What is in a mattress
An adult sheds skin continuously and perspires through the night, and both pass through a sheet. Dust mites feed on the skin. They are microscopic and present in almost every home, and the symptoms come from the allergen in their waste rather than from the mites themselves. That allergen is light enough to become airborne when someone sits down on the bed or turns over.
The mattress matters more than the sofa because of exposure time. You are in contact with it for seven or eight hours a night, with your face inches from the surface, breathing air that your own movement has just disturbed.
The three-stage clean
Lift what is loose. A HEPA-filtered pass over the whole surface, both sides where the mattress can be turned, and into the piping and seams around the edge, which collect more than the flat faces do.
Treat what is stuck. Perspiration and body-oil yellowing, spills and accidents each receive their own treatment and time to work. Odor is treated at the source, because a masked mattress odor returns within a fortnight.
Extract. Enough moisture to release the soil, drawn straight back out. Nothing is pushed deeper into the foam and nothing is left wet.
Why low moisture is required here
Carpet dries because air moves through and around it. A mattress is a sealed block of foam or springs inside a quilted cover, and air cannot reach the middle of it. Water that gets past the surface layer stays there, and a mattress that stays damp inside is a worse problem than the one being solved.
The method is therefore restrained. Surface and near-surface soil is removed and the interior stays dry. That is also why the bed is usually usable the same night.
What to do before we arrive
Strip the bed and put the bedding on to wash. The mattress and the bedding are one system, and cleaning half of it is half a job. If the mattress has a zip-off cover, leave it in place and we will work out whether it comes off. Clear enough floor space around the bed for a technician to work at all four sides.
Mention a child's mattress when you book. It changes nothing about the products, which are non-toxic and biodegradable either way, and it changes the order of work so the room that has to be ready by bedtime is done first.
