How to Clean A Mattress

How to Clean A Mattress: Want to know something positively disgusting? The average person sweats out about a half pint of perspiration each and every night. Want to know what that looks like? Seeing as how we spend almost a third of our life lying horizontally on a mattress, one would think it would stand alone atop our list of regular cleaning duties. But let’s face it. We rarely think about cleaning the mattress. The problem is once you strip away all the sheets, you’re left with a mattress that has a cover that you can’t remove. It’s not like there’s a zipper and you can simply unzip the cover and throw it into the wash. The sad truth is that once we pull all the sheets off, we tend to turn a blind eye to whatever nastiness might live atop our mattress. I know you don’t want to admit it, but mattresses harbor spills, stain, dirt, dust, dust mites, and worse. So maintaining a clean mattress is important for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that your partially clothed body is lying on top of it with only a sheet separating you from your mattress.

Vacuum the mattress. This is an important step because it removes the dust, dead skin cells, and other debris that lands on your mattress. Consider doing this every time you rotate your mattress, or once a season. Now, the important part here is to use a clean upholstery attachment, because remember your vacuum sucks up all kinds of nasties, and you specifically don’t want to be depositing those onto your mattress. We actually have a video on how to clean your cleaning tools, and that video will actually teach you how to clean your vacuum brush attachment. So we’ll link that to the end of this video. Deodorizing your mattress. You can fancify your mattress vacuuming by adding another step, and this is deodorizing. I guess with all that sweat, dust, and other fun stuff that your mattress handles, it can start to develop its own unique aroma. And to combat this, simply sift baking soda over your mattress, leave it for about minutes, and then vacuum it up with that upholstery attachment. As you know, baking soda is a natural deodorizer, so it will definitely help neutralize any odors. But note that it won’t really clean or remove any stains using this dry cleaning method. If you like essential oils, you can add five drops to the baking soda pre-sift, and you’ll get to enjoy that lovely scent for a few nights thereafter. A scent I would use would be lavender, but you can use anything you like.

Spot cleaning and stains. Stains come in three varieties, but only one usually ends up on your mattress. Those three varieties, protein stains, grease stains, and tannin stains, and the stains you’ll see on your mattress are protein stains. Protein stains consist of things like blood, sweat, vomit, urine, and other bodily fluids that we usually need to contend with. It’s best to tend to any stains as soon as possible to avoid the stain from setting in. You have a much better chance of getting rid of it. Liquid stains need to be blotted up first with a cool, wet cloth, and then excess moisture can be blotted up with a dry cloth. Use a pressing motion, rather than a circular motion, to lift the stain to avoid further rubbing the stain in, which is what this will do. Also, remember that heat sets protein stains. So only use cold water when handling these. Now, fresh protein stains can usually be removed with a mixture of salt, baking soda, and water. So just create a paste of equal parts, rub it on the area, and then brush it off minutes later. Then, use some cool water on a damp cloth to remove the excess, and then allow the mattress to dry. If that doesn’t work, upgrade your solution and try our favorite homemade stain remover, consisting of two parts hydrogen peroxide to one part dish soap. Put a teeny, tiny tad of that solution on the stain, gently apply it to the area, and then gently brush it in with a cleaning toothbrush. Leave it for about five minutes, and then wipe it up with a cool, damp cloth. This should also help with any unsightly discoloration.

Some people love using enzyme cleaners to remove protein stains, and you’re welcome to try this. They’re highly effective. Just remember to use as little liquid as possible and ensure that your mattress is completely dry before using it again to avoid growing your very own colony of mold spores. Steam cleaning or deep cleaning. Now, some folks swear by steam cleaning or deep cleaning their mattress, and, yes, there is a difference. Steam cleaning is just covering the mattress with steam to kill dust mites, and extraction or deep cleaning is simply wetting the mattress and then extracting the moisture. Now, I know that mattresses don’t do well with moisture, so I don’t use either of those methods, even though I have access to both pieces of equipment. Now, I do know that there are professional service providers who do offer this. And for people with allergies or very difficult mattress stains, you might want to consider using a professional rather than hacking it on your own. These folks are trained, and they have access to great extraction equipment. And here are a few other mattress cleaning pointers. Turn and/or flip your mattress so it will wear evenly.

And it’s recommended that you do this at the turn of every season.  Rotating the mattress means that we prolong the life of the mattress and even out the wear. Or else, this side is way deeper than that side. It takes us a grand total of seconds to do. No big deal. No water on your mattress. Now, mattresses really don’t like water, or liquid I should say, and memory foam mattresses can’t actually handle liquids at all, because liquids will get trapped in that cellular structure, and then the liquid has nowhere to go. On that note, never ever get your memory foam mattress wet. Now, if you need to spot clean, be super stingy with the liquid, and blot like a madman or woman. Use fans to dry the mattress. So if that mattress does get wet and you blot it like a madman or woman, then you can crank the fans on to assist in drying time. And if you have access to a wet/dry vac, of course, using a clean attachment, use it to help further extract the moisture. Don’t even think about sleeping on mattresses until they are completely dry. Now, we’ve been asked several times how to deal with bedbugs, and this is a serious issue. It shouldn’t be a DIY project. Act fast and call a professional if you think you have them. Have the professionals treat your mattress, the room, and any other areas affected in your house immediately. If you get them, you want them gone, and these are the guys that know how to do it. Now, you may recall at the beginning of this video that I mentioned something about a tip, which would save your mattress from those spills and stains, and everything else. Well, it’s not really a huge secret, but a mattress protector is one of the best investments for your mattress.

If you liked this tip leave me a comment and let me know or if you have any cleaning questions, if you’re really interested in my cleaning tips on an ongoing basis subscribe to our blog and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin