Our complete mattress cleaning guide contains expert tips from our car detailers on how to clean your mattress at home and keep it in excellent condition.

How to Clean Your Mattress

When it comes to sleeping well, many of us don’t consider the cleanliness of our beds and how this may affect our ability to get a good night’s sleep. While most of us regularly wash our bed linen, cleaning our mattresses can get overlooked. However, having a clean, hygienic mattress can play a vital role in helping us to get a restful night.

In this guide, our experts outline how to clean a mattress with an easy-to-follow step-by-step process and share some of their top tips to help keep your mattress in top condition once you’ve cleaned it.

A Step-By-Step Guide to Cleaning Your Mattress

If you’re wondering how to deep clean a mattress at home, our step-by-step guide provides you with the know-how. Simply follow the below steps to get your mattress looking and smelling fresher in no time.

1. Strip your bedding—The first step is to strip your bed of all bedding and put it in a hot wash while you clean the mattress. This ensures that once you’ve finished cleaning your mattress, you’ll have fresh bedding for a clean and cosy night’s sleep.
2. Gather your cleaning supplies—The next step is to gather everything you need to get your mattress looking spotless, including:
   • Vacuum cleaner
   • Steam cleaner (optional)
   • Enzyme cleaner
   • Baking soda
   • Cold water
   • Cleaning cloths
3. Vacuum — Start the cleaning process by vacuuming your entire mattress, including the sides, to remove dust and loose debris.
4. Remove stains — Use a spot-cleaning method to effectively remove stains without saturating your mattress with liquid. You should treat different stains using the below methods:
   • Biological stains – Use an enzyme cleaner to tackle these tough stains. Spray a small amount onto a clean cloth and then blot the affected area. Leave the solution to work for a few minutes before applying cold water to a separate cloth and blotting the stain again until the stain lifts.
   • Yellow stains – Sweat from our bodies can leave unsightly yellow staining on our mattresses. It is possible to remove these stains using a mix of one cup of hydrogen peroxide and warm water with a quarter of a teaspoon of dish detergent. Simply spray the mixture onto the affected area and allow it to sit for 30 minutes before wetting a separate cloth with cold water and blotting the stain to remove it.
5. Steam clean — If you have a steam garment cleaner, you can use it to scrub your mattress to remove any residual detergent and excess moisture.
6. Apply baking soda — Apply a thin layer of baking soda to absorb and neutralise any odours. You can leave the baking soda to sit for a few hours before vacuuming the mattress again to remove it.
7. Flip and repeat the process — Once you have thoroughly cleaned one side of the mattress, you should flip it and treat the other side in the same way to ensure a deep and effective clean.

How to Clean a Memory Foam Mattress

When it comes to cleaning a memory foam mattress, the main challenge is effectively cleaning it without getting the foam too wet, which can lead to mould and cause the foam to break down. When cleaning a memory foam mattress, you should :

• • Act quickly – your aim is for the mattress to absorb as little liquid as possible so blot any spills up quickly.
  • Spot-treat the affected area with a spritz of soapy lukewarm water and lightly dab with a sponge. Spritz sparingly as you must keep the foam as dry as possible.
  • Blot the area to lift the stain and help dry the area.
  • Ensure you leave the memory foam mattress to air dry fully in a well-ventilated room.

Cleaning a Dusty Mattress

All mattresses accumulate dust mites over time, as they thrive in warm, cosy conditions and feed off the dander we shed overnight. Dust mites can exacerbate allergies and respiratory conditions like asthma, so while it is impossible to get rid of dust mites completely, you should try to reduce them as much as possible.

To effectively rid your mattress of dust mites, you need to vacuum it thoroughly using a brush attachment to remove as much dust and debris as possible. You should pay particular attention to the seams, any divots, and around any labels, as these are all areas where dust mites will accumulate.

Ideally, you should vacuum your mattress every three to six months to keep dust mite numbers down, but you may want to vacuum your mattress more regularly if you suffer from allergies.

Removing Urine from a Mattress

Any parents will know that bedwetting can leave unsightly stains and a lingering odour on a mattress. While urine can be soaked up effectively if treated as soon as possible, if the urine isn’t discovered until the next morning, it will have already soaked through into the mattress, leaving you with a much bigger cleaning task. Fortunately, we have some top tips for removing urine stains.

How to clean a urine stained mattress

• • Use a steam cleaner to effectively remove urine stains.
  • You should always follow your specific steam cleaner’s instructions, but generally speaking, you will need to hold the steam cleaner 5 to 7 cm above the mattress and move slowly across it in long strokes.
  • You should avoid creating blasts of steam that could saturate the mattress. Check the mattress regularly throughout the cleaning process—it should feel damp but not wet.
  • Once you have steam cleaned the entire mattress, you should open any windows and turn on a fan if possible to allow the mattress to air dry for at least three hours.
  • Finally, to remove any lingering odours, sprinkle the mattress with baking soda and leave it to sit for a few hours before vacuuming clean.

While it is not possible to prevent the occasional accident, you can prevent bedwetting accidents from causing unsightly stains on your mattress by using a waterproof mattress protector. This stops urine from penetrating the mattress, meaning you only need to clean your bedding and the mattress protector, both of which can easily be popped into the washing machine.

Tips to Keep Your Mattress Clean

Deep cleaning your mattress and tackling stains can be a time-consuming job, so to keep your mattress clean and smelling fresh we recommend you follow our top tips :

Use a mattress protector

A mattress protector can help protect your mattress from spills, dirt, and dust, making cleaning much easier in the future. Plus, as a mattress protector can be cleaned by simply popping it into your washing machine, you can save time and energy keeping your mattress clean.

Use fitted sheets

Fitted sheets can help keep your mattress clean, protect it from dust and prevent dust mites from crowding the mattress.

Clean your sheets weekly

Regularly cleaning your sheets will help maintain the cleanliness of your mattress by reducing the build-up of dust and allergens in your bed and mattress.

Avoid eating and drinking in bed

Although breakfast in bed may seem like a good idea, crumbs in your bedding can attract bed bugs and other insects, while drinking in bed can lead to unsightly wine, tea, or coffee stains.

How Espresso Car Wash Can Help

Ideally, you should clean your mattress at least once every six months. While the process is relatively simple, it can be time-consuming, which may result in you putting off other household chores like cleaning your car. Fortunately, at Espresso Car Wash, we can help.

As New Zealand’s leading professional hand wash & car grooming provider, we can take care of your beloved car for you. Our services range from 100% hand car washes to interior & exterior car grooming. Our unrivalled knowledge of hand washing and vehicle grooming techniques will leave your car in like-new condition.

Book online or visit your nearest Espresso Car Wash branch today to revitalise your treasured vehicle.