How to Clean a Mattress? 7 Simple Steps Mattress Cleaning

Mattresses are significant investments in a household as they play an essential role in keeping you well-rested for a new day. However, with all the bodily liquid and dust mites that come in contact with it every day can cause your mattress to develop mold and mildew. The problem can be worse if you live in a humid environment.

A moldy mattress with dust mites is the breeding spot for bed bugs that can make it impossible for you to sleep and let us not even get started on how it can be a powerhouse of diseases. And there’s no guarantee that you can kill pr repel them with simple remedies like rubbing alcohol. Plus, it can be expensive to have your mattress cleaned professionally every time. Hence, you should read along to discover some methods through which you can clean your mattress yourself, so it is free of all dust mites, bugs, mold, and nasty odors.

Before you begin cleaning, ensure that your mattress is not covered with pads, toppers, linens, or any other layer. Whether it is memory foam, Tempurpedic mattress, or old-school spring mattress, it should be bare for better removal of all the critters.

 

1. Get Your Supplies Together

Getting rid of dust and mold from the mattress becomes easier when you have all your supplies handy when you start the procedure. Therefore, we would advise you to place a vacuum cleaner, a dish soap, laundry detergent, baking soda, cleaning clots, and cold water at the same spot before you begin the process.

 

2. Wash the Linens Separately

While you are cleaning your mattress, it is only prudent to put away all your bedding, including linens, pillowcases, sheets, and mattress toppers in the washer. Once they are thoroughly washed, hang them in the yard, or anywhere for that matter, to air dry. You can also check the care label on your pillows if you can wash them too.

Once all your bedding is clean, you can ensure that nothing shabby goes on your mattress after you have invested your time in making it spick and span.

 

3. Use your Vacuum Cleaner

Vacuum cleaners work wonderfully well when you have to remove all the dust mites that have settled into the pores of the mattress. However, since you are looking for deep-action here, add the upholstery attachment to your vacuum cleaner. It will narrow down the suction for more robust and targeted action. Make sure you clean the seams and folds of the mattress an extra couple of times because these are tough spots.

 

4. Use a Stan-Remover for Spot-Cleaning

The next step is to pick out the spots that have become stained due to heavy sweating, spills, blood, or urine. Such stains are pretty common in homes with pets and kids, which makes cleaning them all the more important because you do not want them to develop allergies.

The removal of stains has to be done extra carefully because some mattresses, for instance, those made up of memory foam, are not supposed to come in contact with water at all, or they lose their elasticity. Therefore, we recommend using a stain remover or enzyme cleaner.

While stain removers can work wonders for spills, it is the enzyme cleaners that will serve as the perfect solution for getting rid of bodily fluids.

Take a regular white cloth and spray a little cleaner on it and then dab or blot the spot with it. After using the cleaner, use the same technique with a different cloth to blot the spot with some cold water. Continue to blot and dab until you can see the stain transferring from the mattress to the cloth. Voila! Now, you have cleaned the mattress and made it spot-free without letting any moisture seep through.

Since the surface of your mattress can still be a little damp, you should allow it to air dry under the sun and fresh air.

If you do not have access to an enzyme cleaner, you can prepare your own DIY solution. All you have to do is mix some dish soap with water and use the foam as an enzyme cleaner. Another way is to use hydrogen peroxide in water.

 

5. Dust your mattress with some Baking Soda

Having spacious homes in these times is certainly a luxury. So, if you cannot allow your mattress to air dry, sprinkle some baking soda all over it and let it stay on for hours. It will not only absorb all the moisture and dampness from the surface but also cut down on its odor. Apart from that, it will help in breaking down the acid, which is difficult to get rid of otherwise.

It would be better if you leave the windows open so that sunlight can seep into the room as the mattress is covered in baking soda as the UV rays will help it work better. The longer you leave your mattress like this, the more proficiently baking soda will kill the mold and all the bacteria that have accumulated on the mattress over the years.

 

6. Vacuum the Baking Soda off the mattress

Once the baking soda has magically cured your mattress of all the mold and bacteria, now is the time to bring out the vacuum once again and get rid of it.

 

7. Repeat the process on the other side

No mattress is clean when one side of it has been taken care of. You need to flip it over and complete the entire procedure once again for your mattress to be flawless. In this way, you will be more confident in flipping the mattress every three months. This is something even the retail stores advise their customers because the surface gets compressed with continuous use and requires some rest. So, make it a point to clean your mattress on both sides and flip it every three months for a good night’s sleep.

 

Here are some additional tips that will enhance the cleaning experience.

1. When you are sprinkling the baking soda on the mattress, you can add some essential oils to it. Not only will baking soda help you break the mold and kill bacteria, but the essential oils also give a serene odor to the mattress that will help you sleep better. Not to forget that essential oils such as ylang-ylang, lavender, sandalwood, and chamomile have anti-bacterial properties too. So they will help baking soda in getting rid of bacteria more profoundly.
2. The optimal technique for dusting the baking soda is to sprinkle it all over and use a soft scrub brush to gently rub it into the mattress. Gentle action will ensure that baking soda remains on the surface, but the goodness of essential oils soaks into the mattress. After leaving it for some hours, you can vacuum it, and it will come off with ease.
3. As important as it is to get rid of mold and bacteria, you should pay attention to the bed frames, too, as they can also allow dust particles to rest on them. Therefore, while baking soda is working on the mattress, use a damp cloth to wipe off the bed frame with utmost care for crevices.
4. If your mattress is prone to spills and bodily fluids frequently, then you should keep a cleaning cloth handy so that you can wipe it off immediately. This is highly advised when you have kids who can vomit at any time of the day.
5. Always keep your mattress covered with sheets and protectors, which can be easily thrown into the washing machine without letting the moisture reach the mattress. It would be better if they are hypoallergenic and waterproof since you do not want your kids or yourself to develop dust allergies.
6. Use fitted mattress protectors so that the dust particles are not able to reach the seams and crevices in the mattress, making them easier to clean.
7. For cleaning the sheets, use an enzyme or stain cleaner to blot away all the moisture and put it for washing in cold water. The stain will lift as early as you remove it.

 

In the end, it is necessary to keep cleaning the mattress every six months and flipping it every three months to retain its functionality. If you fail to do so, your mattress might not last as long as it is supposed to, and you will be forced to invest in a new one before you know it. When you look after your mattress well, it is your body that will tell you when is a good time to replace it, not the war-trodden condition of the mattress.