How to Clean a Memory Foam Mattress Topper?

By
Romeo Vitelli
Romeo Vitelli
Expert Writer
Received his doctorate in Psychology in 1987, spent fifteen years as a staff psychologist in Millbrook Correctional Centre. In 2003 went into full-time private practice. read more
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Reviewed By
Medical Advisory Team
Medical Advisory Team
Includes well-known professionals, who together provide decades of sleep medicine experience that enables Talk About Sleep to fulfill its mission of creating access to high- read more
Last updated: August 17, 2023
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Memory foam toppers are lifesavers, both in terms of comfort and value for money, as they eliminate the need for a mattress replacement and also enhance the support you receive from your bed. It conforms itself to your body’s shape and helps keep you free from backaches. However, since you spend 7 to 8 hours in our bed daily on average, your mattress topper can accumulate dust, dirt, bacteria, and many more. If you are wondering how to clean a memory foam mattress topper, you have come to the right place.

Doing the cleaning procedure is essential, as it can help you maintain a clean, hygienic sleeping environment and keep allergies and other infections away from your body. We compiled a guide that will make it easy for you to clean your memory foam mattress topper at home.

Preparation steps

How to Clean a Memory Foam Mattress Topper?Before you begin cleaning your memory foam mattress topper, you will need certain things to ensure that your mattress topper is completely clean and free from all kinds of dirt and stains:

  • A few towels;
  • Non-abrasive liquid detergent;
  • Baking soda or vinegar;
  • A spray bottle;
  • Hairdryer;
  • A vacuum cleaner with hose attachment.

There are essential items for complete cleaning of your memory foam mattress topper. If you want to know how to clean urine from a memory foam mattress topper, you will need to have items like baking soda or vinegar, as simple detergent won’t be able to delete these stains.

Before you start cleaning, make sure to have a large open space where you can easily wash and dry your mattress topper. Moreover, you will need to reserve an entire day for cleaning your mattress topper, especially if there are any stubborn stains.


Quick or deep cleaning?

Depending on how dirty your mattress topper is, you can opt between two types of cleaning: quick or deep cleaning. Ideally, you should go for deep cleaning so that your mattress topper stays clean for longer. Even if you buy the best memory foam mattress toppers, they can get quite dirty with prolonged usage. We will discuss both methods so that you don’t have a hard time deciding which one to go for.

Fast cleaning method

Fast or quick cleaning allows you to clean your memory foam mattress topper if it hasn’t been used for too long, or it doesn’t appear really dirty or smell different. It is also useful if you want to remove a stain from a certain spot on your mattress topper. Bear in mind that if there are stains on both sides of the bed, you will need to spend twice the time in cleaning the topper. Here are a few simple steps that you can follow for fast cleaning.

Vacuum cleaning

How to Clean a Memory Foam Mattress Topper?The first step requires you to take off the mattress topper from your mattress and place it on a clean and dry surface. It would be better to put the topper on a plastic sheet. Next, attach the hose extension to the vacuum cleaner and start cleaning the surface. This will remove all of the dust and debris from the top.

Stain removal

How to Clean a Memory Foam Mattress Topper?After you finish vacuum cleaning, you can get to work on removing those stubborn stains and spots on your mattress topper. For this method, you can use various cleaning agents, but it is best to use a mixture of detergent and vinegar or baking soda as this helps remove stains. If you use the former, you can dilute the vinegar with water and apply it to the stains and spots. Next, wipe it with a cloth until it is fully removed.

Now you can dilute the detergent with a little more water, dip a dry cloth into the solution and apply it to the same areas as the vinegar solution. You can also spray this solution on the stains. Wait for at least 30 minutes to let the solution work its magic.

If you have baking soda, mix it in water with a 1:2 ratio and stir until completely dissolved. You can apply this solution to the stains with a cloth and wipe them until the stains start to fade away. Leave the mattress topper for at least an hour for complete cleaning.

Rinsing

How to Clean a Memory Foam Mattress Topper?Next, fill up a spray bottle with water and spray it on the areas that you cleaned with the above-mentioned solutions. Between sprays, use a soft and clean cloth to wipe off the surface to remove the water and solution fully.

Removing excess moisture

Once you rinse the surface of your memory foam mattress topper properly and you don’t see any soapy residue, you can take an absorbent towel and dab it on the spots to remove any excess moisture from the topper. Keep switching towels when one starts getting wet.

