Questions/Help Constructing a Sleep EZ Mattress

Talk To The Experts Sleep EZ
1

Hey,
So, I’m currently evaluating my options for building a Latex Mattress. My main considerations at this point are Sleep EZ and Latex Mattress Factory. I think at this point I’m leaning slightly more towards Sleep Ez due to the warranty and the fact that customization of split layers doesn’t drive the price way up.
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For some background:

  • [li]Current:[ul]
  • We are on a ~15 year old firm innerspring mattress
    [/ul][/li]
    [li]Sleepers:[ul]
  • I am a 6’4" 225lb stomach sleeper…who occasionally rolls to side/back. I’m guessing my rolling is due to me becoming uncomfortable.
  • My partner is a 5’7" 140lb side sleeper
    [/ul][/li]

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We tried out a latex mattress at The Original Mattress Factory:

  • [li]Construction:[ul]
  • ?? on top/stitching
  • 1" of 3PCF (16-22 ILD) Talalay Latex
  • 2" of 3.25 PCF (21-27 ILD) Talalay Latex
  • 4" of 2.5 PCF (24-34 ILD) Polyurethane Foam
  • 2" of 3.25 PCF (21-27 ILD) Talalay Latex
  • 1" of 3PCF (16-22 ILD) Talalay Latex
  • ?? on top/stitching
    [/ul][/li]
    [li]Notes:[ul]
  • This is a flippable mattress - hence the mirrored pattern above
  • It seemed a bit soft for me, but was still comfortable. Maybe a little firmer would be nice
  • The price (~$2,100) seemed a bit steep
  • TOMF’s warranty & return policy isn’t as nice as other places, so sorta worrying
  • TOMF recommends their “true box spring” (even for Latex), while most places seem to recommend slats or a flat non-bowing surface.
    [/ul][/li]

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So, now to get into the questions that I have about building the proper latex mattress:

  • [li]Many places seem to use Dunlop as the base layer and often the middle layer. Why is this?[ul]
  • Is it just because Dunlop is cheaper (not necessarily worse - just less expensive)?
  • My main concern here is that if we ever wanted to swap some layers to adjust the comfort, we wouldn’t want to move the Talalay to the middle and bring Dunlop to the top.
  • The OMF mattress I listed above uses all Talalay, but also has the polyfoam core. Would Dunlop or Talalay give more of the polyfoam core feel?
    [/ul][/li]
    [li]A couple questions about the split layers:[ul]
  • Does anyone have experience with the top layer being split? Can you feel the seem when rolling over, or is it just like a change in firmness?
  • If you can’t feel the seem, is there any reason to go with a full sheet/layer rather than splitting? Like if we want the top layer to all be medium talalay, is there any reason to get that as a full sheet? The separate medium things would allow more customization options down the line, right?
  • If we were have a 3" medium in the middle and 2" soft on top, what would result from us switching the layers? (ie: 2" soft in middle and 3" medium on top)[/li][/ul]
  • Based on our size/weight and sleeping habbits, would the 9" model work, or would we be better off going with the 10"?
    [li]Due to the AC/Zoning in the house, one of the concerns of ours is the heat in the summer.[ul]
  • Would one material be better than the other in terms of air flow?
  • What are your recommendations for the mattress protector?
    [/ul][/li]
  • What can you tell me about the cover? I see that it’s a cotton cover quilted to 1" of wool. What does that do in terms of airflow/heat and what does that 1" do in terms of comfort and/or firmness?
    [li] Lastly…I put the specs of the OMF Serenity Latex above. Being I found that comfortable, what would be your recommendations in order to achieve something similar? Basically I just wanna know what would be the SleepEZ equivalent…and then my partner and I can discuss how we would want to alter that.

[hr]
Thanks for any assistance!
…and thank you TMU for this amazing site!

2

Hello BChaps and welcome to the forum! Just a couple of quick notes: Most of our answers will be the same as Latex Mattress Factory’s answers, so I would defer to their answers for the duplicate questions but will fill in the gaps a bit since some of the questions are a little different. Also, it sounds like some of the questions are aimed at getting general opinions from the forum (“Does anyone have experience with the top layer being split? Can you feel the seem when rolling over, or is it just like a change in firmness?”) and my recommendation for getting a broader range of opinions would be to search the forums for things like “split layers” to get multiple opinions.

When it comes to Talalay and Dunlop neither one is “better” than the other – they each serve an important purpose in the mattress. A good way to summarize it is that Talalay is better at contour and pressure relief and Dunlop is better at providing support and helping to maintain proper spinal alignment. Talalay can help maintain proper spinal alignment to a degree because it adds what’s called “secondary support” which basically fills in the gaps between your body and the mattress, but a good (and oversimplified) summary is that Talalay is good for your hips and shoulders and Dunlop is good for your back.

