Get (Any) Pee Out of (Any) Mattress – Explained
Most people dread getting pee on their mattress, but if you have kids, pets, or get ill, you have a higher than average chance of ending up with pee on a mattress at some stage.
A quality mattress is an expensive and long-term investment, but neither do you want to live with a stained mattress or the smell of pee.
Accidents happen – it’s not a tragedy. The source of stain and smell on your mattress could be pee from your child or pet, or vomit from a hangover or feeling unwell.
You can take the pee or vomit out of the mattress without offending anyone.
How to Get Pee Out of a Mattress
Fresh pee forms a puddle on the surface of the bed. Immediately it starts to soak down into the bedsheet, or any bedding on top of the pool, rapidly working its way through the non-waterproof mattress protector, and finally the mattress.
Act quickly, and you stop most of the pee from getting into the mattress.
The prosses below is the best way to clean pee stains out of a mattress and deals with the color and smell in easy stages.
Removing Fresh Urine
Remove all loose bedding – separate any that is pee free into a separate heap. Before you rush to get your bedding into the wash, start getting the wet pee off your mattress.
Absorb the urine into something else like a towel, cotton rags, or paper kitchen towel. This quick action stops a fair amount of the pee from entering the mattress. You can throw them away or wash and reuse.
You blot the pee up without rubbing or applying too much pressure. You would need a good supply of fresh material until there is no more liquid pee.
If pee puddles make a regular appearance in your life, consider getting a supply of water-absorbing crystals. These inexpensive granules quickly absorb fluids like urine and turn it into a gel.
These hydrogels are popular with gardeners to keep plants hydrated, athletes, and first aiders.
These crystals make cleaning up body fluids straightforward and less hands-on. If you have them, pour them onto the pee puddle and let them work their magic while you get ready for the next stage.
Before moving on to removing the pee from the mattress, you can get your bedding into the washing machine and assemble your clean-up kit.
Clean-up Kit for Fresh Pee
You may already have everything you need at home.
The clean-up kit to remove pee consists of regular household items that are easy for you to get your hands on:
- Distilled white vinegar
- Water (warm or cold, but not hot)
- Baking Soda
- Absorbent towels – paper or textile
- Spray bottle
- A few drops of aromatherapy oil like lavender or tree oil (optional)
- Vacuum cleaner
Process for Cleaning Up Fresh Pee
The clean-up process is straightforward:
Step 1: Mix the vinegar and water in the spray bottle in equal amounts. Add an aromatherapy oil for fragrance if you wish.
Step 2: Spray the affected area with a generous amount of diluted vinegar.
Step 3: Blot up the excess liquid with the towels. Do not rub. Work from the outside to the center of the pee-soaked area.
Step 4: Cover the area with a layer of baking soda using a fine mesh strainer and leave to dry for at last eight hours – longer is better. If you can, leave it to dry in direct sunlight as sunlight on wet cloth has a bleaching effect.
Step 5: Vacuum up the soda crystals.
If the mattress is still stained, repeat the process until you are happy with the result.
How to Clean Dried Pee Out of a Mattress?
The person in charge of cleaning up is rarely present when the pee incident occurs. Most pee-stains on mattresses are the dried variety.
The above process may be sufficient for a relatively recent incident, but a heavier-duty cleaning solution is more effective on old stains.
Clean-up Kit for Dried Pee
You may need to buy in some items unless you use hydrogen peroxide as laundry bleach.
Check your mattress warranty to see if cleaning with bleach is acceptable. If in doubt, test a small corner of the mattress with the solution.
The clean-up kit for dried pee consists of:
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Baking soda
- Liquid detergent – dish soap works well
- Spray bottle
- Your favorite essential oil for scent (optional)
- Vacuum cleaner
Clean-up Process for Dried Pee
The process is similar to that for cleaning up fresh pee stains.
Step 1: Put 8oz (30ml) hydrogen peroxide, three tablespoons of baking soda, a couple of drops of liquid detergent and a couple of drops of essential oil (optional) into the spray bottle. Mix by gently swirling – if you shake, you get unwanted foam.
Step 2: Spray the stained area of the mattress.
Step 3: Leave the mattress to dry for as long as possible. The baking soda forms crystals as the mattress dries out.
Step 4: Vacuum up the soda crystals.
This process leaves the mattress clean and fresh, but if the stain remains, repeat until you have a clean mattress.
Exposure to sunlight helps to remove the stain quickly and more effectively.
Now you know how to clean a mattress with dry urine stains. You can relax when you reveal an unwelcome stain because you can restore your mattress in just a few easy steps.
How to Get Cat Pee Out of a Mattress?
Your feline friend pees in the house when nervous or upset and sprays stinky urine to show ownership. Cat pee is intense, yellow, and foul-smelling.
