Went to 4 stores yesterday--decision made.
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Shopped at local stores. I do not live very near large city, so there were only 4 furniture stores in my closest small city. No store that is ONLY bedding. Not that I would buy at any of these stores, but wanted to lay on a Tempurpedic (or facsimile memory foam) and latex, before making final decision. Only ONE store had a "Laytex" mattress. (Not a typo. That is how latex was spelled on the literature.) The salesman proudly showed me his Englander laytex mattress. It had an INCH AND A HALF OF "LAYTEX" QUILTED INTO THE PILLOWTOP! I didn't even bother laying down on it. So I have only felt the memory foams. Both Tempurpedic and a Sealy facsimile called True-Form felt about the same. I gave them 5 minutes of laying on my side, since I was in warm street clothes. (BRRRRR day yesterday here in Wisconsin.) The beds felt awful hard, but they did soften and mold to my body, as memory foam is supposed to. After the 5 minutes (comfortable) I quickly rolled over and then felt of the impression my body had just made. There were deeper depressions where my hip and shoulder were and less in my middle, so the memory foam was being supportive in aligning my body. It also returned to level in a reasonable amount of time. But overall the bed felt hard to me. It was like laying down outside on the lawn and being lucky enough to find depressions in the ground that matched one's hip and shoulder. You didn't lay down and go "U-m-m-m-m...." You laid down and went "U-m-p-p-p-f-f-f." Sounds silly to describe, I know. I guess I am such a tosser and turner that I can't imagine dealing with the hardness and waiting to "settle" each time. I guess, the point of memory foam is to stop the tossing and turning, but I just can't get past the dead feeling of the memory foam. So I finally did it. Ordered my layers from FoamByMail, this morning. I am going with a 6 inch base of urethane foam- HD36HQ- and a 3 inch medium latex layer and a 3 inch soft latex layer. This 12 inch stack is going on a platform built for my antique full size bed. $667. Now I am going online shopping for a nice mattress cover and/or pad. Will report back, I hope happily and well rested! :-D |
Re: Went to 4 stores yesterday--decision made.
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wyndwalkr wrote: I ordered a full mattress cover (made for memory foam mattresses and a lookalike for the Tempurpedic velour cover) for $37. It is non-slip bottom and full 360 degree zipper. Where did you order that mattress cover from? I know a couple of people who are looking for something like that. Just an FYI on the mattress cover issue: While cotton certainly sounds better in theory, a lot of people find that non-stretch covers tend to produce a drum-top effect that makes the mattress feel hard on the butt or hips. Stretch covers usually give you more of a feel for what's underneath them rather than interfering with it. For those who would rather do it on the cheap--just get a couple of jersey fitted sheets. Put one on the bottom and then fit the other over the top. Just make sure the sides cover all the latex. This not only protects it from UV light, it keeps it from fraying when you make the bed. Latex is really fragile and shreds easily. A mattress pad will provide extra protection and keep everything clean. |
Re: Went to 4 stores yesterday--decision made.
| The cover I just got with my Foambymail mattress was stretch terry with a non-slip bottom and a 360-degree. zipper. Why couldn't you use two, one for the base, the other for the toppers. A mattress protector would hold it all together. |
Re: Went to 4 stores yesterday--decision made.
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Time for a report!!! By the way, the cover I got was purchased off Ebay from a seller called memoryfoamproducts whose store is called Memory Foam Mattresses and Pillows. The cover is a cream color stretch velour and looks just like the covers on the Tempurpedic and Sealy True-Form MF mattresses I looked at. It is very stretchy and holds the layers together well and the bottom of the cover has some no-slide tiny rubbery dots for keeping the mattress in place. Since FBM is generous with their cuts of foam, it took 2 people to tug on the edges and poke at the foam to get it all inside the (sturdy nylon) zipper but it is snug and smooth. Mine was a 12" cover and my foam stack ended up being 12 and a half inches, but all went together well. $37 with free shipping. I found no smell at all to the latex, which was good because I could find no (safe!) place to put those jiggly masses of foam, to air out. They laid on my bedroom floor, folded in half, for 2 days. The PU foam base was rigid enough to stand on end out on the porch with a sheet over it, for the 2 days. The PU foam was not overly smelly, either. But I don't have a hyper-nose! Two night's sleep experience so far. These nights are not a good test, because I have picked up a spring cold virus so the sniffles and scratchy cough does not help my sleeping. I was very surprised at how firm (maybe resilient is a better word) this stack of foam is. 3 inches of soft over 3 inches of medium over 6 inches of medium base. At first I thought oh no! not soft enough!! But I am still in the process of getting used to the feel. Now what I am is a heavy person, side sleeper, with shoulder pain and occasional hip pain, but NO BACK PROBLEMS; never have had backache. The first night it felt like my hip was going to hurt, but that did not turn out to be the case. My shoulder pain was less. Oddly enough, all I woke up with was a bit of muscle tightness IN MY BACK! Go figure! I did lots of tossing and turning, though. A combination of the cold symptoms and the feel of the new mattress. Second night, still coughing and sniffling, but woke up with nothing aching. I did have to put a thin pillow between my knees; a sign (IMO) that the mattress is firmer and pressing a bit more on my hip than the old combo (of hard innerspring mattress topped with 3 inch good quality, medium PU foam and another 2 inches of cheapo soft department store topper foam) did. The 2 inches of cheapo foam topper was a 1 inch folded in half and laying on just above my waist, to cushion my aching shoulders. That also put me slightly higher on the top half of my body. If course the new latex/combo is perfectly flat. This had an unexpected result. I am on a blood pressure medicine that tends to give me some ankle swelling. This swelling would not be completely gone in the morning like it should be. Must have been the uphill slant! Now my ankles start their day skinny as can be! So far: reduced shoulder pain. A bit of concern with all-over comfort level, but know it takes a while to get used to changes. Biggest surprise is the resilience if the "soft" latex. Some other reporters here have considered 20 ILD latex to be too soft. I can only report that 3" of 20 ILD latex feels firmer to me than 3" of 36 ILD PU foam. So much depends on each individual's weight, sleeping position, and particular ache and pain problems. Will report again after I am over this >bleeping< cold. |
Re: Went to 4 stores yesterday--decision made.
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Final report: A-h-h-h-h-h-h-h! I had to put my year-old PU topper (3 inches of HD36) on top of everything else, AND get new pillows, but now I am sleeping the best I have in over a year. So 3 inches of PU with an ILD of 36-38 feels softer on top than the next 3 inch layer down which is latex soft 20 ILD. I can only guess that my weight compresses the 3 inch soft latex down to the next 3 inch medium latex and that is too hard for me? Maybe (without the old topper on) I even bottom out to the base layer? I don't know, but finally my, now 15 inch pile-up, is heaven! I MIGHT achieve the same result by switching the medium and soft latex around, but I just do not feel like doing that right now. I have sort of reached mattress burn-out and since I am sleeping good now, I will wait and see if something changes. I don't mind the PU foam top layer--it will probably wear out (it is not HQ) in a couple years more anyway. Will cross that bridge then... In the past I used down/feather pillows and had nothing good to say about poly fill. But so far my new ones (Overstock.com-Big'Z' personal choice pillows, in extra firm with gusseted sides) get a thumb's up. I do not wake to find them squished out and partially under my shoulder. Poly fill has a rep with me of getting flat and hard, but these got very good ratings from other buyers not to do that...finger's crossed. This is a great place for discussion. If I hadn't found this forum I might still be trying to decide. ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  |