How To Clean Memory Foam
We spend almost one-third of our lives sleeping on our mattress topper. You can imagine, what that can do to it.
Over time, our sweat, hair, dead skin cells, and body odour sneak through the bedsheets and accumulate on the mattress pad. That’s not all, if you have kids or pets or both, they often end up staining your bed with something or the other.
Most of us clean our bedsheets once in a week or two. But what about the mattress pad? There’s only a handful number of people who make the effort of cleaning their mattress topper too.
It is recommended that you should clean your mattress at least twice a year.
The main problem is that people use mattress toppers to protect their mattresses, but they don’t know how to clean them. Cleaning a mattress pad is way different than washing your bed sheets or other bed items such as pillows, duvets, etc. If you have a memory foam mattress topper, we can help you clean it. In this guide, we will tell you everything about how to clean a memory foam mattress topper. So without any delay, let’s get into the details.
Things You Should Know About Cleaning Foam Mattress Toppers
Before we start cleaning memory foam mattresses, few things need to be discussed. You should keep these pointers in mind when cleaning your memory foam mattress pad.
- Since cleaning a mattress topper is a heavy task, you should set aside a whole day for cleaning. You will need a lot of time to dry the topper.
- If you have urine, blood, or vomit stains on your mattress pad, it is going to take you more time to remove them. In this case, you will have to soak it in a baking soda solution to get rid of the stains.
- You cannot submerge your mattress topper in water or wash it in the washing machine. However, this is unless it is suggested by your manufacturer. If your mattress topper is made of some other material other than memory foam, then it can be machine washed. But for all memory foam mattress toppers, needs to be hand-washed only.
Steps To Clean A Memory Foam Mattress Topper
Now the question is how to clean a foam mattress pad. Well, it’s not that difficult as you think it to be. All you have to do is follow the right steps and you should be good to go.
To clean your memory foam mattress topper, you need to first get it off the bed. For better cleaning, you should take it to a well-ventilated room. It would be better if the room has tile flooring. That’s because you will be using a lot of cleaning liquids, so tile flooring would be ideal for this.
However, if you have hardwood or carpet flooring, you can take the mattress topper to your bathroom. If that fails, then you can put the topper on a tarp.
Once you are ready to clean the mattress topper, you need to follow the steps given below. Make sure you follow everything correctly, or else you can ruin the topper.
Step 1: Vacuum the mattress topper
The first step to cleaning the mattress topper is to vacuum it. This will help you remove all the large debris in it.
If your mattress pad has an eggshell design, you need to put in the extra effort. That’s because you have to get everything out from the divots. Pay more attention to the stuck-up debris in these holes.
You need to vacuum the topper thoroughly. Make sure that you don’t miss out on any area. The best type of vacuum for the task would be a cordless handheld vacuum because it will allow more freedom of movement. However, if you don’t have a handheld vacuum, no worries, you can make do with whatever you have. We are not recommending you buy a new vacuum for this task. You can use any vacuum that has a hose and soft brush attachment. This makes cleaning easy.
Vacuum the entire mattress, but avoid pressing too hard. Make circular motions while cleaning from top to bottom. Pick up all the dust that is trapped in there. You should stop vacuuming only when you are confirmed that every last bit of dirt is removed.
Step 2: Get rid of stains and odours
If you are wondering how to clean a memory foam topper odour or stain, we have got you covered.
Once you are done removing all the large debris, it’s time to work on those stains and odour. But before you start, you should know that this is the difficult part. If your mattress topper has blood, urine, food, or vomit stains, you need to put in extra effort to get them off.
To remove all the unwanted stains, spray some water in the stained area. Next, sprinkle some boric acid and blot the stain until it’s gone. However, if you have a stubborn stain, this method may not work. In this case, we suggest you use an enzymatic pet stain cleaner. This can help remove deep-down and stubborn stains.
After you have removed all the stains, it’s time to attend to the odours if there are any. To get rid of bad odour, sprinkle some baking soda on the topper and let it sit for about 8 hours. You need to let the baking soda do its job.
After 8 hours of waiting, vacuum away the baking soda, so that you can move onto the next step.
Step 3: Spray the mattress topper with watery-detergent
The next step in how to clean a memory foam mattress pad is to spray it with watery-detergent.
