All 6 pieces foam pieces have arrived from Sleeping Organic. The last two latex layers were discovered on Monday morning, following the delivery which had happened on Friday. They were discovered tucked between the trash can and the garage. The weather had been cold (down to 40's or even below) and rainy. The boxes were turned on side (which was probably best) and the top box was quite wet, bottom box partly damp. The driveway slopes downward from the garage so there had been no pooled water, and there was partial protection from rain from the trash can itself and from the 12-20 eaves over the garage door. I took the 2 wet boxes off inside the house and dried off the inner bags inside the house all day. Then I opened the plastic bags: two very heavy acrylic bags taped and twisted at the ends, and several inner large trash can bag layers. There was no specific evidence that water had entered the bags, or condensed within. The mattress labeled XXFirm on the box (which Chris Mullins called X-Firm, but the official label is D95, and Sleeping Organic calls this XXFirm on their website, along with D100) has 2 or 3 dime size spots, which could have come from minuscule water entry (though even I'd say this is unlikely), internal condensation (somewhat more likely), or manufacturing (probably most likely). My plan is to cut these small edge spots out using an exacto type (actually Stanley) knife I purchased during the week. That's on the agenda for today (Black Friday). I will using a cover to protect the remainder of the mattress from cut latex dust, and vacuum afterwards.
3 of the 4 pieces which had been taken into the house on Friday within a minute of delivery were visually perfect. The D90 among those 4 has a 7 sq in light spot (about 6 inches long and just over 1 inch in width) along the top face, which could be dust or grease from the shipping floor, or it could be a manufacturing flaw. I asked Chris Mullins and he said that spots are normal in natural or organic mattresses, and come from slight burning that occurs when the latex is poured or shaped by hot rollers. Since 3 of the 4 mattress pieces looked visually perfect, and the one that has the spot seems to have been made and cut in a more sloppy fashion. It could have come from a different manufacturer. OK, this additional evidence does suggest manufacturing rather than packaging flaw. But I still wonder. There's even a remote possibility that it could be something like mold, but it doesn't particularly look like mold. It is a very light spot, and what it most looks like is dirt. I haven't yet tried vacuuming it but now that I'm likely to keep it (since Chris says he cannot guarantee any other piece will look better, and if I return this piece I might very well get a worse looking piece) I will try vacuuming it now.
I was thinking of putting a small piece of paper or cloth above the funny spot. But now I've decided to move the spot to the bottom of my side of the mattress pile. I will be putting the D90 foam on the very bottom, with the spot on the "top" side actually turned down and resting on the bottom of the mattress cover. That way, there will never be air blowing through it. Then, I'll put the perfect looking D95 from the Friday set in the middle. Then, the Medium Firm Organic.
Putting the firmer D95 on top of the D90 will add a slight sense of firmness, I believe, as compared to the more typical ordering of having the D90 on top. Turning the D90 upside down will also do that more slightly. I'm finding that even the D95 is not quite as firm as I would have expected for the X-Firm that I ordered, so a slight increase in apparent firmness would be welcome.
Another feature from putting D95 on top of D90 would be a slight increase in resonance, aka bounciness. The latex foam is very damped feeling, I'd say over damped, compared with an innerspring mattress. Having the densest piece in the middle of the stack would create a natural resonance system, like having a rock tied to a rubber band. Now in the case of the over damped latex foams, and only a slight change in density, this resonance will probably be just barely noticeable, if at all. But I think this slight feeling of bounciness will be a good thing for someone like me who likes to play in bed.
The other side will have the second D95 (the one that was taken inside on Monday) on the bottom, the medium firm that was taken inside on Monday in the middle, and the Talalay Soft on top. Thus no piece with any visible imperfection or shipping goof is on top on either side, and the pieces with the worst visible flaws are on the bottom on either side. I figure the other side will be used by a lighter person, who plays less in bed also, and this will minimize the airflow through the shipping goof pieces on that side, which are most likely perfectly fine anyway. My worst regret about what Chris shipped is actually that he sent a Soft talalay rather than the medium I ordered. But my friend tested it and likes it.
An alternate arrangement would be to put both D95's on my size, leaving the other side to have D90 (with spot turned downwards), medium firm, and soft. I'm thinking that would make the other side be too soft in comparison with my side. And it wouldn't give me the opportunity for bounciness.
***** Update
I've tried both the standard progressive and "bouncy" arrangement. The chief problem with having D95 on top of D90, with medium firm on top, is that the resulting bed is too firm even for me. Whereas to my finger tips the D95 seems fairly soft, as a bed it is very firm indeed, and to have it as the #2 layer makes for an oppressively firm bed.
