How to Deep Clean a Mattress When Things Have Gone Very Wrong (Yes, Urine)

You put a lot into a mattress over the years, such as sweat, dead skin, dust mites and all the other things your family has left in it.

Let’s be honest, after five years of that, there’s a good deal of buildup.

Then you have the sheets. Most folks get in the habit of laundering them on a regular and think they’re in the clear. But the mattress is an entirely different matter.

We put some work into ours this spring for a few reasons. It was long past time, for one. Then there were the odd juice spills from the girls. And to top it off, my wife’s three-year-old nephew, Thanos, had a little accident with the mattress during a visit and made sure to cover his bases.

What did he do? He peed on it…I couldn’t believe it…

I”ll be crystal clear with ya. Ι thought of throwing the mattress away. But then I calmed down. This mattress cost over 2000 dollars, it was premium.

Is there any way I can deep-clean it and restore it?

And I did it!!!

So if you’re in the same boat, or if you just want to give your mattress a once-over after some hard use, you’ve come to the right spot.

Here’s how we went about it!

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Before You Start

Here are a couple of things to have in mind before you get started.

First, have a look at the care label on your mattress. While you can do what I’m about to show you with most of them, you’ll want to be careful with memory foam.

It’s not a good idea to drench it; the foam soaks up moisture and is hard to dry out, and that’s an easy way to get some mould growing in there. If you have one of those, put on much less liquid and just work the surface.

Then make sure you’ve put everything in the wash. I mean the whole lot: sheets, pillowcases, any topper or protector. Run them through the machine on as hot a setting as the material will stand for. The protector in particular needs a good wash since it’s the first line of defence against what the sheets don’t catch.

And don’t forget to put the windows open. You want some air moving around to make sure the mattress dries out.

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Step One: Vacuum the Entire Surface

Most folks put this off because it doesn’t seem like you’re really getting to work, but you are.

Start with a vacuum and an upholstery head to get up the dead skin, dust, mite detritus and any other loose bits on top of the mattress before you put any kind of liquid on it. If you go in with moisture first, you’ll just be driving all that into the fabric.

Take your time. Make sure to cover the whole top in overlapping passes and don’t forget the sides. The seams and tufting are where things have a way of settling in, so give those some extra care. A HEPA filter on your vacuum is a plus for pulling out the finer stuff that can make a mattress an allergen trap.

You’d be surprised how much of an impact this has on keeping your mattress in good shape between the occasional deep clean.

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Step Two: Treat Any Stains

You want to get the stain work out of the way before you start on the rest of the cleaning, so it has a chance to do its job.

Most of what you’ll find on a mattress with kids around — some juice, a bit of food, or who knows what — can be put right with a little cold water, a drop of dish soap and a tablespoon of white vinegar. Put it on a fresh cloth and rub in soft circles. And make sure the water is cold; hot will only set any protein in the stain.

For urine specifically, which is where Thanos became relevant, the approach is different and worth doing properly.

Start by blotting, not rubbing. Rubbing just drives the moisture in and makes the spot worse. Take some paper towels or a dry cloth and press down hard, from the edges in.

Next, you need an enzymatic cleaner. There’s no substitute for it. The bacteria in these cleaners will go after the proteins and uric acid in the urine on a biological level. You can use vinegar or baking soda to cover up the odor for a while, but they don’t fix the problem. If you think you’ve got a spot and the smell lingers, it’s usually uric acid crystals you didn’t quite get to.

So put on a good amount of the enzymatic product and lay a damp cloth over it.

Let it sit for ten or fifteen minutes, or however long the label says. Once you’re done, give it one more good blot with a dry cloth to wick away the excess before you put it aside.

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Step Three: Baking Soda Over the Entire Surface

You can put down a lot of credit for a clean mattress on baking soda. It’s the kind of product that works on two fronts at once.

It soaks up any dampness from your stain removal and puts an end to smells, even the ones that have been in there for years.

Put some on the whole top of the mattress. I don’t mean a little here and there; you want a good covering over the fabric. On a double, you’ll be through with most of a box.

Then let it work. You have to be patient for this part. An hour or two is fine, but if you can put it on and let it sit while you get on with your day, so much the better. The more time it has, the more it will do its job.

For the urine area specifically, mix a small amount of hydrogen peroxide into the baking soda before applying it to that section. The combination helps break down remaining uric acid and is more effective on biological stains than baking soda alone. Test this on an inconspicuous area first if your mattress has a coloured fabric cover, as hydrogen peroxide can occasionally affect colour.

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Step Four: Vacuum Again

After the baking soda has had its way, give the whole thing another vacuum to see it out.

Go over it the way you did in step one: with some slow, overlapping strokes and an eye for the nooks and crannies where the powder likes to hide. You don’t want any of it left in the fabric; even a little can be an irritant down the line.

You’ll be able to tell the mattress is fresher just by the smell. It may not look like much has changed, but it’s in better shape than when you put it to work.

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Step Five: Let It Dry Completely

You don’t have to pay for this, and it’s one of those things people put off too often.

Say you’ve put some liquid on the mattress as part of the stain removal: let it dry out before you make the bed. You don’t want a damp spot in the middle of the mattress where it’s warm and hidden; that’s how you get mould, and you won’t know about it until you can smell it.

Put the windows on. A fan will do if you have one handy to circulate some air. But on a nice summer day, there’s no better way than to stand the mattress up by an open window and let it be for a while.

With the urine spot, be patient. The enzymatic cleaner has to work its way in, so the core of it is the last to go. An hour in, put a dry rag to it and see if any moisture comes through. If so, wait a bit longer. Don’t put the sheets back on until you’re sure it’s bone dry.

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How Often Should You Actually Do This

For most of us, a good, deep clean once a year is all you need. If you have kids or pets in the mix, make it twice.

In between, you should put some time in with the vacuum every so often. It’s a ten-minute job and it gets up on top of what’s built up before it has a chance to set in.

Then there’s the matter of a mattress protector. I’d say put one on every bed in the house. Not to let you off the hook for a proper cleaning, but it does put more time between them. You can throw the protector in the wash after a spill; the mattress below is left alone.

We put a waterproof one on the guest room after Thanos was in town. It’s been there ever since and isn’t going anywhere.

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My Final Thoughts

The mattress came out of that Saturday morning genuinely clean. Not just surface clean but actually clean, which is a different thing and one I hadn’t fully appreciated before I understood what was actually in a mattress that hadn’t been properly cleaned in five years.

Read Also:

• How to Clean a Disgusting Oven With Things You Already Have at Home!
• How to Clean Old Grease from Kitchen Cabinets 
• How to Deep Clean Your Dishwasher

Thanos has no idea he contributed to an improvement in our household hygiene. He was asleep again within twenty minutes of the incident. He woke up the next morning completely untroubled by the whole thing, which is one of the many advantages of being three.

That’s all I have for today.

If you have a mattress cleaning tip that made a real difference, something specific that worked on a stain that seemed impossible, leave it in the comments.

And if you’ve had your own Thanos situation, know that the enzymatic cleaner is the answer and you will be fine.

Until next time,

Stay safe,

Tasos