Motion Transfer/Isolation trouble

Mattress Talk General Mattresses Questions
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Questions re: Motion Isolation/Transfer issues when sleeping with partner

Previous Bed: Tempurpedic - was great for motion isolation, but not good (for us) with most other things, e.g., sleeping hot, difficulty with moving, etc.

Current Bed (in final 2 weeks of 100 day trial): Sleep on Latex (SOL) medium firmness King size mattress with 2" soft topper

Foundation: US Boxsprings brand KD wooden foundation (split king) (for those not familiar with US Boxsprings, this is not really a boxspring but rather a foundation designed for latex beds with slats < 3 inches apart)

Bedrug: coconut, latex fiber bed rug between foundation and latex mattress - probably not necessary??

Bed Frame: Older, hard woods but some give/sway. There are two metal supports that rest on the wood to support the foundation and that don’t appear to be that sturdy.

A little history: We had a Tempurpedic mattress for many years. The one really positive thing about the Tempurpedic memory foam had been the excellent motion isolation, but with time we realized we were sleeping hot, not having restful sleep, sinking and feeling almost stuck in the mattress, and eventually one of us didn’t even want to sleep on the bed.

We decided to try something new, and the idea of a natural product, e.g., latex, really appealed to us. We decided to trial the Sleep On Latex medium firm mattress. We tend to be back and side sleepers, and we realized after some weeks that at least one of us was having some discomfort with side sleeping, so we added an additional soft 2 inch topper layer. That addition of the topper resolved any comfort issues, and we have been very satisfied with both back and side sleeping.

We love the bed EXCEPT that we have been struggling with motion isolation/transfer issues waking each other up when turning/moving at night.

We have exceeded the trial time for the topper, but we are OK with that and will keep it regardless. However, we are coming to the end of the mattress 100 day money back return and still feel unsettled about the motion isolation concern.

After reviewing as many references to this issue as I could on this site and others, it seems like there are a few possibilities:

We might do better with a split King mattress (two twin XL mattresses) to reduce motion (and perhaps continue use of the single king size topper). Do you think the difference can be significant? Is there anyone that has made this same change and noticed a reduction of motion transfer?
It’s possible that the older wooden bed frame may be contributing to the motion transfer - so we will try to move the bed (which is very heavy) directly to the floor to rule in/out this as a contributing factor. We could consider getting a new, sturdier platform bed frame - is this likely to make a meaningful difference? Any suggestions? Is it worth considering the addition of more cross supports, e.g., https://www.thesleepshop.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=86 which aren’t inexpensive vs a new, better bed frame.
it be that the KD foundation is contributing to motion transfer? It is designed for latex mattresses. If we do get a new platform bed frame, should we continue to use the KD foundation with it?
4. Perhaps an all latex may not be the best choice for us b/c of motion transfer (but we really want it to be)

I appreciate any thoughts, help, guidance.

Rich

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Hello Rich and thank you so much for reaching out! In our experience, two Twin XL mattresses will have a bit less motion transfer than one king mattress, although I wouldn’t be able to say in advance whether the difference is significant enough to provide the results you’re looking for. Regarding the wood foundation, I would certainly keep the wood foundation to use with your new bed frame unless it causes the mattress to be too high for your preferences. Keeping the slatted wood foundation will help maximize the breathability of the mattress. I’m not sure if the new bed frame will reduce the motion transfer, it just depends on how much sway / movement / give the current system has. I think putting the mattress directly on the floor will be a good way to test if a sturdier bed frame is the right choice. Since we specialize in all-latex mattress and don’t deal much with furniture, I wouldn’t be able to answer your question(s) as to whether cross-supports are appropriate, and you would likely get better answers in that regard if you posted your question in the General Forum, which can be viewed here - https://mattressunderground.com/mattress-forum.html. I can say that we get very very few complaints about motion transfer from our current customers (maybe a few per year) so this isn’t something the average person encounters or has an issue with. It really may be that the old bed frame needs to be replaced, and hopefully the experiment of putting the mattress on the floor (or even on the wood foundation which can then rest on the floor) will help you find the cause of the increased motion transfer.

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Hello, and I thanks for your reply. I will report back (hopefully tomorrow) about how our sleep is tonight with the mattress with the foundation directly on the floor.

Thanks again for your help.

Rich

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Hi again. Just an update. We definitely noticed some significant improvement with the mattress and foundation directly on the floor. I imagine there may be some additional improvement with the split king. Also, I would like to try to post this in the general mattress forum, too, but don’t seem to be able to do so.

Thanks.

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That’s excellent news! Thanks for the update, and I’m glad to hear your making progress on the issue.

I’m not sure what the problem may be in posting to the general forum, but my best guess is that the forum is setup to prevent duplicate posts so if you’re trying to copy and paste the original message into a new post, the website will automatically block it (most forums have this type of safeguard in place).

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Hey Rich,

Thanks for joining the TMU Forum:slight_smile: ! Good to hear that you’re finding helpful resources for trouble shooting your motion isolation/ transfer issues, looks like Expert Member SleepEZ has offered good suggestions.

I am moving your question to the General Forum to share with others interested in this particular topic. Just curious, have your reached out to Sleep On Latex directly, they are a TMU Trusted Member and would like to hear about your experience…

Thanks,
Sensei

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Thanks Sensei!! And yes, I have spoken directly with SOL as well. They do have excellent customer service, but I also so appreciate the experience of others here on TMU and the experts on the TMU team!

Thanks again.

Rich

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Just an update. We did end up trying the SOL split king option to compare to the standard king. Of note, we do still have a SOL 2 inch soft full king topper on top of the split king mattresses, and we realize that may still have some effect upon motion transfer. While the split king (with topper) does not fully resolve the motion transfer, our experience is that the motion transfer is less with the split king, and therefore we have decided to keep it. Of course, other’s experiences may vary, but I wanted to share this for others that may have similar concerns.