So I've gone back to having D95 on bottom, D90 in middle, and medium firm on top. This has an overall feel not unlike my old mattress, but slightly firmer. This is not totally deficient in bounciness either, in fact it's hard to tell if it's any different in bounciness than having D95 in the middle. It might even be more bouncy, because having the D95 in the middle does add significantly to the firmness, and the firmness seems to oppose the bounciness after all. The additional firmness is the most obvious thing about having D95 in the middle, but next to that is non-linearity. As you push down on it, it's very firm up to a point, then seems to give away slightly. Not good, actually.
3 of the 4 pieces which had been taken into the house on Friday within a minute of delivery were visually perfect. The D90 among those 4 has a 7 sq in light spot (about 6 inches long and just over 1 inch in width) along the top face, which could be dust or grease from the shipping floor, or it could be a manufacturing flaw. I asked Chris Mullins and he said that spots are normal in natural or organic mattresses, and come from slight burning that occurs when the latex is poured or shaped by hot rollers. Since 3 of the 4 mattress pieces looked visually perfect, and the one that has the spot seems to have been made and cut in a more sloppy fashion. It could have come from a different manufacturer. OK, this additional evidence does suggest manufacturing rather than packaging flaw. But I still wonder. There's even a remote possibility that it could be something like mold, but it doesn't particularly look like mold. It is a very light spot, and what it most looks like is dirt. I haven't yet tried vacuuming it but now that I'm likely to keep it (since Chris says he cannot guarantee any other piece will look better, and if I return this piece I might very well get a worse looking piece) I will try vacuuming it now.
I was thinking of putting a small piece of paper or cloth above the funny spot. But now I've decided to move the spot to the bottom of my side of the mattress pile. I will be putting the D90 foam on the very bottom, with the spot on the "top" side actually turned down and resting on the bottom of the mattress cover. That way, there will never be air blowing through it. Then, I'll put the perfect looking D95 from the Friday set in the middle. Then, the Medium Firm Organic.
Putting the firmer D95 on top of the D90 will add a slight sense of firmness, I believe, as compared to the more typical ordering of having the D90 on top. Turning the D90 upside down will also do that more slightly. I'm finding that even the D95 is not quite as firm as I would have expected for the X-Firm that I ordered, so a slight increase in apparent firmness would be welcome.
Another feature from putting D95 on top of D90 would be a slight increase in resonance, aka bounciness. The latex foam is very damped feeling, I'd say over damped, compared with an innerspring mattress. Having the densest piece in the middle of the stack would create a natural resonance system, like having a rock tied to a rubber band. Now in the case of the over damped latex foams, and only a slight change in density, this resonance will probably be just barely noticeable, if at all. But I think this slight feeling of bounciness will be a good thing for someone like me who likes to play in bed.
The other side will have the second D95 (the one that was taken inside on Monday) on the bottom, the medium firm that was taken inside on Monday in the middle, and the Talalay Soft on top. Thus no piece with any visible imperfection or shipping goof is on top on either side, and the pieces with the worst visible flaws are on the bottom on either side. I figure the other side will be used by a lighter person, who plays less in bed also, and this will minimize the airflow through the shipping goof pieces on that side, which are most likely perfectly fine anyway. My worst regret about what Chris shipped is actually that he sent a Soft talalay rather than the medium I ordered. But my friend tested it and likes it.
An alternate arrangement would be to put both D95's on my size, leaving the other side to have D90 (with spot turned downwards), medium firm, and soft. I'm thinking that would make the other side be too soft in comparison with my side. And it wouldn't give me the opportunity for bounciness.
***** Update
I've tried both the standard progressive and "bouncy" arrangement. The chief problem with having D95 on top of D90, with medium firm on top, is that the resulting bed is too firm even for me. Whereas to my finger tips the D95 seems fairly soft, as a bed it is very firm indeed, and to have it as the #2 layer makes for an oppressively firm bed.
So I've gone back to having D95 on bottom, D90 in middle, and medium firm on top. This has an overall feel not unlike my old mattress, but slightly firmer. This is not totally deficient in bounciness either, in fact it's hard to tell if it's any different in bounciness than having D95 in the middle. It might even be more bouncy, because having the D95 in the middle does add significantly to the firmness, and the firmness seems to oppose the bounciness after all. The additional firmness is the most obvious thing about having D95 in the middle, but next to that is non-linearity. As you push down on it, it's very firm up to a point, then seems to give away slightly. Not good, actually.
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