two sides zipped shut, and the cover is truly a perfect fit. Yesssss!!!
So how does it feel? See the rest of this thread for comfort reports and updates. This message was modified Jun 15, 2010 by pianoman
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jimsocal wrote:
I think the 1" layers was a good idea - it will indeed give you a good ability to adjust the feel of the mattress. Maybe not as much as 1" layers towards the top would, but nevertheless.. This message was modified Jun 21, 2010 by garypen
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pianoman wrote:
Yes, sort of. I was actually substituting the skins in place of the Lux-HQ foam. Since I always planned to use one of the skins to act as a buffer between the mattress and the metal platform frame, we'd have to compare the cost of five skins to the cost of one 5" piece of Lux-HQ foam. At $17/ea x 5, the skins come in at $85. The 5" Lux-HQ would have been $204. That's a savings of $119. I'll take that! No one will ever see the "ratty-looking skins", they're fully encased, and having them in 1" layers allows me to make small (or larger) changes to the setup of the mattress if I so desire. Plus they're much easier to handle than a 5" x 76" x 80" block of foam weighing in at around 52 lbs. Personally, I still think it would be worth the extra money for a solid piece, as it seems to me, based on logic and physics, that it would react more uniformly, as I stated in response to Jim. Also, it seems like a lot of work to trim all of those irregularly sized pieces so they make a smooth, even, single, mattress-like edge. This message was modified Jun 21, 2010 by garypen
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jimsocal wrote: I think the 1" layers was a good idea - it will indeed give you a good ability to adjust the feel of the mattress. Maybe not as much as 1" layers towards the top would, but nevertheless.. I figured if the mattress ended up being too firm, this would make it easy to take out 1" or 2" of the base foam from either or both sides and add something softer at the top if necessary. (I wanted to keep the total height 11", since that's the height of my mattress cover.) Look forward to see how this feels after a month or so... Wife has no complaints. I feel like I'm tossing and turning quite a bit. We'll see... Does that frame make any noise? Dead silent so far. As noted in original post, when assembling I cranked down the twelve wingnuts pretty firmly with an adjustable crescent wrench, so that probably helps. BTW, there were assembly instructions included (not that you need them). My wife found them under something yesterday. Yesterday I checked underneath the frame while my wife was lying on her side of the bed to see if anything sags down through the gaps in the metal frame. It looked great... no sagging at all. So I'm very pleased with my idea of putting the cardboard from the frame box on top of the frame for support. The cardboard does not even look stressed or compressed where it meets the thin wires. |
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garypen wrote: I must have misread your original post. I thought you said you had ordered Lux-R, which the website states is $166 for a 6". (5" is $138) I didn't realize the skins were Lux-HQ. Personally, I still think it would be worth the extra money for a solid piece, as it seems to me, based on logic and physics, that it would react more uniformly, as I stated in response to Jim. Also, it seems like a lot of work to trim all of those irregularly sized pieces so they make a smooth, even, single, mattress-like edge. The foamdistributing.com website just calls them "Lux Foam". When I originally ordered them, I had forgotten that there is Lux-HQ grade (2.8 density) and Lux-R (1.8 density). When someone pointed that out to me after I ordered, my heart sank a little, as I definitely did not want the lower-grade Lux-R. But when I measured the pieces and calculated the density, they all came in at 2.7 or 2.8, same as the Lux-HQ. Maybe I got lucky. No uncle in the foam business, but perhaps by buying all those skins I somehow affected the laws of supply and demand! When I ordered my skins on 5/28/10, the HD36 was $15/ea. and the Lux was $17/ea. Now they're $21 and $22 respectively. It might be worth the extra money for a solid piece (or maybe two, to allow some flexibility). I can't say much about variances in uniformity of reaction, but I figured under six inches of latex, the base foam is simply providing a firm foundation for the more critical medium and soft latex layers. Regarding trimming, I trimmed my pieces one at a time, but if I could do it over again, I'd stack the six 1" layers and trim them all at once. This would involve just two cuts — the same amount as cutting a solid piece — and would insure a uniform edge. I just didn't think of that... until now. I went super cheap on the base foam ($85 total for 5") simply to get as much mattress as I could for as little $$$ as possible. By shaving the budget here, I was able to go for 6" of latex instead of just 4". It was worth it to me. I almost went for an all-latex mattress, but that would've been so much more and I wanted to be sure I liked latex before shelling out $1400. So I decided for $85 I couldn't go too wrong. Someday I may replace the base with a latex core. That'll be awhile, though! |
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pianoman wrote:
Someday I may replace the base with a latex core. That'll be awhile, though! |
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garypen wrote: That might be nice and all. But, if the PU is working well as the base layer, why change? I could see choosing all-latex for the initial purchase, trying to go all natural avoiding synthetic products for health or environmental reasons, or for comfort of course. But, if the comfort is there, and you've already made the environmental impact by initially purchasing the PU, why swap the base layer? Use the money towards a new keyboard or something. Rock on with your bad self. Planning to swap only when the PU foam gives up the ghost... hopefully it'll be a number of years before that happens. |