How to clean your mattress – getting rid of stains

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Have you ever thought about how to clean your mattress? Did you know that your mattress even needed cleaning? I have to say, it’s not something that had really crossed my mind, until I dropped tea all over it. It left a nasty stain on the mattress that sent shivers up my spine every time I caught a glance of it. I needed to get rid of it, so I’ve come up with the ultimate guide on how to get rid of those nasty stains.

How often should you clean your mattress

The answer to this question really does depend on how ‘dirty’ you are. Do you sweat really badly? Do you have a habit of spilling tea in bed? Get yourself two mattress protectors, and every time you change your bedding, change your mattress protector too. Pop that in the wash with your bedding too. Then try to vacuum your mattress at least once every six months. If you suffer from asthma, then vacuum your mattress once a month.

How to just generally clean your mattress

The first thing you need to do is give your mattress a good old vacuum. This will pick up any loose hairs, dog/cat hairs or crumbs from those secret midnight munchies. And will also get rid of all of the dust that may have accumulated over time. Only once you have generally cleaned your mattress, would you be able to begin tackling any stains.

clean your mattress

How to remove mattress stains

Removing tea, coffee, or wine stains from your mattress

Unfortunately accidents happen, and although we would much rather our tea, coffee and wine were in our mouths, sometimes it ends up on the bedding and the mattress. Try and clean the stain as quickly as you can.

  • Dribble a little sparkling water over the stain, then pour on salt to help lift the stain. After 30 minutes, wipe off the salt and vacuum.

  • Create a 50/50 mixture of water and white wine vinegar and spray it on to the stain. Then blot the mixture off. Continue to do this until the stain has gone.

How to get rid of blood, urine, or sweat stains on a mattress

Blood, Urine and Sweat might all cause stains on your mattress. As they are bodily stains, they are protein based. The longer they are left, the harder they will be to remove. But here are a few quick cleaning tips you could try:

  • Create a paste out of lemon juice and salt. Apply your concoction to the stain and leave it for an hour. After the hour, simply wipe off the salt and then vacuum.

  • Apply a little hand wash detergent to the stain as it will help to break down the bodily fluid. Then just simply blot it off.

  • If you’re tackling fresh blood stains on a mattress, remember to always use cold water - this breaks down proteins in blood faster than warm water and prevents it from “setting”. 

How to deep clean a mattress

If you’ve never cleaned your mattress, or have some difficult stains to get rid of, then a quick clean might not be enough and a deep clean might be needed. Luckily, the steps for a deep clean are similar to those of a general clean, but involve being a lot more thorough:

1. Air the mattress

Strip the bed, open your bedroom windows, and leave the mattress exposed to allow it to breathe for an hour to start lifting any odours.

2. Vacuum the mattress

If you have one, use an upholstery attachment to make this a bit easier. We’d recommend vacuuming in small, circular motions to lift as much dirt and dust out of the mattress as possible.

3. Tackle stains

Whether the stains are blood, urine, sweat, tea, coffee, or wine, the key here is not to use any harsh chemicals or get it too wet as doing so can damage the integrity of the mattress. When deep cleaning a mattress, you may notice some stains that have set in so the quick cleaning tips from above might not cut it. Instead, you’ll want something a bit more robust to help lift the stains to clean them effectively:

Deep cleaning general mattress stains

Mattresses accumulate various stains through the years just from standard use, which also means there are loads of methods to help get them out. 

If you’re just working with general stains, the best method is a gentle laundry detergent or dish soap, mixed with lukewarm water. You can use your usual laundry detergent for this and just a spray bottle if you have one to lightly coat the stain with the mixture. 

Once you’ve sprayed the stain, gently dab it with a clean cloth or sponge to help lift as much of the stain as possible. Remember never to rub the stain - this can spread it and make it much harder to draw out so always dab and repeat. 

Deep cleaning blood stains on a mattress

There are three main ways to deep clean blood stains on a mattress, but for each you should remember to use cold water, dab the stains, and use a damp cloth so you don’t get the mattress too wet. 

For fresh blood stains, use dish soap or laundry detergent

If the blood stain is fresh, using dish soap or laundry detergent is the best way to get it out of a mattress quickly. 

Mix the dish soap or laundry detergent with cold water, dampen a cloth with the mixture, and then gently press onto the stain. Repeat this until it starts to lift.

For dried blood stains, use baking soda

If the blood stain has already dried (as is likely if you’re doing a deep clean!) then baking soda might be your best option. For this method, you’ll need to:

  1. Dampen a cloth with cold water
  2. Dab the stain with the cloth to loosen it a little
  3. Sprinkle the baking soda over the stain and then leave it for 30 minutes
  4. Rinse the cloth with cold water again and then dab the stain until it lifts
  5. You’ll need to repeat the process as many times as necessary for the stain to disappear, and then leave the mattress to dry completely.
  6. Once the mattress is fully dry, vacuum the surface again to get rid of any residual baking soda.

