Considering that mattresses, on average, last between five to ten years, it’s only natural to assume they need some type of serious cleaning. After all, most mattresses see nightly use, and we’ve all seen the studies about how dead skin, bed bugs, dust mites, allergens, etc. end up in the crevice. Fortunately, your mattress does not actually need to be “deep cleaned” a single time during its use. In fact, there’s really no way to properly “deep clean” a mattress, as you certainly can’t place it in a washing machine and the thickness and internal portions are not generally safe for any type of water or chemical deep cleaning. As such, you need to know what you can do to prevent as much buildup of dirt and grime as you can, and keep your mattress looking and feeling fresh. At CordaRoy’s we’ve got a few helpful hints and ideas on how to keep your mattress as clean and comfortable as possible. We’ve also got some great tips on how to prevent your mattress from getting as soiled in the first place, and how to cut down on the collection of dust mites, which are unfortunately an unavoidable pest for every mattress owner.
How to Protect Your Mattress from Getting Soiled
If your mattress never gets soiled in the first place, you’ll likely not feel the need to clean it, but fresh air never hurts. It’s only when our mattresses starts to carry a foul odor, noticeable stains, or become generally uncomfortable in areas that we are prompted to want to clean and deodorize. There are some steps you can take to prevent any of these scenarios from happening in the first place.
- Protective coverings. If you are allergic to, or really freaked out by, the thought of dust mites entering your mattress (which they inevitably will), you can try covering your mattress is what amount to a grown-up version of a plastic sheet. Using a mattress encasing over your mattress protects the mattress from absorbing oils and skin cells from your body, dust from the air, and should also protect it, at least in part, from the infestation of dust mites. Be careful though, some protective coverings are not washable, and if the covering isn’t washable, you’ve basically just made a home for dust mites and dead skin cells to live forever in the protective covering.
A CordaRoy’s mattress cover is machine washable and dryable. This means whenever you feel your bean bag chair and/mattress cover is getting funky, you can just unzip it and throw it in your washer. Our bean bag mattress covers come out fresh and looking just like they did the first day you purchased them. That’s our guaranty.
- Dust your room regularly. If dust mites are really causing some allergic reactions, or simply just freaking you out, you can reduce their impact simply by making sure your room is properly dusted.
- Wash bedding and blankets weekly. One of the best ways to keep your mattress clean is to keep your bed linens that lie upon it as clean and fresh as possible. The longer a set of sheets lays on your bed, the longer it has a chance to collect dirt, dead skin, oils, and mites. Keeping your bed linens fresh translates into a fresher, cleaner mattress. They can be cleaned with baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, essential oils, or simply throw them in the wash.
How to Clean a Soiled Mattress
Mattress cleaning is just like cleaning upholstery. If you’re doing everything you can to keep your mattress clean, chances are you won’t feel the need to clean it. However, even the most fervent of bed linen cleaners face a soiled mattress at some point. Whether it is a stain from a spill or from repeated use, or perhaps just an odor, you’ll want to try to freshen and clean your mattress. Here are our favorite tips for cleaning, deodorizing, and freshening your mattress.
- Vacuum your mattress. You’ve got a vacuum cleaner with 3,000 attachments and now is the time to employ them. Vacuuming your mattress can suck up a lot of the dust, dirt, dead skin, and other particles that are lying on the surface of the mattress and just below it. Do not, however, use any kind of deodorizing powder on your mattress, as tempted as you may be. This will not result in deodorizing the mattress, and will only result in you burying scented powder into the mattress fibers where it will not easily come out from vacuuming and could later irritate the skin.
- Spot-treat mattress stains. Let's face it, mattresses take a lot of heat. Between drool stains, blood stains and sweat stains, there's a lot of stain possibilities with mattresses. If you’re dealing with a stain or spill, your best option is to spot treat to remove stains. Using a towel, gently blot as much of the spill as possible and then use a spray bottle and spray thoroughly with stain remover, white vinegar, dish soap, baking soda, or another cleaning solution spray. Allow it to sit according to the product instructions and then wipe it away with a rag. Be careful when attempting to use any type of brush or cleaning mattress pad on the mattress, as it may damage the surface beyond repair. Remember, your mattress is generally covered with a sheet, so if it has a stain that just won’t come out, no one is going to see it.
You can spot treat a CordaRoy’s inner mattress cover with simple mild soap and water. You never want to attempt to clean the inner polyfoam, as it is very important it is never exposed to moisture. We highly recommend purchasing a waterproof cover for your mattress to extend the life of your mattress and use a mattress protector to protect it from outside irritants.
- Deodorize. If your mattress seems a little funky, you can take care of that by simply removing the bedding and letting the mattress air out for a few hours. The great advantage of a CordaRoy’s mattress is that you can remove the mattress and set it in an inconspicuous place to air out and then replace it inside its bean bag shell without ever disrupting an entire living space. CordaRoy’s mattresses are easy to keep clean because they are encased in a protective and washable bean bag shell.
Keeping your mattress clean is simple. You don’t need to spend a lot of time worrying over how to keep your mattress clean if you take a few preventive steps to keep it from getting heavily soiled in the first place. When it does need to be cleaned, vacuuming, spot treating, and airing it out can make it seem brand new.
