How Do You Deep Clean a Mattress? What Tools Do I Need?
I am naturally sweaty and only use Fan (no AC) so I sweat through the night and the smell sticks to the mattress (and the pillows).
Is there a way to clean this mattress before I invest in a mattress cover?
You want to get a good mattress pad. You can wash that in a washing machine and keep your mattress clean.
To reduce smell in your mattress, kill the bacteria. Spray with 1 part vodka 2 parts water. Let it fully dry before putting sheets back on.
Stains, those aren’t going away. That’s why you wanted a mattress pad.
Oxy clean is pretty decent at getting rid of stains.
Rent a wet and dry sofa/carpet vacuum, like a Kärcher Puzzi (I know). I did recently for my sofa - a good machine will cost 1500 or so, but I only paid 30 to rent it for a day.
They’re dead easy to use and you’ll be shocked at the amount of grime that comes out. There are tutorials on YouTube, here’s a good one.
Baking soda, vinegar, and and all those other house-wife hacks are bullshit and won’t help you at all.
As an aside; baking soda and vinegar does fuck all. They break down to salt water. There is no cleaning magic happening. You can use baking soda or vinegar depending on what you clean, but most certainly not on a mattress that requires deep cleaning.
Finally invest in a protector and possibly a waterproof pad in between. The protectors are washable, so chuck that in the washer every so often and you’re golden.
My tiniest caveat is baking soda and vinegar is meant to create microscopic bubbles that can physically lift and agitate things – but you are correct it’s not a chemical/solution for cleaning - just a little micro scrubbing for particular use cases. .
Use a good steam cleaner and enzymatic cleaner that is often used for biological messes like pet urine. The enzymes will break down the odor and remove it.
Don’t mix chemicals together. that can be dangerous.
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Yep, this. A mattress should be replaced every 5-7years. They just break down over time.
I am on about 15 years on this current mattress. Seems to be doing just fine.
It’s about 75% dust mites by now. They’re very supportive little buggers! But at 15 years you should replace it and put an encasement or waterproof cover on the new one. And a mattress pad on top of that. Then you’ll be able to wash the absorbent mattress pad while your mattress stays pristine. An encasement has the advantage of blocking out any bedbugs you might bring home. You don’t have to go expensive, I recently got an Ortho Signature Club II for about $500 including delivery and disposal of my old one. If you can handle getting rid of the old one by yourself, Bear makes very good arrives-in-a-box mattresses. No fiberglass, meets Canadian standards.
A dumpster and $300
I have similar nightsweat problems, so I did something close to this once: https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-Bed-with-Baking-Soda
If you Google “clean mattress with baking soda” you’ll find a bunch of similar recipes. Lots suggest using essential oils, which I didn’t use.
The results were decent when I did it. Definitely de-funkified the mattress a bit, and removed some of the stains. It was hardly like new, but it was definitely better than before.
Bissel have a range of spot cleaners that work well with mattresses.
https://bissell.com.au/blogs/news/bissell-home-cleaning-guide#Bedroom
Took a couple of runs with my Bissell but it removed tough sweat stains effectively.
You should get an AC. You’re getting significantly lower quality sleep
Why do you say so?
68 degrees is the ideal temperature according to science. Here’s a random article I found, no idea of its quality https://www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroom-environment/best-temperature-for-sleep
But temperature significantly affects your sleep quality and circadian rhythm.
Bathe before sleeping everyday. It not only keeps your sheets clean but help you sleep well too. To clean the mattress, use those steam vacuum cleaners and then air your mattress in the sun if possible.
Probably a bit crazy, but I used a carpet washer on my bare mattress with all the covers taken off. The zipped on covers were easily removed and put in the washing machine. Just hoping to extend the life of the mattress a few more years because they are so damn expensive.
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Get a good under-mattress pad and prevent damage to your mattress. It is cheaper to throw away and replace a mattress protector than a mattress.
