6 months of hell mattress shopping, a few weeks of mattress modding (finished product)
A few months ago, the mattress hunt broke me and I went a bit mad asking for help.
Out of like 150 posts there was this one guy who recommended building my own mattress, but he kind of got drowned out in a sea of noise. Buy as time goes by and I'm looking and researching and dying inside, I just say fuck it. Fuck the entire mattress industry. I'll do it. I'll build my own mattress, and if I build a bad one, I can at least sleep well on my hatred for all the fuckers who made this so difficult.
After a ton of research, I was prepared to really get into the nitty gritty of it all. I ordered coils because I sleep hot and have always slept on hybrids anyway, so I was relatively certain I wanted them in the final build. I then ordered 3 inches of firm dunlop, 3 inches of medium dunlop, and an inch of firm dunlop. Why this specific combination? Literally no specific reason. The plan was to play around with it, get a feel for it, and then use that information to go forward. I could mix in different materials once I knew what the base bed felt like.
!!! I finished off the process by ordering a 15 inch deep mattress encasement. But I had a specific reason for wanting this goal. My frame is flush with a 15" mattress. I wouldn't allow myself to consider it when mattress shopping, but if I am building this thing, I could put hdf under the coils to fill whatever height I am missing. If you are doing this, maybe hold on off on this? !!!
Anyway, I unwrapped the coils and laid them on the floor. Then I unwrapped the latex and began trying various patterns. Soft on medium on firm. Firm on medium on soft. A layer below the coils. A layer left out. And here's the thing that I am almost certain I am in the minority in thinking: Beaides a few distinct variations... everything just kind of felt fine. Slightly different, yes. But fine. So that's what I used and this is what I did:
I added slats that were 2 inches apart
1" firm dunlop latex (44 ILD) SoL
8" quad coils (15.5 gage) Pocket Spring
3" medium dunlop latex (30 ILD) SoL
3" soft dunlop latex (20 ILD) SoL
15" DIY stretch cover from Pocket Spring Store
(I also DIYed a bedjet to go along with this)
[(I'm quite proud of the little jet engine looking motherfucker] (https://imgur.com/a/19onptq)
And done.
And there you go. Is it overkill? I dunno, but its comfy. Can I even feel the coils under all that latex? I dunno, but it's comfy. Surely the latex under the coils a waste? I dunno, but I had it on hand and it saves me fom returning it and having to buy the HDF. And its comfy.
This mattress cost just under 2k and I am happy. I am finally happy.