How To Clean Your Mattress – Advice from Vorwerk
We speak to Vorwerk, the German household appliance brand specialising in deep cleaning home technology, to get their take on top tips for how to clean your mattress in a healthy and free of unwanted visitors way.
- Treat them like a carpet
The easiest way how to clean your mattresses on top form, is to make cleaning them part of your routine. Just like you vacuum your carpets regularly, you should also take time to vacuum your mattresses and at the very least, remove all the surface dirt. It needn’t be a chore; simply remove any mattress protectors or toppers and use your regular vacuum cleaner to roll backwards and forwards over the mattress for one minute.
- Even better, dry clean them
Whilst vacuuming your mattresses will remove surface dirt effectively, dry cleaning them will ensure that you achieve a thorough, deep clean and leave each one sanitised and hygienic. Research shows that the average household mattress contains large amounts of dead skin cells, mould spores, sweat and droppings from millions of dust mites; all of which are even more prevalent in beds used in the hospitality industry. Consider investing in a specialist mattress cleaning kit, such as that featured as part of the Vorwerk VK200 vacuum cleaner. It uses specially designed cleaning powder and two cleaning heads to dry clean your mattresses, removing allergy-causing micro particles and leaving the mattress sanitised.
- Rotate and flip
You should rotate and flip your mattresses at least every quarter whilst cleaning them. This may sound like a tedious job, but doing so will ensure your mattresses are as clean as can be. Plus, by evening out the wear, you will help to prolong the life of your mattresses and reduce expenditure on replacements.
- Avoid using water
Avoid getting your mattresses wet, even when cleaning them. Not only are they extremely tricky to dry out, a moist mattress is also a breeding ground for mould and mildew and a sure fire way to receive complaints from guests. If you do need to use water to remove a stain, try to use as little as possible and then use a fan to ensure that the mattress is completely dry before recovering it and using the bed. At the end of the day (or night!), dry cleaning is always the best method.
- Take time to deodorise
With the average person sweating out approximately half a pint of perspiration every night, deodorising your guests’ mattresses to keep them smelling fresh is essential. With this in mind, we recommend deodorizing your mattress regularly. A clever way to do this is to sift baking soda over the mattress, leave it for thirty minutes and then vacuum away using your regular vac. However, this will only serve to ‘freshen’ as opposed to clean stains, so use a cleaning powder that works in conjunction with a specially designed mattress cleaning tool to physically remove dirt and achieve optimum results.
- Use a mattress protector
In the hospitality industry, if you accommodate guests then mattress protectors are one of the best investments you can make. Not only do they offer an additional layer of protection against spills and stains, but they also help prevent perspiration, oils from our skin and dead skin cells penetrating the mattress. Take them off and throw them in the washing machine once a month to ensure that they stay clean and stain free.
- Get rid of it
Sometimes, no matter how much you clean a mattress it can be more efficient to admit defeat and replace it. The Sleep Council recommends that mattresses are changed every seven years, but this may need to be more frequent depending on occupancy rates. If you can, spend that little bit more initially and invest in higher quality mattresses that will stand withstand the test of time for longer.