4. Flip the mattress and repeat

If you have a double sided mattress (one you flip and rotate every few months to keep plump), then you’ll want to flip the mattress over and repeat the process above. This will make sure the whole mattress gets a thorough clean rather than just one side of it, helping to keep it fresher for longer. 

5. Air the mattress

Whenever you’re deep cleaning a mattress, you need to remember to let it dry completely before remaking the bed. This stops any form of mold setting in from trapping in moisture, and also makes sure any residual odours have a chance to disappear. We’d recommend leaving the mattress for a couple of hours, depending on how many or how deep the stains you tackled were, and leaving the bedroom windows open to help. 

How often should you get a new mattress

We generally say that you should only get a new one when you feel you need a new one. But perhaps your mattress is just too stained to keep? Usually mattresses are replaced every 8-10 years. But if you’ve followed our tips on how to keep your mattress clean, then perhaps you will be able to keep your mattress for longer.

Find out how to safely and effectively dispose of your mattress in this post from the bed experts at Furl.

How often should you get a new mattress

How to keep your mattress smelling fresh

There are three different ways that you can keep your mattress fresh. A couple are a little weird and wonderful and I was slightly sceptical to try them at first. But they really do work!

A sprinkling of baking soda

A very weird but wonderful way of keeping your mattress smelling clean, sprinkle a little baking soda over it. Of course using a sieve will make it much easier to keep it even. Leave the baking soda to settle for about an hour. Then simply vacuum it off.

Deodorising Spray

You can buy a spray from most supermarkets, like Febreze Fabric Sprays, but you can actually create your own. Just add a cup full of fabric conditioner to an empty spray bottle. Then fill the bottle up with water, shake well and spritz over your mattress.

Fresh air

Fresh air is a great way of keeping your mattress fresh, but this doesn’t have to mean dragging it outside! When you change your bedding, open the window and allow the mattress to breathe in the fresh air for a few hours before remaking your bed.

Try to also pull the duvet back for 10 minutes in the morning before making your bed too.

A short guide on mattress protectors and how they can help

Of course you might not always be able to stop stains from penetrating your mattress. But you should do everything you can do to prevent them. This starts with getting a mattress protector. They stop all of that sweat and skin getting into the mattress itself. They are simple and easy to fit. And they can be popped into the wash as often as you want. They also mean that you don’t have to clean your mattress quite as often.

Here are a few of our favourite mattress protectors:

1. If you have little ones and want to prevent any accidents from hitting the mattress, then these waterproof protectors are a great option.

2. You don’t always want your mattress protector to take away from the mattress underneath it. You chose that mattress for a reason and don’t want to change the feel of it. If this sounds like you, then a thin soft mattress protector should do the trick.

3. Perhaps you would like a little bit of extra luxury? Then a luxury mattress protector will give you that extra comfort.

4. It’s not just your mattress that you should protect though. Your pillow also has to suffer sweat, coffee stains and dribble! So make sure that you use pillow protectors too.

Mattress for Storage beds

Furl Mattresses

If you simply can’t clean your mattress or you have tried to clean your mattress but it hasn’t really worked, then why not buy a new one? We have lots of different mattress options available at Furl. You should really test a mattress before selecting one, so you can try ours out at our showroom. Mattress testing doesn’t have to be hard work – we’ve written a blog post on how to make it easier. In the meantime though, here is everything that you might want to know about the mattress we sell.

Pocket Sprung Mattresses

basic 1000

Basic 1000

Great value traditional mattress, 1000 individually pocketed springs, medium firmness.

Luxury 1500

A sumptuous mattress with wool, silk and cashmere fillings from head to toe for luxurious comfort.

Luxury 1500
Luxury 2000

Luxury 2000

Just like the luxury 1500 but with more springs for a slightly firmer feel.

Firma 1400

This mattress is designed for people who need or like an extra firm mattress. This no-turn mattress.

Firma 1400
Slim 1600

Slim 1600

Developed for the low slim look, this mattress has all the comfort in a slim design, with natural wool fillings.

Hybrid mattress

Duo 1200

A unique blend of traditional pocket springs and memory foam. 1200 Pocket springs provide you with a supportive base.

Duo 1200

Foam type mattresses

Biorytmic Firm

Biorytmic Firm

Extra Firm all foam mattress with a hi-tech cover that contains natural minerals.

Memory Flex 750

Our award winning Memory Flex mattresses are made from special foam, which adapts to your body shape as you sleep.

Memory Flex 750

Latex 750

The original Healthy Body-Moulding filling with a unique open-cell self ventilation structure.

We hope that our tips on how to clean your mattress have been useful, good luck!