How to Clean a Mattress ? 10 Tips & Tricks
With all that money you’ve spent on your mattresses, we bet you wouldn’t want to get rid of it just because it’s gathered dust, dead skin, or debris. Lucky for you, we have developed an easy guide to help you clean your mattress and remove the tough stains.
Let’s get right to the cleaning!
How to deep clean your mattress
Step 1: Look at the mattress cleaning instructions
Before you can start cleaning your mattress, you will first need to read the care instructions. More succinctly, the care instructions will tell you what to do or not do when cleaning the mattress. This is important because mattresses are constructed with different materials that require different cleaning methods, and using the wrong method could damage your mattress.
Step 2: Gather all your cleaning supplies
To clean your mattress, you will need to assemble the following cleaning supplies:
- A vacuum cleaner
- Upholstery cleaner
- Cold or lukewarm water
- A container
- A rug
- Baking soda
- Febreze/ refresher spray ( optional)
Step 3: Strip off all the bedding from the mattress and clean them
The last thing you probably want is to clean your mattress and then return your dirty bed sheets. Before you clean your mattress, you will need to remove all the bedsheets, pillows, mattress toppers, and covers. You can toss them in the washing machine while cleaning your mattress.
Of course, if your pillows are washable, we recommend tossing them in the washing machine. This will ensure that you experience a hygienic and fresh sleeping environment.
Step 4: Open your bedroom windows
To help eliminate foul odour from your mattress, you will need to open the windows and let your mattress breathe as you prepare the cleaning supplies.
Not to mention opening the windows will also help to prevent stuffiness that can be caused by vacuuming and some cleaning products.
Step 5: Vacuum your mattress
You must vacuum your mattress to remove all the loose dirt, such as dust, dead skin, pet hair, and food crumbs. We recommend using an upholstery attachment on the vacuum cleaner to make things easier. Then again, if your vacuum cleaner doesn’t have an upholstery attachment, not to worry. Just vacuum your mattress using circular motions.
How To Remove Different Types of Stains
How to remove wet urine stains and odour from a mattress
1. Bloat the urine with a dry rug
If the mattress is soaking wet, grab an old towel and bloat the mattress to remove the extra liquid. Always dub, don’t rub. This is because rubbing only pushes the stain deeper into your mattress.
2. Kill the urine odour with vinegar
After you’ve bloated the mattress, you will need to take a spray bottle and fill it with concentrated vinegar. You will spray the affected area with vinegar, then bloat it with a rag. Then again, remember not to use the same rug as the one you used to bloat the urine, or else you’re back to square one!
3. Cover your mattress with baking soda
Although vinegar removes urine smells, you probably wouldn’t want to sleep on a mattress that smells like salad. To eliminate the vinegar smell, sprinkle baking soda on the mattress and let it sit for 8 hours or more.
4. Vacuum the mattress
After the baking soda has been set for 8 hours, you will need to vacuum it off. Nevertheless, to make vacuuming easier, try to use an upholstery attachment with your vacuum. However, one vacuum is not enough to remove all the baking soda — you must go over the mattress several times.
Read our guide on best mattress in canada
How to get rid of dry urine stains from your mattress
1. Spray hydrogen peroxide on the urine stain
To get rid of dry urine, mix one part of hydrogen peroxide with two parts of water in a spray bottle. Then spray the hydrogen peroxide mixture on the mattress areas affected by the urine. Remember to be careful so you won’t leave out some parts.
2. Remove excess moisture
Once spraying the spots with the hydrogen peroxide solution, you need to dub it with a rag or paper towel to remove the excess moisture.
3. Dry the mattress
The last step is to leave the mattress to dry. However, if you’re in a hurry, you could dry it with a hair dryer. Not to forget, if you love fragrance, you can spray a fabric freshener like Febreze on it.
How to remove dog or cat urine from a mattress
If you have pets, especially cats, you probably already know how bad their pee smells. This is because most pet urine has many alkaline and acidic components. Nevertheless, here’s how to remove urine stains.
1. Sprinkle baking soda
We bet you’re wondering why you should begin with sprinkling baking soda. This is because baking soda is not only a natural deodorizer but also an absorbent. It will absorb all the pet urine from the mattress. This means that instead of dabbing the stain with a rug, you must sprinkle baking soda on the urine stain and let it sit for a while.
