How to Steam Clean Mattress – Tips for Steam Cleaning Your Mattress
Learn how to steam clean a Mattress. Mattresses are expensive and properly caring for them can greatly extend the lifetime of your investment. Steam cleaning is a great way to care for your mattress and prevent the build up of allergies.
Compared to the expense of having your mattress professionally cleaned, the cost of purchasing a steam cleaner with many more uses like steam cleaning a sofa, investing in a quality steam cleaner can be a great option for families.
Steam cleaning is quick, easy, and effective leaving you with a clean mattress with less work.
(You may also want to read this article on other things to clean with a steam cleaner).
Can You Steam Clean a Mattress?
Yes, you can steam clean a mattress. This is a very effective way to get out stains, remove and kill dust mites and bed bugs, fight odors and clear away allergens.
Steam cleaning your bed is the easiest way to truly clean a mattress and saves money over the cost of getting a mattress professionally cleaned.
You can clean your mattress yourself with an upholstery steamer to make it almost as good as new.
(You may also want to read this article on steam cleaning area rugs yourself).
For families with children or pets, you may want to consider using an enzyme cleaner on the mattress before you begin cleaning.
How to Steam Clean Your Mattress in 7 Steps
Step 1: Take Everything Off the Mattress
Remove the sheets, pillows, and mattress topper (if you have any) to leave the mattress bare, ready for cleaning.
Step 2: Wash the Bedding
Wash all the bedding (pillows, sheets, and mattress topper)in a washing machine at high temperatures to get them sanitized and clean.
Step 3: Vacuum the Mattress
Vacuum the mattress to remove dirt and other debris to make the steam cleaning more effective. To help remove odors (optional), you can sprinkle baking soda all over the mattress. Let the baking soda sit for 30 minutes – 1hour, allowing it to absorb the odors before vacuuming.
Step 4: Pre-Heat Your Steamer
To steam clean your mattress, preheat your steamer while you strip your bed and pretreat any stains.
You can pre-treat most stains with a little diluted laundry soap or dish soap. For bodily fluid or pet stains use a pet enzyme cleaner well to soak the stain and allow it to set and kill off any bio-based odors.
Step 5: Apply the Steam Moving Slowly in Small Sections & Overlap Each Pass
Like steam cleaning your couch, start by moving slowly in sections across your mattress.
Overlap each pass to ensure that you are not left with lines when you are done. Move very slowly to allow the steam time to break down dirt and pull everything out before you move on.
Doing a few passes may be necessary for older or heavily soiled mattresses. You want to ensure that you push down hard to help pull out as much fluid as possible for both a better clean and a better drying time.
Go over any stubborn stains with pre-treatment and repeat in these areas to successfully remove stains from your mattress. To help pull out stains you can use a clean cloth to press into the matters to pull out the liquid and stains.
If you see lines in your mattress sometimes switching the direction you are steaming can help get rid of these lines for the smoothest finish possible. Sometimes these lines may not appear until your mattress has dried and you may need to try again after giving the fabric time to dry out a bit.
Don’t forget to steam clean the sides of the mattress too.
Step 6: Let it Dry
Getting your mattress as dry as possible as early as possible is vital to prevent mold and bacteria from taking over your mattress.
To speed up drying time, steam clean your mattress in the winter when your home heating system keeps your air very dry. This will leave plenty of room for the water in your mattress to evaporate.
If you have a dehumidifier, you can recreate these conditions easier by closing off the room with the dehumidifier ready to pull out excess moisture.
You can also direct a fan at your bed after steam cleaning to help direct air to flow over the mattress. If you can move your mattress to be in direct sunlight this can help your mattress dry faster.
Areas that you had to go over repeatedly may take longer to dry. Soaking up as much water as possible with your steamer’s extraction setting or using a clean dry towel to help pull out excess water can speed up drying these tough areas.
Step 7: Replace Your Bedding
After your mattress is dry, replace the bedding. To prevent messes from happening again you can use a zippered waterproof and pest-proof mattress cover. This allows you to protect your mattress.
How Long Does it Take for a Mattress to Dry after Steam Cleaning?
On average a steam-cleaned mattress will be dry in 2 to 4 hours. This means if you start early in the day it will be ready for sleeping on the same night.
Avoid steam cleaning your mattress when the humidity in your home is high. High humidity levels will prevent evaporation and slow drying time.
Can You Use a Garment Steamer to Clean a Mattress?
While you may be looking at your garment steamer and seeing the potential to steam clean your mattress, this does not work as well as you imagined. Steam cleaning a mattress requires a return selection to suck the water back out of what it saturates.
A garment steamer may penetrate your mattress and break up dirt but it will leave that moisture deep in your mattress where it can take too long to dry, risking the growth of mold and bacteria in your mattress. Instead, choose a quality upholstery steamer that can extract the steam it creates.
Final Thoughts on Steam Cleaning a Mattress
Steam cleaning your mattress helps to remove stains, eliminate dust mites and bed bugs, get rid of odors, and clear away allergens. Better yet, it is quick and easy to do. If you are looking for the best way to deep clean your mattress, then try steam cleaning and you will not be disappointed. However, be sure to let the mattress dry very well before replacing your bedding.
Related Cleaning Articles:
Now that you know how to steam clean a mattress, it’s time to get started with steam cleaning your mattress.
