Should You Add Moisture Absorber To Mattress Storage

In that location are lots of reasons why you lot might want to shop a mattress—Maybe y'all're moving on a temporary footing, and yous'll be needing it again in a few months; maybe your kid outgrew theirs, and y'all're waiting on the next kid to abound out of their crib and accept the mattress as a hand me down; or, peradventure you had a pipe burst and information technology'southward going to exist a while before you tin live at dwelling again. (Nosotros hope it's not that last one!)

Regardless of why y'all want to store a mattress, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. Storing a mattress improperly tin can damage information technology beyond repair, and if you're going to get through the hassle of putting information technology in storage, y'all probably want information technology to at least exist usable after. With that in listen, let's take a look at how to properly put your mattress in long-term storage so it doesn't fall victim to the three Yard's: moths, mold, and moisture.

1. Make clean and Dry Your Mattress

Storing a dirty mattress is a big mistake. Not just tin still-wet stains facilitate mold growth, but food and drink spots will attract all kinds of pests hanging out in your storage facility.

The easiest way to make clean a mattress is by removing all the bedclothes, vacuuming it on both sides, and so giving whatever stains a good scrub with an upholstery cleaner. If you want to go the extra mile, you tin can sprinkle blistering soda on the mattress earlier vacuuming. Just make certain y'all're giving information technology enough fourth dimension to soak up the dirt and moisture on the mattress—at least ten minutes.

If you don't desire to practise all that work or your mattress is really dirty, y'all can also take information technology professionally cleaned. Yet, yous decide to clean your mattress yourself, make sure information technology'due south going into storage dry out and stain-complimentary.

2. Wrap the Mattress in Plastic

Mattresses in storage are more than vulnerable to damage because you're non paying attention to them on a nightly ground, then you might go a long time without knowing whether they're growing mold or getting wet. That means you need to cover them in something to make them impervious to h2o and keep out pests. You have several options to do this.

Beginning, you could wrap the mattress in thick plastic sheeting and secure it with packing tape, making certain all areas are covered and the whole affair is tightly sealed. Yous could also buy a mattress bag. These normally aren't expensive; they're around xx to forty bucks. But make sure yous're buying a quality i that won't rip or break down.

iii. Lay the Mattress Flat

If y'all lean your mattress confronting the wall or sandwich it vertically between other things, gravity will seriously harm its internal structure. When y'all sit your mattress upright, fifty-fifty for a brusque period of fourth dimension, coils will bend and foam will settle in a warped, lopsided way. Sitting like this over the long term volition eventually permanently destroy your mattress.

4. Don't Lay Anything on Top of the Mattress

Yous can also cause permanent compression by sitting things on meridian of your mattress long-term. Heavy objects can impairment mattress springs or leave indentions in foam. If y'all need to make use of your storage space, you can lay your mattress flat on top of other items like piece of furniture pallets or large tables. Just make sure your mattress is flat and evenly distributed.

5. Consider Your Storage Space

Musty old garages don't brand the all-time storage spaces if y'all want to keep your mattress pristine. Humidity is a huge danger to mattresses considering the water in the air can blot straight into fabrics and foam, leading to mildew and water damage.

In addition, big temperature changes in storage units without climate control tin can cause the material to contract and expand pretty significantly, which may pb to loss of compactness and bounce. Freeze damage tin can also exist an consequence for mattresses stored in cold climates.

For these reasons, it's better to store your mattress in a climate-controlled facility that can both go on temperatures from swinging and maintain depression humidity. If you're in a climate with high humidity, also consider moisture-absorbing dehumidifiers like silica gel canisters.

Threats to Mattresses in Storage: The 3 K'southward

Of form, there are tons of other threats to your mattress too moths, mold, and moisture, but if your mattress is going to become destroyed in storage, more often than not it will be past 1 of these iii.

Moths

There are tons of different moth species that eat material, including multiple species of dress moths that dear aught more than to lay hundreds of eggs on all kinds of fabrics. These eggs will hatch into caterpillars that will live on your mattress for weeks—consuming it as they go.

Moths aren't the but dangers to bed fabrics. You also have tons of other pests that eat the organic fibers constitute in mattress covers and stuffing, including carpeting beetles, firebrats, silverfish, and sometimes even termites. This is why information technology's then vital to use a mattress storage bag or plastic embrace.

Mold

Mattresses tend to retain the third big threat—moisture, which causes them to abound mold and mildew. Mold requires humidity, darkness, and air stagnation to thrive, all of which can be constitute in abundance in storage environments. Mattresses don't merely retain sweat or things you spilled on them, they besides can blot the humidity out of moist air, meaning they're especially in danger from mucus and mildew in humid climates.

Moisture

Moisture isn't but a threat to mattresses because it can facilitate mold growth. It can impairment mattresses in itself. Muddy water falling on a mattress tin can leave stains that never come out. And being immersed in h2o—like if your storage expanse flooded—tin leave a mattress unsalvageable. Professional mattress restoration companies might exist able to save a water-damaged bed, only information technology's a lot less expensive to put it in a wet-proof handbag that keeps water out in the first place.

FAQs

How practice I refresh my mattress after storing it?

Baking soda is a great or starch is a not bad option for freshening upwardly a stored mattress. Sprinkle it in an even layer over the surface of your mattress, and allow it to sit for at least 10 minutes to absorb clay and moisture from storage. Then give your mattress a thorough vacuuming using the brush attachment to remove all the clay, dust, and blistering soda.

Can I store my mattress on my bed?

Information technology's better to accept your bed frame apart and store items separately because leaving your bed fix assembled in storage makes every role of your bed more vulnerable to damage. You should take the frame apart and wrap it in protective plastic. As well, store your box springs or mattress foundation in a separate cover from your mattress.

What's the all-time way to motility my mattress?

While it's tempting to merely slap a mattress on top of your car, this kind of negates cleaning and covering it. The best way to motion a mattress is laid flat in an enclosed vehicle, like a moving truck or covered flatbed. That way, dirt, insects, debris, and raindrops won't be launched into your mattress earlier you shop it, and there'll be no take a chance of wind damage to your mattress bag.

Tin can I stack multiple mattresses in storage?

It's amend not to considering the weight of the mattresses on top can over-compress the mattresses below, and the mattresses on top may sag for lack of proper back up. Merely if you must stack mattresses, lay them flat on the floor rather than sandwiching them together on their sides. Also, make sure to lay the largest and heaviest mattresses on the bottom and go smaller and lighter as y'all become closer to the superlative.

Exercise I have to do anything special for memory cream?

Not really. Storing a memory foam mattress shouldn't be all that different from storing any other mattress type. Since they retain moisture even more than than innerspring mattresses, you lot might need to go on an fifty-fifty closer heart on humidity. Also, memory cream is a lot heavier than coils, and so moving a retentivity cream mattress might pose more of an effect than moving an innerspring.

Bottom Line

Storing a mattress is a lot more complicated than only tossing it in a basement somewhere. You've got to make sure to protect information technology from the bugs that would eat it, the fungus that would grow in it, and the h2o that would saturate it. The good news is that if you take proper care of your bed before storing it and follow the tried-and-true steps listed above, you can store your bed for long periods and residuum bodacious it will stay in practiced shape.