Many of you would wonder how to prepare a watery-detergent solution. Well, it’s quite easy. All you need is some laundry detergent and water. Mix two parts of water with one part of laundry detergent and your cleaning solution will be ready. But make sure that you are using a gentle detergent, or else it can damage the topper fabric. You should use a detergent that is free of harsh chemicals.
When applying the detergent solution to your mattress topper make sure not to soak it. All you have to do is gently spread a nice layer of the cleaning liquid on the topper.
Once you are done spraying your mattress, turn it over and spray the other side too. Make sure to cover the entire mattress pad.
Step 4: Let it dry
After you are done with the previous step, you need to let the mattress topper dry. Open all your windows and let some fresh air come in. This will help dry out the topper quickly.
Drying the mattress should take at least 8 hours. If possible, you should let it dry overnight. However, if it is still wet after 8 hours, flip the mattress and leave it for a few more hours.
You can use a blow dryer to dry the wet parts of the topper. But don’t set it in the highest settings. Keep the settings low to blow out gentle warm air over the topper. This will help you speed up the drying process.
Step 5: Vacuum residue
Once the mattress topper is dry on both sides, you need to vacuum it again. Use the vacuum to pick the remaining detergent residue. Make sure that you vacuum the entire mattress and not leave a single area.
Step 6: Place it back on your bed
After you have cleaned, dried, and vacuumed your mattress topper, it’s time to place it back on your bed.
By now, your mattress should be free of all stains and bad odours. It should look new and smell good. But make sure that the mattress is completely dry. If it’s holding moisture, it could result in mold growth. This is why you have to make sure that there are no moist areas on your mattress pad.
Well, that’s how to clean a memory foam mattress topper. The process is time-consuming, but it is worth it. By cleaning your mattress topper, you not only get a clean place to sleep, but it also helps extend the life of the mattress topper. You are recommended to clean your mattress topper every four to six months.
If you are a busy person, you can do it on the weekends and even ask someone in your family to help you out. When two people do it, the process becomes much faster. Make sure that you follow all the steps correctly.
How often should you clean a memory foam mattress?
A memory foam mattress needs to be cleaned by hand. You cannot put it in the machine and get done with the cleaning. To keep it in good shape and free of stains, you should clean it as soon as it happens.
You should vacuum the pad every day along with your bedsheets. This will remove dust and debris from the topper. Maintaining your topper regularly reduces your task and also extends its life span.
As far as deeper cleaning is concerned, you should clean it every few months. But this can vary depending on how carefully you use your topper. For people who have kids and pet in their house, they may feel the need to deep-clean it on just two to three months. Or else, cleaning it every four to six months would be fine.
How to remove specific stains from a mattress topper?
Over time, your mattress topper gets stained with various things. From blood to food to vomit, there are so many types of stains a mattress topper has to encounter. The thing about stains is that you cannot apply the same cleaning method on all types of stains. There are some stubborn stains for which you need to use specific methods.
In this section, we will discuss how to remove a specific type of stains from your mattress topper.
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Blood
To remove blood stains, take a sponge or white cloth and soak it with just 2% hydrogen peroxide. Now blot the stain from the edges towards the center. This will help you prevent spreading.
Hydrogen peroxide may turn the foam yellow or even discolour it. But it will surely get rid of the ugly bloodstains.
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Vomit and urine
Vomit and urine stains are common in households that have kids or pets. To remove these types of stains and odours, you need to clean the area with laundry borax. After that spread the whole surface of the stained area with baking soda.
You need to let the baking soda sit for at least 24 hours. This will allow it to do its job. Once 24 hour passes, vacuum the topper thoroughly to remove all the residue. You can apply this method to remove cigarette smoke odours as well.
After any type of stain removal process, you should let the mattress pad air-dry at least 24 hours. If there is any moisture trapped in the topper, it will dry out in 24 hours. Once your mattress topper is completely dry, you can place it back on your bed.
FAQs
Final Words
After going through this guide, you should know how to clean memory foam topper. Keeping your mattress topper clean provides you a hygienic and clean place to sleep. Not just that, but it also extends the life of the topper. If you don’t want to put in the effort to clean your mattress topper, you should make sure not to stain it. But maintaining a stain-free mattress pad is almost impossible for anyone. At some point, it’s going to get stained. You can then follow our guide to clean your topper.
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