There used to be a time when everyone had an innerspring mattress but nowadays there are about as many people buying foam mattresses as their traditional counterparts. Foam can be used in a variety of forms for bedding, ranging from memory foam, latex or polyurethane mattresses to hybrids mixing foams with a coil support system and even foam mattress top covers. Foam bedding products cover the full range from top quality high-end luxury products to storable temporary beds and foam mattresses available through suppliers. Whilst they vary greatly they share many similarities when it comes to the maintaining and cleaning of them so keep these in mind to make sure you can keep your mattresses fresh, hygienic and in good condition.
Flip Your Mattress
It is a common misconception that foam mattresses don’t need to be flipped like innerspring mattresses. However, you should still be doing this as they can start sinking down over a period of time in the spot you tend to regularly sleep. Not all-foam mattresses are suitable to be flipped over as they are designed to be used only one way up having a different finish on either side but if this is the case, then just rotate them around 180 degrees. Doing this will still help to spread the wear evenly across your mattress.
Routine Vacuuming
One advantage foam mattresses have over innerspring mattresses are that they are less prone to bed bugs but like any surface, you sleep on they will still gather dead skin, dust and hair. To stop this accumulating too much you should vacuum the top monthly. Like any type of mattress, you should use a mattress cover. These will prevent any spillages or stains getting directly onto the foam mattress itself but even so you should still do this routine vacuuming for better hygiene as well as extending the lifetime of your mattress.
Cleaning Stains
Inevitably something will get spilt on your mattress or soak through the cover and stain it. You need to be careful what products you are using when you clean a foam mattress as certain chemical reactions with the foam can cause a lot of damage to them. The first thing you need to do is soak up the liquid as quickly as possible to remove as much excess liquid as possible. Do this by continual dabbing with a water-absorbent towel or cloth so that you don’t rub any more into the mattress and cause the stain to set. If there is still any stain remaining or you discovered it after the stain had already dried, you can use watered down washing up liquid and rub it into the stain in a circular motion moving from the outside in.
Removing Odours
Whenever you have had any stains which caused odours they can be treated with a mixture of 50% vinegar and 50% water. Put this into a spray type container and spray a small amount onto the area and leave it for 5 minutes. Then soak up the excess liquid with paper towels and repeat until the smell has gone. Finish this by putting a little baking soda on the area and leave it for a good few hours to air dry. It is very important that foam mattresses are only ever air-dried. Then vacuum up any baking soda and both the unwanted odour and the vinegar smell will have disappeared.