There’s no “wrong way” to arrange the layers, and some customers prefer the feel of Dunlop on top and Talalay underneath that. Latex will contour to whatever it’s resting on, so the top Dunlop layer will compress and contour according to the layers that are underneath it. You won’t lose all the contour and pressure relief the Talalay layer offers, you’ll just dampen those characteristics down a bit by moving the Talalay layer down.

There’s no direct comparison in feel between poly-foam and latex, but Dunlop does feel closer to poly-foam than Talalay.

As long as the total thickness is the same for both sides it wouldn’t make a difference to have a 2" layer on top on once side versus having the 2" layer in the middle or bottom for the other side.

Either the 9" or 10" would work just fine, the 9" will be a bit more supportive and the 10" will have a bit more contour and pressure relief. However, layer exchanges are always more complicated for the 9" mattress because you need to know in advance what layer you don’t need (because we need to know whether to send you a 2" or 3" layer). If you have three 3" layers we know we have to send you a 3" layer which allows you to try many more different configurations to get the mattress dialed in, and you don’t have to worry about one side being a different thickness than the other side. Please note that we don’t do layer exchanges on DIY mattress.

Without having more information on the temperatures in your room I wouldn’t be able to say whether or not you should be concerned, but as long as it’s a climate controlled environment you should be just fine.
Talalay is only slightly more breathable than Dunlop because it has a cell structure that’s a bit more consistent.

Our Select Sleep mattresses ship out with a free SlumberLuxe mattress protector, which is made with a biodegradable, chemically un-treated waterproof liner and this is the protector we recommend.

Our cotton & wool cover has 1" of wool (which is also the natural fire barrier) that is good at temperature regulation and wicking away moisture. The 4-way stretch cover allows you to contour into the latex better, making for a plusher feel. We no longer make the stretch cover in thicknesses above 2" and 3", just FYI. Although wool is outstanding at temperature regulation and wicking away moisture, latex is also outstanding at temperature regulation because it is an open-celled and naturally breathable product; so latex is a great “ventilation system” that will draw body heat away from you and allow it to dissipate into the mattress and foundation. The stretch cover allows you to be closer to that natural latex “ventilation system” which allows the mattress to sleep pretty much just as cool as having a 1" cotton & wool cover.

The only way to replicate the feel of the mattress you liked would be to build the exact same thing. Additionally, how you interpret the feel of something may be different than the way I interpret the feel of something, so I really wouldn’t be able to give you a good answer to your last question, but please keep the following in mind: even if you lay on a mattress for hours in a showroom, you still won’t know if it’s right for you until you actually sleep on it and allow your body time to adjust. I’m concerned that you may be putting too much emphasis on the initial feel of something as opposed to how your body adjusts to it, and that information is something you can only get from time spent sleeping on a mattress. Also, and perhaps most importantly, if you try a DIY setup and find that it’s too firm or too soft, you can unzip the cover and rearrange the layers or request a layer exchange to adjust accordingly and get the mattress fine-tuned for your specific preferences & needs. As such, the best thing you can do is pick the setup that has the best chance to be successful for you and adjust from there (if needed).

3

Thanks for the response!

Yeah, this is one of the main things that has lead me down this DIY route - either the full-DIY or the Sleep EZ “part-picker” style.

It sounds like both are good, and I probably don’t wanna go with purely 1 or the other. But being I’m primarily a stomach sleeper, it sounds like the 2 Dunlop + 1 Talalay may be best for my needs.

4

Right, the differences between a DIY mattress and the Select Sleep mattress are the return, warranty, and exchange policies (the materials are all the same). DIY mattresses have a 30 day return policy, there isn’t a layer exchange policy for DIY mattresses, only one component is eligible for return, if you decide to return something the return fee would be the actual return shipping cost, and DIY mattresses aren’t covered by any warranty. However, it’s very rare that latex takes a body impression, so it’s not likely that you will need to use your warranty policy. If you’re confident that your initial layer configuration will work for you, it’s not likely that you will need the layer exchange policy, either. It’s just a matter of which of the two policy types you’d prefer and which of the two prices you’d prefer.

I agree that Talalay over Dunlop over Dunlop would likely be the best choice for you, especially as a stomach sleeper.

5

Hi again BChaps, I just wanted to clarify, when you said you’re considering the Sleep EZ “part-picker style” were you referencing the Select Sleep line where you can pick your layers, or were you referencing our components page where you can buy separate layers and a cover for a DIY mattress like you can on the Latex Mattress Factory website?

6

I wasn’t quite sure what to call it. the “part-picker style” was what I meant by something like the Sleep Ez Natural Latex Mattress - where it’s basically a package, and I’m customizing the components.

Part-Picker was probably the wrong wording.