Unknown to you, you may be sharing your sleeping space with microscopic creatures called dust mites.
Suffering from allergies? This may be your problem. The proteins in the dust from the dust mite poop can cause symptoms of common allergic reactions.
Dust mites love dark and humid conditions, like your mattress. Feeding on the dead skin cells that you shed on your mattress.
Did you know we shed about 500g of dead skin cells per year? Sharing your bed with a partner, that is a lot of dead skin cells. Plus, we spend about 30% of our life in bed.
Now that we know what could be causing symptoms of allergic reactions. Follow these steps to banish them and get a good night’s sleep.
When you remove all allergens and dead skin cells. You'll have peace of mind knowing that your mattress is perfectly clean and fresh if you clean and sanitize it. Allowing you to have a good night’s sleep.
Keep an eye out for our other mattress cleaning guides. Where we will show you how to clean vomit, faeces, blood and other spots and stains that you may encounter. As well as how to remove sweat stains from a mattress.
We used a Vacmaster Orson Lite. That has a HEPA 13 filter contained in the casing, trapping dust mites and their poop (allergens).
Ensure that your vacuum and filters are completely clean, giving maximum airflow.
Step Two: Remove Your Bedding
Make sure that you remove all the bedding and covers. Wash in warm water and dry in a hot dryer to kill any remaining dust mites.
Sunlight also works well if you do not have a dryer.
Step Three: Vacuum The Mattress
Vacuum your mattress. Slowly, in a north and south direction and then in an east and west fashion. Allowing everything to go into the canister.
Step Four: Low Moisture Mattress Clean
Fill a bucket with 5 litres of hot water and one teaspoon of dishwashing soap. Dip your microfiber towel into hot water and wring it out thoroughly, leaving the cloth slightly damp.
Fold your towel into a quarter and start wiping the mattress clean. Wipe a quarter of the mattress with each side of the towel.
Turn your towel onto a fresh side and continue wiping the mattress in quarters. Turning the towel over to the clean side for each quarter.
You should see the dirt transferring onto your cloth from the mattress.
Step Five: Repeat Low Moisture Clean
Now soak your cloth in the cleaning agent and wash the towel out. The aim is not to introduce excess water into the mattress, but to migrate the soil from the mattress on to the towel.
Leave the mattress to dry for about 30 minutes before disinfecting and sanitizing.
Step Six: Disinfect and Sanitize
Use 70% IPA (isopropyl alcohol) or rubbing alcohol and mist over the mattress. You do not need much. The rubbing alcohol kills any bacteria or viruses that may be present in the mattress.
The rubbing alcohol will evaporate, leaving no odour.