Why has my mattress crapped out?
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Or has it? I am truly stumped by this. As you know I bought an Englander mattress a few months back and gutted it, and replaced all the foam with: HR foam, latex foam and/or memory foam (Sensus and Venus). I started out with it feeling great and it basically "fixed" my sore-back-in-the-morning problem I'd had for over a year. After a few months of things being just fine, I started having some back pain. I changed the layering of my foams. I tried taking out the memory foam and having just latex and HR. I tried switching to the 2" Sensus memory foam instead of the 1" Venus. I tried the memory foam under the latex. You name it, I have tried it. But nothing is getting me back to the painless sleep I had at first. Now, I tend to want to believe that this is "just my back", not the mattress. How could it be the mattress? The mattress is new and the foam is all high quality, and I've tried it in various depths and ILD's and types of foams and nothing is working. So it must be just my BACK. Right? Well, yes, except that I went to visit a couple friends' homes in mid-December and I did NOT wake up with back pain, with either of those conventional mattresses. I have no idea what they were, but I'm sure they were a) old and/or b) cheap. Help me think this through: It can't be that the springs have worn out in less than 6 months, right? I weigh about 180 and am 5'11" tall, so it's not like they are taking a beating. And it can't be that the foam is no good, can it? I guess of the two, it would have to be the foam. The 1" layer(s) of HR foam are 3-4 years old, so I guess it could be that, but I'm only using 1" of it in the present configuration, and it certainly doesn't look or feel as if it has given out. So what the hell is it? What the heck changed? Is it my back or is it the mattress? And if it's my back, why does it feel better within minutes of getting out of bed, and why did it not hurt when I slept on my friends' guest room mattresses? What do I do now? I'm thinking I have to try replacing the HR foam - it's the weakest link. Any other ideas? |
Re: Why has my mattress crapped out?
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hey Jim, sorry to hear about your frustrations. just gonna list a comment on a couple observations I made while reading the thread just now. I think since you have basically removed the memory foam from your mattress at the time being, you can probably rule out temperature having any large role to play. latex is not really sensitive to heat, at least not unless exposed to EXTREME cold or hot, but nothing you would see in a house or maybe even outside of a house anywhere in the world. I also agree with your thoughts that the coils have not broken down in any significant way....12.5 gauge of wire is very thick and robust. however....based on your relatively slim build a 12.5 gauge of wire is probably too thick to conform properly to your body shape. you may want to consider replacing the HR foam you have with a relatively firm ILD latex layer....I am not sure who you are sourcing your raw materials from but I am assuming you had some pretty good variety in the selection. If you decide to throw the memory foam back into the mix I would refrain from using it anywhere except the top most layers, memory foam is not really meant to be a supportive material in a sense that it has no real rebound to it, if you place it underneath latex I could actually see it taking away from the support of the latex as there is not going to be a firm enough layer underneath the rubber to bounce off of. If you don't like the feeling of memory foam right next to your body, then you probably shouldn't use it at all in a mattress. In any event I would of course think it is cheaper/easier and possibly just as effective to simply replace the HR foam you are using than it would be to replace the whole mattress underneath. Is there anything else you could tell us about the spring system used in this mattress you have? And is there any additional upholstery in this mattress on top of the spring system or did you do away with all of this before started adding your own layers? |
Re: Why has my mattress crapped out?
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Jim, you may be on the right track with the HR foam. I did not know it was 3 years old. Based on my experience with (supposedly high quality) foam for cushions, they definitely changed in 3 years. However, the change was somewhat gradual. So, if you have been using the foam for 3 years, I am not sure how much it would have changed in the last couple of months? Or were you not using if for some of those 3 years? I would think the biggest change would be in the first few months of break-in, then it would be a slow steady decline after that. I agree that if you did not have the back pain with your recent experience with other mattressses, that would indicate some problem with your mattress. Not sure if you get the pain every day on your mattress or if it occassional. If occasional, then you might have been lucky on the days you slept on the other mattresses? I doubt the coils would change much over a few months, unless they were made with inferior steel. There might be a break-in period, but I have not really heard of that for steel springs. Part of my point was that you might get more support or pressure relief with more or different gauge coils. However, if they worked okay for the first couple of months, then it is less likely that they are the source of the problem. Since latex will supposedly last the longest, you may want to use that in place of the HR foam.
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Re: Why has my mattress crapped out?
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Thanks you guys / girls, for your feedback. It helps when someone says "yeah, it sounds like it IS the mattress" not your back. I kinda felt that way but just wanted to get some reinforcement for the idea. Yes, it's every night that it is hurting my back now. I've definitely determined now that 2" of Sensus memory foam is NOT FOR ME. It may well work for some, but not for me. Now I'm back to 1" of latex and 1" of Venus mem. foam and that is better (it's more or less back to the way I originally had it when it was working for me) and it's better than the other configurations but still hurting my back. So I am going to make the first move and try my first new adjustment by buying either some brand new HR foam or some brand new latex foam. If I can afford it I'll get latex. For the bottom layer over the springs, is 1" of 36ILD good, or would I be better off with 1" of 28ILD and 1" of 32ILD, or ...??? Probably 2" over the springs would be enough, don't you think? I could always add my wool comforter of a cheap 3/4 memory foam topper or Omalon topper if I feel the need for more softness. Oh, and the 2 x 1" layers of soft latex I have. Probably just one of those, maybe with the wool on top? As to the idea that the springs might be too sturdy for my body, that is possible. However, my reason for thinking that is not true is that a) it felt good for the first 3 months; and b) I bought these springs because I originally slept in an Englander bed that had them, for a few nights on vacation, and liked them. Are they optimal for me? Maybe not. But they did feel good for awhile so I have to assume they could feel good again, no? since they're only a few months old? ? Also, it sounds like I'm height/weight proportional but really I'm not I hate to admit it on the bright cool screen of the internet for all to read, but. I have a quite pronounced beer-belly and I think I need strong support in that mid-section, probably. Damn! I feel a little like that guy in the movie Charly (played by Cliff Robertson). Remember, he was some kind of mentally challenged, or learning disabled, and they made him well and he was so happy?... Then, suddenly out of the blue it just quit working for him and he had to go back to being mentally challenged. This just doesn't seem fair. This message was modified Jan 10, 2010 by jimsocal
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