Knowing how to remove cat urine smell from a mattress is crucial if you want to avoid repeated incidents.
Cats are creatures of habit, and recognizing the smell of its urine may prompt a repeat performance. Your cat’s sense of smell is more sensitive than yours. Your cat will detect trace scents that you don’t notice.
The dried pee cleaning solution removes the stain but can leave the smell.
The best way to clean cat pee out of a mattress is with an enzyme cleaner to break down the acid in cat urine. You can get a pet pee enzyme cleaner in pet stores or online.
If you have a cat pee emergency and don’t have a proprietary enzyme cleaner to hand, check your laundry washing powder. Biological powders use enzymes for stain removal.
Instead of making a liquid, use enough water to make a damp paste and apply that to the cat pee stain. Once dry, vacuum up the powder.
How to Get Dog Pee Out of a Mattress?
Dog urine is almost identical to human urine – 95% water and 5% urea. The best way to clean dog pee out of a mattress is to use the same techniques for removing human urine.
The main problem is that your dog has a super sensitive nose, and although you can’t smell dog pee on the mattress, your dog can.
Knowing how to remove dog urine smell from a mattress means understanding that masking the scent is not going to be enough. Your dog is an expert at sorting through layers of scent and reading the underlying message.
Urine smells because of bacteria breaking down the urea. Vinegar and Hydrogen Peroxide clean the mattress by breaking down the proteins that feed bacteria.
If all the pee is gone, there is no scent to trigger your dog’s pee response.
How to Clean Vomit from a Mattress?
No one enjoys dealing with vomit. Most humans will feel a vomit response to seeing other people vomiting or smelling vomit.
For practical purposes, vomit has two components – liquid and solid.
When adults and children vomit in their sleep or wake up with a sudden need to vomit most of the vomit ends up on the bedding or the floor. But if it does come into contact with the mattress, it is likely to leave an unpleasant stain and smell.
Swift action and knowing how to clean vomit off a mattress mean you save the mattress.
Step 1: Remove the vomit from the outside edges towards the center of the puddle to avoid spreading the mess. A dustpan and brush, paper plates, disposable kitchen towel, or moisture-absorbing crystals are all options for rapid clean-up.
Step 2: After you remove the gross element of the vomit, you have a damp stain on the mattress and a sickly smell with it. You remove the stain and most of the odor with the same process for removing urine, or you can use vinegar, a damp cloth, and an iron.
Step 3: Spray vinegar onto the stain. Lay the damp cloth onto the stain and iron dry. Repeat until the stain is completely gone, and the mattress smells fresh.
Step 4: The best way to remove the smell of vomit from a mattress is to sprinkle plenty of baking soda onto the damp stain. Leave it to dry for about eight hours and then vacuum clean. You can repeat this unit all lingering traces of the vomit smell are gone.
Keeping Your Mattress Fresh and Clean
A quality mattress is an investment in quality sleep, and you want to keep it in tip-top condition, so you get the maximum benefit and life from your mattress.
Sunlight and fresh air keep your mattress clean and fresh. When you change your bed, don’t rush to put the new bedding on – allow the mattress to breathe for a couple of hours.
A handy trick to keeping your mattress smelling sweet (think how hot a sleeping body can get) is to sprinkle the mattress with baking soda. After a few hours, the baking soda vacuums away, removing any lingering smells.
A routine of airing and deodorizing your mattress keeps everything fresh and clean.
Stain prevention by using a quality waterproof mattress protector is your first line of defense in protecting your mattress against potential damage. It buys you valuable time to react.
These protectors can be absent or damaged through wear, so even though you have a mattress protector, there are occasions when stains happen.
Having a stain removal kit to hand is like having a first aid kit for your mattress and means you can take immediate action when something happens, or you find a stain.
The same combination of cleaning materials works on pee and vomit stains on soft furnishings and carpets. A ready prepared action kit makes your life a little less stressful when such accidents at home do happen.
Other FAQs
How to Get Baby Urine Out of a Mattress?
Although baby diapers are there to protect the mattress, incidences of bedwetting can still happen from time to time, whatever the reason may be.
In order to clean baby urine from a mattress, mix white vinegar with water in equal proportion, spray the solution onto the urine stain, and blot the mattress lightly and repeat until no stain remains. You can use paper towels for the initial drying process, followed by the use of an electric fan with the bedroom windows open for ventilation.
How to Get Rid of Baby Urine Smell from a Mattress?
Unfortunately, cleaning baby urine from the mattress is only half the job done after cleaning the stain off it. You get a lingering smell that requires removal as well.
Getting rid of baby urine smell from a mattress involves sprinkling baking soda over the urine-affected area and vacuuming the baking soda once it darkens in color. Repeat the same process until the baking soda stays white even after an hour.