When you notice the baking soda has turned dark, it’s an indicator that it has absorbed all the urine, and it’s time to vacuum your mattress. After vacuuming it, you should repeat the same process until the baking soda comes out white.
2. Spot-clean the stain with detergent, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda
Mix three tablespoons of baking soda, a few drops of liquid detergent, and 8 oz hydrogen peroxide.
Shake the mixture, then spray it on the mattress without soaking it up. Add lemon essential oils to the spray mixture if you want a fresh scent.
3. Dry it with a hair dryer or standing fan
If you want your mattress to dry up quickly, you could always use a hair dryer around the morning. However, if you don’t have one, you can just let it dry naturally but ensure that your windows are open – only during the day.
4. Vacuum the mattress to remove any rescue
Now that your mattress has dried up, you will need to vacuum it once more to remove any residue.
How to remove vomit stains from your mattress
Gather your supplies
- Old towels/ rugs
- Paper towels and disposable bowls
- A mild detergent
- White vinegar
- Rubbing alcohol
- Baking soda
- You could also add rubber gloves, essential oils, a blow dryer, or a standing fan
How to remove the vomit from the mattress
1. Put on rubber gloves
The first thing you will need to do before cleaning out vomit from a mattress is put on rubber gloves to protect yourself against germs.
2. Prevent nausea
It’s normal to feel like vomiting when cleaning vomit. We recommend applying some methylated tropical ointment under your nose or chewing a mint to block the smell.
3. Scope the vomit from the bed.
Now that you’re protected, you must scope the vomit from the bed using a paper plate. To avoid contamination, you must put the paper plate in a plastic bag and toss it in the trash.
On the other hand, if you don’t have paper towels, you could use a dustpan to scrape out the vomit and then toss it in the toilet. To clean the dustpan, you can run it through cold water with a horse pipe and disinfect it with bleach, rubbing alcohol, or a solid-liquid disinfectant.
4. Remove the bed sheets and toss them in the washing machine
If you have your bedsheets on your mattress, you must remove them and toss them in a washing machine. Another thing, we would recommend that you put the highest temperature setting on the washing machine to kill all germs.
5. Bloat the remaining liquid on the mattress
Once you have removed all the bedding, it’s time to soak up all the remaining liquids using a rag or paper towel. We recommend you use old rugs when bloating the liquid since you might want to dispose of them after cleaning.
6. Get rid of the odour using baking soda
To remove vomit smells, you will need to sprinkle baking soda over the area with vomit and let it sit for 8 hours or overnight. What if you want to sleep? You could always place a towel over the baking soda and put a sheet over it.
7. Vacuum the baking soda
After the baking soda has soaked for 8 hours, you can remove the residue with your vacuum cleaner. Then empty the vacuum canister immediately. You don’t want to breed germs in it.
8. Clean the stains using vinegar
Mix 1 cup vinegar, 1 tablespoon moisturizer-free dish soap, and 1 cup warm water, then shake thoroughly.
9. Spray the mixture over the stain
Spray a generous amount of the mixture on the mattress until it’s damp, but don’t over-saturate it. It would help if you bloated the mattress with a rug (preferably a towel) that is highly absorbent to lift the stain.
Repeat the process until the stain is lifted. Remember to use a new towel whenever you’re repeating the process to prevent spreading the stain further.
10. Let the mattress dry
Let the mattress dry for about 6 to 8 hours. Also, if you want to speed up drying, you could place a fan over your mattress.
11. Kill the germs
Sometimes cleaning the mattress isn’t enough to kill lingering germs. That’s why we recommend spraying alcohol over the mattress to kill any germs.
12. Let the mattress dry once more
After applying the rubbing alcohol, let the mattress dry for 6 hours. Also, keep pets and kids off the mattress until it’s scorched.
How to remove blood stains from your mattress
Since blood is a protein, you shouldn’t use hot water– it will only make the stains stick more. You should always use cold water.
Here is a more in-depth guide on removing blood stains from your mattress.
Step 7: Flip your mattress
If you’re deep cleaning your mattress, you must flip it and repeat the cleaning steps.
Step 8: Protect your mattress with a mattress protector
Now that your mattress is clean, you can prevent it from gathering dirt or stains again by spreading a mattress protector.
Read our guide on best mattress protector
Bottom Line
There you have it! Cleaning your mattress is not as complicated if you use the right tools and techniques. Also, if you want your mattress to last longer, you should clean your mattress at least twice every year.
