Having a little watery accident in your bed after taking one drink too many should scare you some. After all, even when the pee is all dried up, the pungent smell of the urine just cannot go. It lingers under the sheets and it makes you feel ashamed of yourself every time you go to bed. Even if it is your toddler who peed on their mattress, or your pet, the smell is still nasty. However, don’t to worry anymore because here, I will show you a few tricks for how to remove urine smell from mattress. Keep reading!
Step 1: Gather everything that you will need
Whether the mattress will have soaked in plenty of the urine or not, you will need to gather a few things that you will use.
Thankfully, you don’t have to rush to the store to buy anything as you most probably have these things at home.
You will need the following items:
- Spray bottle – for spraying vinegar/water/hydrogen peroxide baking soda solution
- Baking soda – for removing the odor
- Clean towels/paper towels – for blotting out fresh urine
- Blow dryer – for drying out the cleaned part
- Essential oil (optional) for giving your mattress a better smell
- A vacuum cleaner – for vacuuming the baking soda
- Plastic gloves (optional) – for handling vinegar, and the stained parts
If its pet urine that you are dealing with, you could wear rubber gloves, we also suggest you wear them too if you are dealing with the urine of a guest who spent their night in your home. There is something yucky about cleaning up after someone.https://amzn.to/36YirvM
Step 2: Remove pee and smell as soon as possible
If you sleep with your baby, he/she pees on the bed at night, and you happen to know, act immediately. The reason for this is to prevent the pee from soaking through. First, BLOT the urine out. Do it slowly with paper towels or regular towels.
Do not press the towel onto the mattress. Just touch the urine firmly. This will prevent much of the pee from soaking into the mattress. With most of the urine taken care of, you can change the linen, and clean out the resultant stain on the mattress plus the smell the following day.
Step 3: Getting started, assessing the situation
Light stains are fresh or just a couple of days old. These will not take as long to remove as weeks old ones. Knowing how to remove urine smell from mattress also means knowing how to remove the pee stains.
Definitely, the mattress cover and other bed linen will be stained. Check their labels and whatever can be washed in the washing machine should go there.
However, in addition to the regular washing detergents, add a half cup of ammonia to the mix. That will beat the smell of urine from the linen. Stripped bare of the linen and accessories, your foam mattress becomes easier to clean.
Basically, the entire cleaning and getting rid of the smell job will take some time, say, a minimum of 8 hours. The very stubborn smell and stains may take a couple of turns to clean out.
Step 4: Mixing Your Smell Beating Concoction
Here, we will consider two things; using distilled vinegar and secondly, using hydrogen peroxide.
Using distilled vinegar
If you mix your ingredients right, this will be the most potent cleaning solution that you have ever tried. Dilute your distilled white vinegar with water, about half portions of each. It is important that you also wear rubber gloves so that the white vinegar does not get into contact with your skin.
Spray this mixture onto the urine stain. How much you can spray depends on how deep the urine has penetrated. Fortunately, if you acted promptly, the stain will not be deep.
Sprinkle your baking soda on the stain. Be generous too; let the baking soda cover the area well. You can let it stay put for some time – 8 to 10 hours or until you see the baking soda turn from white to yellow.
Using hydrogen peroxide
Put your hydrogen peroxide in the spray bottle, add baking soda gently and add a few drops of essential oil if you are using some. You can then swirl gently (careful not to shake), the mixture gently to mix thoroughly.
Once the solution is mixed well, spray it onto the part that had the urine. Make sure you cover the stain fully and then give it time to dry up. It is recommended that you leave overnight and check it the following morning. By then, the hydrogen peroxide should have dried up, leaving a residue of baking soda on the part that you sprayed. The smell should be gone completely.
Vacuum the baking soda off and check the stained area. The stain and the smell should be gone completely.
How to remove pet urine smell from mattress?
Pet urine is stronger and nastier than human urine. For example, the uric acid, urobilin, and urea found in cat urine can fill the whole house with the nasty smell.
Therefore, to clean dog or cat urine from the mattress, you will need something stronger than the homemade solution that we recommended for human pee.
Get enzymatic pet urine cleaners. These contain special formulas to get rid of stubborn pet urine smell. They work where other products fail.
Precautions
- Make sure the mattress color will not run when you use distilled white vinegar, hydrogen peroxide or enzymatic cleaners. Check on the label of mattress or on manufacturer’s website.
- If the first attempt to get the smell and the stain fails, repeat. Repeat as many times as needed.
- Set aside enough time for the job, or make other sleeping arrangements if this is your only mattress. It can take long to get rid of the smell
Final Words
There are several ways to effectively remove urine smell from your mattress, whether it’s human or pet’s pee. Depending on your mattress and what else needs to be cleaned, choose a cleaning agent that won’t damage or discolor the mattress. Also, do it on the weekend if you can’t get time during weekdays, as the mattress requires at least 8 hours for your magic solution to wick the urine stain and smell out.
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