When it comes to cleaning your bedroom, you may not have realized but the mattress you’re sleeping on should not be neglected. If left uncleaned for long periods of time, bacteria and mold can build upon the mattress and cause an uncomfortable (and smelly!) sleep.
When cleaning the mattress, a sure instinct is sometimes required because, for example, too aggressive cleaning agents penetrate deep into the interior of the mattress and cause more serious damage there. For this reason, one should first consider and try milder substances and cleaning agents when cleaning mattresses.
In this article, we’ve shared the top tips for how to clean a mattress, along with the techniques that will ensure your bed is a comfortable place to rest:
How To Get Stains Out Of A Mattress
Unfortunately, mattresses are prone to staining. This can happen when you’re eating or drinking in bed. However, stains can also develop from vomit, sweat, urine, or blood that has been absorbed into the material.
You should attempt to remove any liquid marks as soon as they’re spotted, to prevent further staining. Start by blotting and softly pressing the area with a damp cloth to absorb excess liquid.
If you’ve spilled food in bed, you can clean the mattress stains by making a baking soda, salt, and water paste and rubbing it onto the material before allowing it to dry.
Vacuuming Your Mattress
If you’re looking to maintain the high quality of your new mattress, you should vacuum the surface regularly to remove dead skin cells and bacteria.
Considering that millions of bacterial cells can spawn over just one night, you should make vacuuming your mattress a regular task.
Why Does My Mattress Smell?
If you’ve noticed that your mattress has developed an odor, you can clean and deodorize the area by sifting baking powder onto the surface and leaving it to absorb for 30 minutes before vacuuming again. If the stain is fresh, you shouldn’t hesitate and use the right cleaning agent immediately. To get rid of dust, hair, and flakes of skin from the mattresses, you can use a brush and brush the mattress on all sides. This type of cleaning is recommended every few months. In addition, you should do a more intensive cleaning once a year.
Not only will this help to keep your mattress clean, but you’ll also be able to get rid of any nasty scents coming from your bed.
Mattress Maintenance Tips
Along with cleaning your mattress regularly to remove bacteria, there are a handful of ways in which you can ensure the longevity of your mattress and enable you to keep sleeping comfortably. These include:
Proper ventilation of the mattress
Mattresses will have to absorb a lot of fluids when we sleep This liquid must be able to be released again during the day. Sufficient ventilation of the mattress is required for this. The spaces between the slats of the slatted frame are used to ventilate the mattress.
It is also advisable to ventilate the bedroom in the morning immediately after getting up. So that the mattress can dissipate as much moisture as possible, you should fold back the duvet or ideally remove all bedding from the bed. Since pillows and duvets also absorb a lot of moisture, it is advisable to hang or lay them down so that there is good ventilation and the absorbed moisture can escape again.
If your bed has drawers or a bed box, you can further promote the ventilation of the mattress by opening drawers or bed boxes.
If your mattress is on a plinth without a slatted frame or an air-impermeable base, it is best to place it upright in the morning so that the air can penetrate the mattress from all sides.
Flipping Your Mattress
Every so often, you should flip or rotate your mattress to prevent sagging in the areas you repeatedly sleep on. Not only does this help to prolong its life, but uneven pressure spots are avoided to help you sleep comfortably and ensure your body is fully supported throughout rest.
Dry cleaning with baking soda – quick mattress cleaning for in between
Soda is a versatile and inexpensive means of freshening up textiles and removing dirt. For dry cleaning, spread baking soda (e.g. from the drugstore) evenly on the mattress every 3 – 4 months and let it take effect for a few hours. The salt crystals neutralize odors, have a fungicidal effect, and kill germs and bacteria. After a few hours, you can vacuum the powder off. Then repeat the process on the other side of the mattress. When vacuuming, be careful not to damage the cover.
Damp cleaning with baking soda – a major cleaning once a year
For the annual wet cleaning, first spread the baking soda on the mattress. Then rub the powder over the entire surface with a damp sponge or cloth that you previously dipped in hot water and gently wrung out. In combination with hot water, the baking soda forms an alkaline solution that breaks down proteins and fats. When mixed with water as a paste, baking soda can also remove stubborn stains from the mattress. When the mattress is completely dry again, you can simply vacuum off the baking soda residue with the vacuum cleaner.
