Keep Your Mattress Deep Cleaned with These Tips
Mattresses are soft and absorbent, which makes them perfect for a good night’s rest. However, these same qualities also provide the ideal surface for dust mites, dead skin cells, dirt, mold, and sweat build-up.
Since the dirt in mattresses is deep down and covered by sheets, it’s easy to forget to clean them. Developing a cleaning routine that incorporates mattresses 3-4 times per year will help extend the life of your mattress and may improve your sleep.
How to Clean Your Mattress: Step-by-Step
The most important tool for cleaning a mattress is a vacuum with a hose and strong suction. You’ll also need baking soda. Here’s what to do.
Step 1: Remove the Bedding and Sprinkle the Mattress with Baking Soda
Remove sheets, blankets, and pillows and launder them. Then, sprinkle baking soda over the mattress. The baking soda will absorb sweat odors and deodorize the mattress.
Step 2: Vacuum the Mattress
Use a soft-bristled brush or upholstery attachment to vacuum your mattress. Start at one end of the mattress and work toward the other using overlapping motions. Vacuum well—there should be no baking soda left on the bed.
Step 3: Spot Treat Stains
If there are any stains on your mattress, now is the time to treat them. Here are the best stain-removal methods for a mattress:
Hydrogen peroxide – If you have a white mattress, you can use hydrogen peroxide to lift out almost every type of stain. It works wonders for sweat, urine, and blood.
Soak a cotton ball with 3% hydrogen peroxide and dab the stain until gone. If that doesn’t work, spritz the area with peroxide. The stain will fade as the peroxide dries.
You can use peroxide on any color mattress, but since it can lighten fabric, it’s safest for white.
Pet Urine Stain Cleaner – Believe it or not, pet urine stain cleaners are the best for dealing with mattress stains. These cleaners contain either oxygen bleach or enzymes that break down organic matter. Since most mattress stains come from organic matter, enzymatic cleaners are the best choice.
Consider Rocco & Roxy OxyStain Remover or Enzymatic Stain and Odor Eliminator.
How to Keep Your Mattress Clean
The best way to keep your mattress clean, protected, and long-lasting is to use a mattress protector. Most mattress protectors are waterproof, preventing spills, blood, and excess sweat from seeping into the mattress. They’re also washable, so you can clean them when you wash your sheets.
In addition to using a mattress protector, vacuum your mattress 3-4 times per year to rid it of potential dust mites. To keep your mattress’s shape intact, flip or rotate it each time you clean it.
Mattress Cleaning Tips
- If someone had an accident and peed on the mattress. Soak up fresh urine with a paper towel. Then, spray the area with an enzymatic stain remover (like those used for dog and cat urine.) The spray contains enzymes that eat the bacteria from urine, preventing stains and bad odor.
- Don’t power wash a mattress. It will become saturated and develop mold or mildew in the filling.
- Don’t steam clean a mattress. Avoid using excess moisture on your mattress at all costs. You don’t want it to develop a musty smell.
- If you’re cleaning pee off a memory foam mattress, you’ll need to saturate well with an enzymatic cleaner so that it reaches far enough down.