If you live in an area affected by hurricanes or your home has been recently affected by a big storm, a flood, or a few broken water pipes around the house, you are probably dealing with a number of problems that require your immediate attention. While you might have an easier time drying out, cleaning, or fixing your affected hard-surfaced furniture items, this might not be the case with damaged carpets, upholstered furniture, or mattresses.
If you are currently looking for mattress cleaning assistance or you need a few quick tips for mattress water damage restoration, read on.
Assess the Damage in Your Mattresses
To tackle a water-damaged mattress, you will first need to carefully assess it and figure out how much water is still soaked it is. In case the mattress has spent several hours submerged in water, you may be looking at severe damage that might force you to contact professional mattress water restoration services. The Sunlight Mattress Cleaning NYC crew consists of fully trained, IICRC-certified experts who are trained to handle this exact type of problem. No matter how severely damaged your mattress might be, we promise to use our expertise and advanced know-how to recover it and bring it to its initial state, if possible.
If your mattress is fully soaked in water, cleaning and restoring it on your own is going to be a difficult procedure to handle at home. Completely removing all the water and moisture from such a mattress is a lengthy process. If done the wrong way, the mattress will turn into a thriving place for bacteria, mildew, and mold. Flood waters are known to contain large amounts of toxins as well as sewage, and all of it could reach the deep layers of the mattress if the cleaning, washing, and drying procedures are not handled the right way.
Restore the Mattress
This can be done using your own home supplies and tools, or by hiring an expert mattress restoration service. A severely contaminated bed should oftentimes be thrown away as a safety measure. If it is still possible to hold on to the mattress, you will need to figure out how to restore it.
Provided your mattress has not been fully submersed in dirty waters, you should focus on using the most efficient disinfectants to clean the mattress, then have all the moisture thoroughly removed. Look for any potential signs of growing mold, as well as nasty smells. These may look like white fuzz in the first stage of mold, green mold during the second stage when the mold will spread towards the surface of the mattress, or the third and final stage when black mold will appear. If you notice any sign of in any of these three stages, you will have to throw out the mattress as soon as possible as it has become toxic for the environment and your own health and well-being.
Place wet towels all over the wet mattress to absorb the water and constantly replace the wet towels with dried ones. Next, remove any leftover moisture found inside the mattress. To do this, you could buy or rent a wet or dry vacuum that can effectively vacuum liquids. Use it on your mattress to carefully suction up all the water that has reached the interior of the mattress.
Next, cover the mattress in baking soda and use a dry sponge to scrub it all in. It will absorb any moisture left while preventing any mold from growing and thriving inside the mattress. Just let the baking soda sit for several hours and use a vacuum to have it removed.
It is also possible to use cat litter for the same purpose of soaking up any extra dampness, following the same steps. Repeat the procedure using either cat litter or baking soda until you are sure that all the water has been successfully removed from your mattress.
Use Natural Light From the Sun to Dry Out the Mattress
The natural light and warmth from the sun is not only a natural sanitizer but also the ideal way of drying a mattress that has suffered water damage. Place your mattress in your backyard in direct sunlight, while making sure it will stand on its side. Use some small blocks or lean the mattress against a wall, while allowing as much air to circulate around the mattress as possible. As an alternative, use a dehumidifier or several fans inside the house to get dry the mattress. Never start reusing your mattress unless it is completely dry.
If these water-damaged mattress restoration tips sound too complicated for you or you would like to hire professional water damage mattress recovery help, give us a call. We use eco-friendly cleaning products, powerful steam cleaners, and dehumidifiers that will bring your damaged mattress to its original state.