Brooke & Wilde Elite Mattress too soft & showing issues of sagging already

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for getting in touch and we’re sorry to hear you’re struggling with your Brooke & Wilde Hybrid foam boxed one-sided mattress. We get this complaint a lot about all the boxed foam one-sided mattresses.

Let’s take a look beneath the covers to see what’s inside this mattress before offering advice.

Brooke & Wilde Elite Mattress Review:

• Memory foam
• Thermoregulating foam
• 2500 Micro springs
• 1000 Synthetic pocket springs 1.3mm diameter (soft/medium tension)
• More foam

The memory foam doesn’t given any density or thickness so it’s really hard to be able to provide a comparison. It’s like a listing saying ‘White wine’ but you have no idea if its sweet, medium or dry or the grape type. When looking at any foam you need to know the density, thickness and hardness of the foam.

That said, as a top layer we can make a guess its 40-50kg memory foam maybe 2-3cm. Memory foam is notorious for sinking and then heating up. Causing sleepers to feel like they are stuck in hot wet sand during the night. Some people love this feeling others hate it. Memory foam is probably the least supportive of all mattress fibres. It’s also Vasco elastic so retains and creates heat which is how it moulds.

That is why Brook and Wild have put a ‘Thermo regulating foam layer’ underneath it. The fact is, all foams are heat retentive and this layer probably has little bearing on the memory foam. It’s likely to be a firmer reflex style foam to aid support.

The support system is interesting as there’s a mix of micro springs and then pocket springs. Let’s start with the micro springs. We really dislike micro springs and in our experience, they provide zero benefits in a bed. Why? Well, they are tiny, around 3-4cm deep. So you imagine getting on the bed, you’re going to completely compress through these at an alarming rate, completely bottoming then springs out. We prefer to fill out mattresses with more natural fibre upholstery than synthetic foams or the near-useless micro springs. Less metal more comfort if you will.

What’s interesting is the pocket spring system in the Brooke and Wilde is a 1.3mm gauge which is in between a soft (1.2 gauge spring) and a medium (1.4 gauge pocket spring). If you’re over 10 stone it may be that this spring tensions also too soft along with the softer foam layers.

Bodyweight	Spring tension
Upto 16 Stone / 50-101kg	Medium (1.4mm)
16 Stone / 101kg Upwards	Firm (1.6mm)
Available in Bespoke Products (Please Call)	Soft (1.2mm)

The reason why you both may find it soft is that combined your bodyweights far exceed the support qualities of the tiny micro springs and then the other pocket springs. Given the fact that memory foam is one of the least supportive materials then it may be a combination of the wrong fibres, spring tensions and mattress construction for your requirements.

We don’t offer a soft spring tension as a standard as people confuse it with a soft feel mattress, remembering that this feels provided by the upholstery and not the spring tension.

Soft mattresses shouldn’t compress so much that you’re uncomfortable it sounds like it is the spring support unit thats not providing enough support at your weights. Below you can see the different mattress fibres, price point and the feel they give on top of a suitable spring unit.

Upholstery Layer	Fibre Type	How it will feel?	Price Point
Polyester	Synthetic	Soft	Cheap
White Fibre	Synthetic	Soft/Medium	Cheap
Recycled Fibre / Eco Fibre	Synthetic	Medium	Cheap
Memory Foam	Synthetic	Medium/Firm	Mid Price
Igel / Hybrid Foam	Synthetic	Medium/Firm	Mid Price
Polycotton	Synthetic/Natural Blend	Soft/Medium	Mid Price
Linen	Synthetic/Natural Blend	Medium	Mid Price
Wool (Pure)	Natural	Soft/Medium	High-End
Cotton (Pure)	Natural	Soft	High-End
Silk	Natural	Soft	Expensive
Horsehair	Natural	Medium	High-End
Mohair	Natural	Medium/Firm	High-End
Hemp	Natural	Medium	High-End
Latex (100% Natural)	Natural	Medium/Firm	High-End
Coir	Natural	Firm	High-End
Flax	Natural	Firm	High-End
Coarse Cashmere	Natural	Firm	High-End
Bamboo	Natural	Super Soft	Expensive / Exclusive
Horsetail	Natural	Firm	Expensive / Exclusive
Alpaca	Natural	Soft	Expensive / Exclusive
Cashmere (Pure)	Natural	Soft	Expensive / Exclusive
Vicuna	Natural	Super Soft	Expensive / Exclusive

Lastly, I would also air on the side of caution with one sided mattresses. There are very few acceptable one sided construction methods. Where possible you should always opt for a two sided mattress, this is because you can turn and rotate it to even out natural settlement that occurs over time. With memory foam you can’t do this so you’re always sleeping on the same side. Causing settlement to happen at an alarming rate. Once it fully settles you may be left with dips and lumps that you can never get rid of.

Slatted base advice:

Your slatted base should be fine with this type of mattress. I wouldn’t advise a sprung edge divan as this will only soften the support you’re experiencing. What I would say is that you may need to board over the slats to give your mattress a more consistent sleep surface. Gaps over 2inches between slats can cause the mattress to sink and sag between the gaps. You can use between 3-6mm of plywood or MDF to cheaply board over the base. You can read how to board over a slatted base here.

I’d maybe get in touch with Brooke & Wilde and ask for a mattress inspection. Either that or you need a completely different spring tension, probably a 1.4 and better upholstery layers.

We hope that helps and gives you further mattress buying guidance. If you have any more mattress related questions please get back in touch on [email protected] or 0161 437 4419.

Sleep well
John & Ryan