Drying

Now that the cleaning is over, you can simply leave the mattress topper to dry with a fan, or you can use a hairdryer for quicker drying. Keep the dryer at a significant distance from the mattress topper so that it doesn’t cause any damage.


Deep cleaning method

If your memory foam mattress topper has large and stubborn stains like coffee, quick cleaning won’t help you, and you will have to go for a full cleaning. This is because the liquid is deeply soaked by the memory foam and won’t disappear just by spot cleaning. Here is the entire process that you can follow to a clean memory foam mattress topper.

Initial steps

The first five steps of full cleaning are the same as quick cleaning, so you can just apply them as you see above.

Washing

After you are done with the initial steps, you have to wash your mattress topper with cold water. This will wash and rinse off all of the detergents. Keep washing and wiping off the surface of the topper until all of the detergents wash away completely.

Draining

For the next step, you have to roll the mattress topper inwards and gently apply pressure to expel water from it. To maintain your mattress’s softness and durability, don’t squeeze it too hard or tumble dry.

Drying

The next and last step of the full cleaning process requires you to place the mattress topper to dry, preferably somewhere where there is a decent airflow but no direct sunlight. Just like quick cleaning, you can use fans or hairdryers to dry up the mattress quickly.

What to avoid

Now that we discussed in detail what you need to do to clean your mattress topper efficiently and properly, it is also time to understand what you shouldn’t do while cleaning your mattress topper. Since memory foam is different from other types of foams and fabrics, you can’t clean it the same way as you do with others.

Firstly, you should ensure that your mattress topper is fully dry, and never place it back on the mattress even if it is slightly wet or a spot on it hasn’t dried fully. Even a little bit of moisture can cause the mattress topper to develop mold, which can be quite nasty and detrimental to your health.

As we mentioned above, another thing to take care of is to not dry your memory foam mattress topper under direct sunlight, especially during the time of day when the temperature is at its highest. You may be tempted to do this to dry up your topper quickly, but this will damage its structure. You may, however, place it under sunlight when the heat is a bit lower.

The same principle applies to blow-drying your mattress topper. Make sure to keep it at a low setting and a few meters apart so that the heat doesn’t damage the topper’s surface. Use cold water for washing, as hot water can also be damaging for your topper.

Don’t use low-quality detergent to clean the stains off your mattress topper, as it can cause discoloration of the surface of the memory foam. Also, don’t squeeze your mattress too hard, and prevent machine washing and tumble drying, as these can severely affect the softness of the memory foam.


How to make your topper last longer?

When your sleep starts getting disturbed due to your mattress, it is time for you to choose between  buying a new mattress or a mattress topper Trusted Source Should I get a new mattress, or will a topper do? | Consumer affairs | The Guardian Has anyone tried toppers, and would memory foam be better than natural fibres? www.theguardian.com . Mattress toppers help put off a big spend for a long time, but it is highly important to follow a few steps to ensure that your topper lasts longer. Check out these steps below:

Placing a cover

How to Clean a Memory Foam Mattress Topper?Using a cover on your memory foam mattress topper is highly important to preserve the life and softness of your topper. Not only will it prevent stains on your mattress topper, but it will also make it easy to maintain. Moreover, it doesn’t cost too much, and you can have 2 or 3 covers so that you can replace them from time to time. For instance, you can get the Sleep On Latex Cover to make your topper last longer.

Flipping the topper

You might have heard people flipping over their mattresses after a while, and you can do the same with your memory foam mattress topper. If you keep flipping it after every few weeks, you can keep it from getting too dirty and also maintain its softness.

Reading the care instructions

A good practice that you should always follow is to read the label of your memory foam mattress topper and check out the care instructions so that you know what you can do, and can’t do, while you try to clean your memory foam mattress topper.

Final thoughts

To learn how to clean a memory foam topper is easy, While this process requires a lot of time, and you have to be quite meticulous to ensure that your mattress topper is spotless and free from all kinds of dust, dirt, and bacteria.

If you think your mattress topper has lost its support and soft touch, maybe you should start looking at other options, such as the Linenspa 2-Inch Gel-Infused Memory Foam Mattress Topper, which is plush and offers great body support. Moreover, if you are a side sleeper, you should have a look at these mattress toppers for side sleepers.

References

1.
Should I get a new mattress, or will a topper do? | Consumer affairs | The Guardian
Has anyone tried toppers, and would memory foam be better than natural fibres?
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