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How To Clean Mattresses And Box Springs

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Research has shown that most individuals spend approximately one-third of their lives in their bedrooms, a majority of which time they spend in their beds. Unfortunately, mattresses and box springs harbor dust, dander and dust mites and are a significant cause of allergies and allergy induced asthma. As a result, those who suffer from allergies and/or asthma must be diligent in their efforts to reduce their exposure to these allergens. One of the best methods of preventing allergy and asthma attacks is to keep your mattress and box springs clean. The following tips will help you determine how to clean mattresses and box springs.

Things You Will Need

Mattress and box springs.

Step 1

As a threshold matter, it is recommended that sufferers of asthma and allergies vacuum their mattresses and box springs at least twice a year. It is amazing the amount of dust, dander and lint your mattress and box spring will accumulate over that short period of time. If you want to "see for yourself", try this experiment. Just prior to vacuuming your mattress and box spring, make sure your vacuum has an empty vacuum bag. After finishing, examine the vacuum bad and be prepared to be utterly disgusted!

Step 2

Second, many sufferers of asthma utilize a plastic cover over their mattress and/or box springs to reduced exposure to allergy causes agents such as dust mites. However, this precaution is not worth the effort if you never take the time to clean it. Whether you wash the plastic cover in a washing machine or simply wipe it down with a sponge and solution of dishwashing liquid detergent and warm water, the important thing is to routinely clean the plastic mattress/box spring cover.

Step 3

Third, turn your mattress no less than twice a year. The turning of your mattress should correspond to the cleaning of your mattress and box springs. This will help distribute the wear on your mattress. As an added precaution, when you turn your mattress, you should also vary the way you turn it. For example, if the first time you turned your mattress you turned it side-to-side, your mattress should be turned end-to-end the next time.

Step 4

Finally, bed wetting can be a problem when it comes to maintaining and cleaning a mattress. Use a clean, white (yes, white) towel and blot up as much of the urine as possible. Thereafter, assuming you have access to one, try to remove the rest using a wet vacuum (you know, the kind with an upholstery attachment). If a wet-vacuum is not available to you, use a wet towel to blot up as much of the urine as possible. For the unfortunate smell that accompanies bed wetting, vinegar can be used to neutralize the odor. If possible, once this procedure is completed, take the mattress outside and allow it to dry in the sun. This will not only help with the odors, many forms of harmful bacteria will be killed by the sun's rays.

Treating allergy induced asthma is a subject routinely discussed on the author's website entitled: Allergy Induced Asthma.

Tips & Warnings

How To Clean Mattresses Tips: Sometimes it is easier to simply place a plastic mattress cover over the mattress when dealing with a bed wetter. That way, if an accident occurs, clean up involves little more than wiping up the urine and dousing the mattress with a disinfectant (i.e., Lysol).