Thermal insulation
The heat-insulating effect of mattresses varies depending on their properties. For example, cold foam mattresses or other mattresses with a foam core have a very high insulating effect and can therefore “store” the body heat absorbed for a long time. This is important for people who freeze faster or people who spend the night at rather low room temperatures. If the bedroom is more heated or if the sleeper generally tends to get too warm at night, a mattress should be chosen that only has a medium insulating effect. In these cases, the mattress should dissipate heat from the sleeper more quickly so that it does not get too warm in bed. Basically, the choice of a spring mattress is recommended for this.
When evaluating the heat-insulating function of a mattress, however, one must also take into account one’s own body weight and any special properties of a mattress model. Those who weigh little and lie on a firm mattress usually hardly sweat, even if the mattress offers a high level of thermal insulation, while a heavier person usually sinks deeper into the mattress and is usually significantly “warmer” even with a less heat-insulating mattress which can lead to increased sweating and negatively affect the quality of sleep
Use A Mattress Protector
If your mattress is under warranty, you may not be able to replace the mattress if it has been stained. For this reason, you may want to consider using a mattress protector to maintain the condition of your bed.
If you use a protector, cleaning the mattress will be much easier as it won’t contain anywhere near as much bacteria or dirt and is less likely to be damaged by stains. Remember to wash your mattress protector regularly to keep it bacteria-free.
If you find that your mattress is badly stained or has become misshapen, you may want to invest in a new one to help you get a good night’s rest. It is a good idea to shop around to find one that provides the right level of support to suit you. You could even buy a custom-made mattress that is created to the exact size, shape, and thickness that suits you so that you can enjoy sleeping soundly night after night!
Tips: remove stains from mattresses
- Blood stains– To remove blood or blood stains from the mattress, you can mix a paste of baking soda and cold water in a ratio of 3: 2. Apply the mixture generously to the blood and leave it on for at least 30 minutes. Then clean the baking soda paste from the mattress and let it dry properly before pulling back a sheet.
Alternatively, you can rub the blood stain with cold water first, then apply a thick layer of baking powder and then let it take effect. In the optimal case, the baking powder soaks up the blood and you can remove it from the mattress together with the baking powder. If necessary, treat the area of the mattress with clear water and give the mattress sufficient time to dry off completely.
In addition to baking soda, blood stains on mattresses can also be treated with soda lye, gall soap or saline solution.
Basically, blood is one of those substances that is very difficult to remove from materials. You must therefore expect that you will not be able to completely remove the blood stains from the textile fabric of the mattress. - Coffee stains– If you have black coffee (without added milk) spilled or dripped onto your mattress, we recommend simply treating it with lukewarm water. Most of the time, the coffee stain can be completely removed with this.
A tried and tested home remedy for cleaning the mattress with coffee stains is to use lemon juice in combination with quark. To do this, first moisten the stained area with the lemon juice and then apply a layer of quark. Now you should leave the lemon and quark on the mattress for about four to five hours. Then remove the dried curd and rework the mattress area with detergent foam. Finally, you should treat with clear water to completely remove even the last residues. Then let the mattress dry well.
You can also use gall soap to remove coffee from the mattress.
- Red wine stains – To remove a fresh red wine stain on the mattress, we recommend using mineral water (carbonated). If the stain is older or has dried out, you can sprinkle it with salt and let it work for a while. After the exposure time, briefly vacuum off the salt and brush out the stain.
- Mold stains– With mold stains (no mold!) You can put the mattress in the sun for a few hours and let the UV radiation act on the stains. However, you should take into account that many mattresses do not really tolerate direct sunlight, which is why repeated sun treatment is not advisable.
Alternatively, you can dab the mold stains with a little buttermilk, which you then leave to soak in and then wash out of the mattress with a damp cloth. - Urine stains– The two “household miracle weapons ” lemon and vinegar are equally suitable for removing urine from the mattress. Apply either lemon juice or vinegar to the urine stain and let the acid soak in a little. Then you can brush out the stain or scrape it off with the back of a knife. You should then treat the affected area again with a little detergent foam and then with clear water before letting the mattress dry.
Similar to blood, urine often leaves certain residues or edges on the mattress after cleaning.